Reply #4: it's a slippery slope you know!

[sui generis]

my critters are quite sophisticated these days. On Chinese food days the chihuahua and the border collie want my soggy shrimps from the soup.

Fast food hamburger? piece of meat and bun to the cat goddess, and french fries for the canines.

Fried chicken - have to eat it in the pantry

Canned tuna - I have to eat it outside on the porch like I'm . .. .smoking or something.

Then there are the chef nights:

Homemade spaghetti - my beloved old 16 year old great dane levitated off her death bed for it, in fact she may have actually already been dead but decided she suddenly was hungry.

10 hour roast: the worst, they smell it all day and get totally wound up so by dinner time the chihuahua is standing on my head on one leg imitating a Cowboys cheerleader and the other critters are fighting for position under the table.

The good news is - if you give them a little interesting variety in food regularly (don't overdo it) and lots of love and attention they live a long time barring other misfortunes. My old kitty lived to be 21 (and she also ate hamburgers, pickles and all), told you about the great dane, and my black lab until he was 17, and my border collie is almost 18 and still going strong.