If you are a mother who periodically finds half a peanut butter sandwich, the bottom of a cupcake or a partially eaten cookie left by a child whose eyes were bigger than their stomach, there is a solution other than the "momism" about starving children in Africa (China, Bangladesh, Uganda ...). In a friend's house, the scraps are deposited in a large, covered, plastic container labeled, "good-will can". The children know that these leftovers will be put out daily for the birds, squirrels and other animals who share the world with us. We have attracted many varieties of birds and small animals that are fun to watch and and have taught the children that they can share with those less fortunate who are not human
I do this with leftover cat food, and food scraps but I put it into a freezer container. When the containers are full and there are a half dozen, I take them out to my daughter's dog who thinks they are a wonderful treat. They arrive in a red grocery bag and this dog KNOWS that they are for him (he shares with his cat too!)
We also do the same thing an what an enjoyment this is. When moving to the country from the city an I no longer had a food disposal that I thought I could not get along without turn out to be a blessing. not only for the little animals but for us too, I would not give a plug nickle for a disposal now an know we are doing the human thing helping our little friends finding food.
We also have some of the most beautiful animals that come each day to get a bite to eat. when its cold out side I warm the food in the microwave so it will warm them up. If you think about it a food disposal is a "big" waste of food.
Cat food is detrimental to the health of dogs, bad for them, does not support their nutritional needs & does supply things that can harm them (cause early kidney failure, etc). Even though they tend to like it dogs should not eat cat food. Same for cats eating dog food, it is not formulated for them & can actually be harmful by not providing what they require or providing harmful things.
Each needs their own food. It is nice to share w/ wildlife & they probably do need food as it is sometimes hard to come by. If these unhealthy scraps were their only food source it would be bad for them. As a supplement in lean times, they eat what they have available to eat. Some 'junk food' might be better than no food at all.
I also insist on this. We live in the country in AZ and we have a large assortment of wildlife that comes to our yard. Because it is so dry here we do keep a faucet on a steady drip in our yard year round. Left over food, scraps, etc. go out to feed whatever arrives in our yard. It goes out at random times and random amounts and there is not enough to keep all of our wild friends fed; but, it does give them some variation in their diet and supplements what is available locally.
We have small antelope squirrels, cottontail bunnies, jack rabbits, and even coyotes. For birds we primarily have dove, quail, and hummingbirds; but, we also are visited by roadrunners, hawks, and vultures and once a migrating great white owl stopped for water. He was magnificent and very rare here.
I do not believe in wasting food and I also do not believe in eating just so something will not go bad or be wasted. We have enough of a problem in our country with obesity. So giving the food to our wild neighbors is a great solution.
These animals are in no way "tame"; but, they give us hours of enjoyment watching them through our windows. And, they have come to think of our property as a "safe" location. When some idiot gut-shot a coyote; it came to our home and took shelter beside our door. Once we realized what had happened and how severe the injury was, we did the only thing we could to help it. We called the local wildlife authorities and had it euthanized humanely. But, it trusted us enough to come to us for safety and help. We just wish it had not been hurt so badly it could not recover.
Great idea! I thought I was the only one who did this....I also give the birds/squirrels stale cereal such as cheerios & corn flakes and tostitos and they flock to my yard. I feed them every 2 or 3 days as we cannot allow them to "forget" how to hunt for their own food in the wild.
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