Take Out for a dog

[LolaLee]

We travel a lot, and on some car trips, when they are really long, we naturally stop to eat. Every great now and then we will stop at Sonic and order food, but we don't want to leave the puppy out on a long trip like that. So, we tell them we want a bowl of cut up baked chicken (no skin) specifically for the dog. I feed him pieces of it throughout the ride.
Is this a bad thing to do every now and then? I don't ever give him chicken with skin, and I always make sure it is baked. What do you think?

[Ghilly]

It would be a better idea for you to pack him a "to-go" picnic basket of his own if you know you are going to be in the car for a prolonged period of time.  Even though you have them remove the skin, fast-food meals of any kind are always very high in fat, and fat is the primary culprit in causing pancreatitis in dogs.  Even in the so-called "dietetic" foods that come from fast-food restaurants there is way too much fat for it to be safe for a dog.  If you are stuck somewhere and there is absolutely nothing else for him to eat, then it would be OK to do a meal or maybe two this way to keep him from going hungry, but it's far safer, if you know you will be traveling, to buy some of that cheap fake "Tupperware" stuff that they sell in the grocery stores and make up little individual meals for him.  Bring along some of his biscuits in another little tub for a snack, and one to use for water and he'll be fine.  If it's hot and you want to give him a treat, it would be OK to get him a low-fat frozen yogurt (smallest size they make) or you could freeze some Gatorade to take with you.  That way he has a bit of flavored drink as a treat, but fresh, cool water is really all they need as far as a drink goes.

We tend to do more harm than good for our pets when we anthropomorphize (put ourselves in their place).  We think of what WE would like, and then we transfer that to our pets, but that's actually a very bad thing to do.  We think that eating the same thing every day would be boring, but they don't see it that way.  Keeping them on a steady diet ensures that their stomachs will not react badly to new things at inappropriate times.  We think that drinking plain, unflavored water is the most boring thing in the world when there are so many delicious flavored soft drinks out there, but to a dog, fresh, cool water in the heat of summer is like a glass of the most expensive champagne to us.  We have to remember that not only are their nutritional needs different from ours, so are their tastes.

If you want to add a little excitement to the trip for him, you could find a doggie treat that he really likes and put some of those in his lunch kit for him.  Instead of feeding him the chicken you could take his treats and break them into small pieces to give him a little bite to eat every now and then.  Stick with the soft-moist treats because they don't crumble like a hard biscuit treat will so they're a bit neater for the car.  I boil slices of liver until they are cooked and then I bake them in a 250 degree oven until they are completely dried.  Sounds awful to us, but dogs go CRAZY for this, and it's a delicious, healthy treat for them.  You can also cut it into tiny pieces so that a slice goes a LONG way as treats.  

If you want to make this a bit more fun for you, buy him a child's lunchbox to tote it around in.  Some lunch kits even come with little thermos botles in them for you to put his drink in.  That's what I do for Kate, but then again, sometimes I think I should have my head examined when it comes to my dog.  I bought her a Barbie lunchbox and she loves it because she knows that it's hers and that her food and treats come from it.  She gets all excited when she sees me get it out because she knows a road trip is in the offing.  We love to drive down to the beach or to the pier to watch them fish.  :)

Ghilly

[ginger899]

You're welcome! Happy travels!
(You have a clever pup!)

[LolaLee]

Thank you! That's a great idea!
Yea, we always have a cup in the car that is just Teddy's (my puppy), and bottles of water to pour for him. It's cute, because he always know exactly which cup holder has his water. He goes to that one every time.
Thanks again!

[ginger899]

Well, my attitude is, whyever not?
If you've been out for hours on a long trip, then it's probably getting close to his mealtime anyway, so I can't see the harm in it. As long as he's not getting over-fed (an extra meal when for instance he gets plenty to eat already).....or you'll end up with a tubby puppy! Add extra food to long hours of sitting doing nothing in a car, and that's a recipe for obesity if it happened too regularly.

I can't see any harm in a bit of plain baked chicken, so long as it's not laced with salt/seasonings/chillis/whatever, or is extremely greasy. (However if it has been prepared in a kitchen with human customers in mind, it might be quite heavily salted, or fats added in cooking. Too much fat in a dog's diet can lead to pancreatic problems.)

An alternative, of course would be to prepare him a normal-feed dinner at home before you go, and take it with you in a plastic lidded box, then when you stop for food, and you're eating yours, you can give him his. That's what I do with my dog. Don't forget to take water for him with you too.