Home > Blog > What You Can Feed a Pet
Quick Facts
| Can dogs eat pomegranate? | The arils, yes. The rind, bark and roots, no |
| Can cats eat pork? | Plain cooked pork, yes. Cured, smoked or seasoned, no |
| The rule behind almost every answer | Plain, unseasoned, no bones, no skin, small amounts |
| The one that kills | Xylitol, in sugar-free gum and some peanut butters. Tiny amounts are enough |
| What surprises people | Dairy is not poison, it is lactose. Most adult cats cannot digest it |
| Safe fruit and veg | Banana, blueberries, strawberry, cucumber, carrot, pumpkin, green beans, watermelon |
| How we decide | If there is any doubt at all, the animal gets nothing |
Pomegranate arils are safe for dogs. Pomegranate rind and bark are not. Plain cooked pork is fine for cats, cured or seasoned pork is not. Almost every food question has the same answer: plain, unseasoned, no bones, small amounts, and if you are not sure, do not.
Caro and I are not vets. This is research we did because we wanted to know, and because we sit in other people's homes and get asked for scraps by animals that are not ours. We would rather be the sitters who know than the sitters who guess. It never hurts to know more, and none of this replaces your own research or a conversation with a vet.
We have written this as a list of what you can give, deliberately. Almost every other page on this subject is a list of what will poison your pet, which is useful in a crisis and confusing the rest of the time. If everything on this page is safe, you can read it looking for what to do rather than what to avoid.
The whole process of sitting, from first application to handover, is in our book Travel More for Less. For most of Europe we point sitters at TrustedHouseSitters first.
Can Dogs Eat Pomegranate?
This is the question that gets asked more than any other food question, so it is worth answering properly rather than in a table row.
The arils are the part you eat, and they are safe for dogs and cats. Those are the juicy red seeds inside the tough outer skin. A few of them as a treat are fine, and the main risk is the same as with any new food: a dog that has never had pomegranate may get a slightly loose stool from the novelty rather than from anything in the fruit.
The rind, the bark, the roots and the leaves are a different matter. Those are not something to feed, and they are where the tannins sit. It is the same pattern as several other foods on this page: the part you would eat is fine and the part you would throw away is not.
It is also worth knowing that pomegranate is not on the ASPCA list of people foods to avoid feeding your pets, which is the strongest signal available. That list is the one that names chocolate, grapes, xylitol, onion and the rest, and pomegranate is not on it.
The practical version: quarter it, pick the arils out, and do not let the dog chew the skin. If they have already eaten some rind, that is a phone call rather than a panic, and what to do when a pet eats something it should not covers exactly how that call goes.
The Golden Rules
Before any specific food, there are four rules that cover the overwhelming majority of situations. If you remember nothing else, remember these.
Plain. No seasoning, no salt, no garlic, no onion, no oil, no butter, no sauce. Almost every food that is safe becomes unsafe once it has been cooked the way humans cook it. A plain chicken breast is fine. A rotisserie chicken with the skin and seasoning on it is not.
No bones, no skin. Cooked bones splinter and can perforate or obstruct the gut. Skin is pure fat and triggers pancreatitis in some animals. Both are easy to remove and both are the reason a "safe" food stops being safe.
Small amounts. A treat is a treat. For a dog, the usual guidance is that treats should be under a tenth of daily calories, and for a small animal an amount that looks trivial to you can be a full meal to them.
If you are not certain, do not. That is our own rule and it is the one we actually follow. There is no food in the world worth an emergency vet visit, and an animal will not remember that you denied it a scrap.
Fruit and Vegetables
This is the safest group and the one where you have the most room. The ASPCA lists several of these as non-toxic outright, which is a stronger statement than "probably fine".
| Food | Dogs | Cats | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banana | Yes | Small amounts | ASPCA lists banana as non-toxic. High in sugar, so a treat rather than a meal |
| Blueberries | Yes | Not usually offered | Low calorie and easy. A genuinely good training treat |
| Strawberry | Yes | Small amounts | ASPCA lists strawberry as non-toxic. Cut the green top off |
| Cucumber | Yes | Small amounts | ASPCA lists cucumber as non-toxic. Mostly water, which is why dogs like it |
| Watermelon | Yes | Small amounts | Seedless flesh only. Never the rind, and remove every seed |
| Apple | Flesh only | Flesh only | The ASPCA lists apple as toxic because of the seeds and stems. The flesh is fine, the core is not |
| Carrot | Yes | Small amounts | Raw or cooked, plain. A good crunchy chew for dogs |
| Green beans | Yes | Small amounts | Plain and unsalted. Canned beans usually are not |
| Pumpkin | Yes | Yes | Plain puree, never pie filling. Useful for a slightly loose stomach |
| Sweet potato | Yes | Small amounts | Plain and cooked, never raw. No marshmallow, obviously |
| Broccoli | Small amounts | Small amounts | Fine plain, but brassicas cause gas in some animals |
| Pomegranate | Arils only | Arils only | No rind, no bark, no roots. See above |
Two things worth adding. Cats are obligate carnivores and have no nutritional need for fruit or vegetables at all, so anything plant-based you give a cat is a taste experience rather than a dietary contribution. And for dogs, the fruit and veg that are safe are safe because they are plain. A dried banana chip with added sugar is a different food from half a banana.
Protein, Dairy and the Pantry
This is where the safe list gets more conditional, because cooking method matters more than the ingredient.
| Food | Dogs | Cats | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain cooked chicken | Yes | Yes | No skin, no bones, no seasoning. The safest protein there is |
| Plain cooked turkey | Yes | Yes | Same rules. Watch for added salt in supermarket roast turkey |
| Plain cooked beef | Yes | Yes | Lean, plain, no fat trimmed off into the pan |
| Plain cooked pork | Yes | Yes | Plain and cooked only. Cured, smoked or seasoned pork is not |
| Plain white fish | Yes | Yes | Cooked, no bones, no butter, no lemon sauce |
| Sardines | Yes, in water | Yes, in water | Plain and in water. No oil, no salt, no tomato sauce. Cats: once or twice a week at most |
| Cooked egg | Yes | Yes | Plain, no butter or salt. Raw egg white interferes with vitamin absorption |
| Plain cooked rice | Yes | Yes | Unseasoned. Commonly used to settle a mild stomach upset |
| Plain pasta | Yes | Small amounts | Cooked and plain. No sauce |
| Plain oats | Yes | Not usually | Cooked with water, no sugar, no milk |
| Peanut butter | Only if xylitol-free | Not usually | Check the label every single time. Sugar-free versions are the danger |
| Plain natural yoghurt | Small amounts | Small amounts | Unsweetened, and only if the animal tolerates dairy |
| Cheese | Small amounts | Small amounts | Not toxic, but high fat and most cats are lactose intolerant |
| Honey | Small amounts | Not usually | Safe in small amounts for adult dogs. High in sugar |
| Coconut oil | Small amounts | Not beneficial | Nearly pure fat. Loose stools are the usual result of too much |
Dairy deserves one line of its own because it is the most misunderstood item here. Milk and cheese are not toxic to cats. They cause problems because adult cats and many dogs stop producing enough lactase to digest lactose, so the result is diarrhoea rather than poisoning. That distinction matters, because it means a small piece of cheese is a risk of an upset stomach rather than a risk of death.
If you want to know what normal looks like before you start worrying, normal vital signs for pets is the reference, and what cannot wait covers the signs that need a vet rather than observation. If you want the wider picture on what a pet should be eating day to day rather than as a treat, getting feeding amounts wrong covers portions, and raw and special diets covers the more complicated end of it.
The Grey Zone: Small Amounts Only
These are the foods that are not dangerous and not really "safe" either. They are the ones where the answer is a quantity, not a yes or a no, and where the honest advice is to give a taste rather than a portion.
| Food | Why it is conditional | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese and butter | Not toxic, but high fat and mostly lactose | A tiny piece for a dog that tolerates dairy |
| Coconut oil | Almost entirely fat, and can cause loose stools | A very small amount, and none at all for pancreatitis |
| Peanut butter | Excellent treat if xylitol-free. The check is the whole point | Dogs only, and only after reading the label |
| Sardines | Rich, and too much fish can contribute to urinary problems in cats | Both, in water, once or twice a week |
| Nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts) | Very high in fats and oils, and can trigger pancreatitis | Better avoided entirely as a treat |
| Liver | Excellent in tiny amounts, toxic in quantity because of vitamin A | Occasional small pieces only |
| Egg | Rich. Fine cooked and plain, but not a daily food | Both, occasionally |
| Any new food at all | A stomach that has never met a food may react to it regardless of the food | Introduce one thing at a time, in small amounts |
That last row is the one we would underline. The commonest problem we could cause as sitters is not poisoning, it is a stomach upset from a food the animal has never had. That is not a medical emergency, but it leads to a difficult night for the animal and an awkward message to the owner, and it is entirely avoidable. If it does happen, what unusual behaviour tends to mean is worth a read, and if the animal is older then senior animals react differently again.
Home Remedies That Are Safe, But Probably Do Not Work
This is the part of the subject where the internet gets loud and the evidence gets thin, so we want to be careful and honest about both halves of it.
Apple cider vinegar is the biggest one by a distance. People add it to drinking water for everything from fleas to digestion to coat condition. The honest position is that there is no good evidence it does any of those things, and there is some risk: undiluted vinegar can burn an animal's mouth and throat, and a lot of it is simply not good for them. If it is going in water at all it needs to be heavily diluted, and for cats we would not bother.
Coconut oil for a shiny coat is another. It is safe in small amounts, which is not the same as effective. The evidence for coat improvement is anecdotal, and the fat content means the likely visible outcome is loose stools.
Plain pumpkin for a loose stomach is the one we would actually defend. It has fibre, it is genuinely safe, and it is widely used by vets for exactly this. It is the closest thing on this list to a home remedy with real backing.
Plain rice and chicken for an upset stomach is the same story. Not a cure for anything, but a bland, low-risk food while an animal settles, and the conventional veterinary advice for a mild stomach upset.
Yoghurt for gut health has some plausibility and very little direct evidence in pets. Plain and unsweetened, small amounts, and only if the animal tolerates dairy.
Our honest position on all of it
Here is the nuance we actually hold, and it is worth stating plainly. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Something can work without a study having been run on it, and plenty of things people do for their animals fall into a gap that nobody has funded research to fill.
What we will not do is recommend something that could harm an animal on the strength of a theory. So our line is this: only ever use a home remedy that is safe in its own right, and hold the effectiveness question loosely. Plain pumpkin cannot hurt a dog and might help a loose stomach, so it is worth having in the house. Undiluted apple cider vinegar can burn a mouth, so it is not worth the risk whatever you believe about it.
If something is safe and you think it helps, that is your call to make with your own animal. And if the animal is on medication, the bar is higher again, because food and drugs interact: giving a pet medication covers what not to mix.
If you are sitting someone else's animal, the bar is higher, because any change you make is a change you made to somebody else's pet without their knowledge.
By Species: What Each Animal Can Have
Most food-safety content is written for dogs, and dogs are the least complicated animal in the house. Here is the full set, because we sit all of them.
Dogs
Dogs are omnivores and handle the widest range of human food. The safe list above applies almost entirely to them. The two things to hold in mind are fat and xylitol: fat because pancreatitis is a genuine and serious risk, and xylitol because it is lethal in doses so small that people do not believe it. If you take one rule away, check every peanut butter label.
Cats
Cats are obligate carnivores. They have no dietary need for fruit, vegetables or grains, and their systems are built for meat. That means the safe list for cats is shorter and the portions smaller. Plain cooked meat and fish are the core. Dairy is a bad idea more often than not. And anything with onion or garlic powder in it, which includes a surprising number of stocks and broths, is genuinely dangerous.
Rabbits and Guinea Pigs
Small pets are the opposite problem: they eat plants for a living, so a "treat" is a much bigger proportion of their diet and the wrong one can genuinely hurt them. Hay and fresh grass are the foundation, at 75 to 80 per cent of a rabbit's diet and at least 80 per cent of a guinea pig's, with fresh vegetables making up only about 5 to 10 per cent for a rabbit. Safe extras include dandelion, parsley, coriander, mint, basil, romaine lettuce, bell pepper and broccoli, in rotation rather than in quantity.
Two things to know. Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C and have to get it from food, because they carry a mutated gene for the enzyme that would normally produce it. Bell peppers, broccoli, parsley and kale all supply it. And neither rabbits nor guinea pigs can vomit, so anything that upsets the gut stays in the gut, which is why a bad food choice is more serious for them than for a dog. The full detail is in our small pets guide. If one of them stops eating, that is a different and more urgent problem, and a pet that has stopped eating is the page for that.
Chickens
Chickens eat a wider range of scraps than any animal on this list and are, for most plants, less susceptible to toxins than mammals. That is worth knowing and it is not a licence to feed them anything, because two things bite. Very salty food, since the veterinary reference treats anything above 2 per cent salt in the ration as dangerous, and greasy food, because fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome is described as the leading non-infectious cause of death in backyard chickens.
There is also a legal point that surprises almost everyone: in the UK it is illegal to feed kitchen scraps to poultry, including chickens kept purely as pets, under animal by-products legislation. Cooking the scraps does not make it legal and the only exception is an all-vegan household. Our chicken and duck guide covers the practical side.
How We Decide Whether to Give a Pet Anything
Our rule is short, and it is stricter than most people expect. We only give an animal food when we are completely certain it is safe. Not fairly sure, and not probably fine. Certain. If there is a shred of doubt, the animal gets nothing, and we have never once regretted that.
When we do give something, it is small. A little peanut butter with no xylitol in it. A tiny piece of cheese or butter. The occasional sardine. Things we know are safe, in an amount that is a taste rather than a meal, offered as a gift for their taste buds rather than as nutrition.
The reason is not only safety. It is that a stomach which has never met a food may react to it whatever the food is, and a sitter who causes diarrhoea has created a problem for the animal, a mess in somebody else's house, and an uncomfortable message to send. Being conservative costs nothing. The animal will not remember.
And a note for anyone choosing a sitter: what to look for in a sitter is the other side of this page. And the version of this for a homeowner reading rather than a sitter: say so in advance. If your dog is not to have human food, put that in the welcome guide, because a sitter who is guessing will guess differently from you. Our pre-sit question guide and the handover checklist both cover where that conversation belongs.
What Not to Feed
This page is deliberately a list of what is safe, so we are not going to build a second poison list here. But you should know what is on the other side of the line, because a sitter who only knows the safe list is half-prepared.
Chocolate, grapes and raisins, xylitol, onion, garlic and chives, alcohol and raw bread dough, macadamia nuts, excessive salt, and raw meat or bones are the ones that matter. Avocado is worth a special mention because the risk is species-dependent: the ASPCA describes it as primarily a problem for birds, rabbits, donkeys, horses, sheep and goats, with the biggest concern being cardiovascular damage in birds and rabbits, rather than for dogs and cats in the way most people assume. And citrus is milder than its reputation, with the ASPCA noting that eating the fruit is unlikely to cause more than minor stomach upset, while the peels, leaves and seeds are the irritating parts.
If something has already been eaten, the answer is not to read a list, it is to make a phone call. It is worth knowing that most of those calls are resolved over the phone rather than in a car, that the cost falls on the homeowner rather than on you, and that your own cover is a separate question entirely. That page covers the order to do things in, and handling an emergency when the owner is unreachable covers what to do if you cannot get hold of anyone.
Where This Research Comes From
We are not vets and we have not tested any of this on an animal. What we have done is read the primary sources rather than repeat what other blogs say, and you should be able to check all of it yourself.
For what is dangerous: the ASPCA's list of people foods to avoid feeding your pets, which is where the detail on chocolate, grapes, xylitol, onion, avocado, citrus, dairy, nuts, salt and raw food comes from (aspca.org).
For what is safe: the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants database, which lists banana, cucumber and strawberry as non-toxic to dogs and cats and apple as toxic because of its seeds and stems (aspca.org).
For small pets: the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund, the Royal Veterinary College feeding guidelines, the FEDIAF nutritional guidelines for pet rabbits, and the MSD Veterinary Manual on guinea pig nutrition, which is where the vitamin C requirement comes from.
For poultry: the MSD Veterinary Manual on poisonings in poultry and on fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome, and the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency and DAERA on the animal by-products rules.
Where sources disagree, we have said so rather than picking one quietly. And where the evidence is thin, the article says that too. If you are ever unsure, a vet beats every page on the internet, including this one.
Conclusion
Almost every food question for a pet comes down to the same four words: plain, small, and no bones. The pomegranate arils are fine and the rind is not, the plain pork is fine and the cured pork is not, and the difference in every case is what we do to the food rather than the food itself.
The rest is restraint. An animal does not need your scraps, and the risk you take by guessing is not a risk you are carrying, it is one you are handing to somebody else's pet. If you are certain it is safe, a small taste does no harm and is a genuinely nice thing to do. If you are not certain, do not, and nobody will ever think less of you for it.
Caro and I have completed 20 house sits across 12 countries, driven 19,000km across Europe in our 1998 VW T4, and saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs over three years of house sitting.
DM us @housesittersguide, we answer everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can dogs eat pomegranate?
The arils are safe, the rind and bark are not. Pomegranate is not on the ASPCA list of foods to avoid, which is the strongest signal available. Quarter it, pick the arils out, and do not let the dog chew the skin.
Can cats eat pork?
Plain cooked pork, yes. Cured, smoked or seasoned pork, no. The meat itself is fine for cats and dogs. It is the salt, the seasoning and the curing that make it a bad idea.
Is cheese bad for cats?
Not toxic, but usually a bad idea. Most adult cats cannot digest lactose, so cheese tends to cause diarrhoea rather than poisoning. A small piece is a risk of a stomach upset, not a risk of death.
Can dogs eat bananas?
Yes. The ASPCA lists banana as non-toxic to dogs and cats. It is high in sugar, so it is a treat rather than a meal. The same goes for strawberry and cucumber, which the ASPCA also lists as non-toxic.
Does apple cider vinegar work for dogs?
There is no good evidence it does what people claim, and it carries some risk. Undiluted vinegar can burn the mouth and throat. Our rule is only to use remedies that are safe in their own right, and to hold the effectiveness question loosely.
Can rabbits and guinea pigs eat fruit and vegetables?
Yes, in small amounts, and they are a bigger part of the diet than they are for a dog. Hay and fresh grass should be 75 to 80 per cent of a rabbit's diet, with vegetables only about 5 to 10 per cent. Guinea pigs also cannot make their own vitamin C and need it from food.
Responses
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