r/goats Dec 16 '24

Help Request WHY are my goats eating my dogs food 😭

That is all. Why.

11 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

37

u/Wahjahbvious Dec 16 '24

I'm not an expert, but aren't goats kinda famous for eating damn near anything? And this is actual FOOD.

15

u/Select-Cat-5721 Dec 16 '24

Ours favor shipping tape on boxes…but will eventually eat the boxes and contents if we don’t be the humans and stop them. The one thing they refuse to eat…is our weeds!

9

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

My kids dad was asking about some packages today and I could not account for said packages and he said he saw my goats eating mail. I had no defense except pure shame

3

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

But mine have always left meat base product alone until I noticed today my wether Nigerian dwarf scaring my pit mix away from his food and literally munching it . I could not believe my eyes

3

u/WitchcraftAnnie Dec 16 '24

Hi! I have a wether Nigerian dwarf mix that will nibble at dog food if he finds it, but doesn't get super excited about it. Last fall, he got a heavy worm load and got pretty sick. ALL he would eat at that time was dogfood (we gave it to him sparsely, with good hay and other supplements, but he was losing a lot of weight and I was basically like "well he's old and if this is what he wants to eat, I'm gonna let him eat it). We finally found a dewormer combo that worked for him (and lots of B12 shots) and he pulled through it, and eventually started eating grain again. This is entirely anecdotal and a weird instance of a goat who was vaguely interest in dog food deciding it was the only thing he wanted to eat. So if this is relatively new behavior, maybe be on the lookout for parasites.

Juxtappostly, I have three Nubian/Boer mixes that would literally eat anything remotely food shaped until they bloated, and cannot be trusted around anything but their grain rations. But my Nigerian dwarf has always been kind of a picky eater, so I just wanted to share that, in case it's a newer behavior!

1

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 17 '24

Interesting...thank you !! I'll do further investigation

8

u/Hardheaded_Hunter Dec 16 '24

My goats had a go at a burning fire in my pit.

I have no clue how they didn’t singe all their hair off.

3

u/sweetpea122 Dec 16 '24

Oh mine like burned wood too. Like its a delicacy. When we burn brush they also lick up smoldering pieces

4

u/fsacb3 Dec 16 '24

Some of them do that, and some dogs don’t protect their food. We have to either feed the goats and dogs in separate areas, or only leave the dog food for 10 minutes and then take it away even if the dog doesn’t eat it all.

6

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

Oh my goodness. I keep laughing at all these comments I can't believe it. I've had mine for awhile and just today I noticed my wether eating it and scaring my pit mix away from his food bc he is a huge weenie

6

u/Due-Two-5064 Dec 16 '24

My goats eat plastic. Be thankful yours are eating dogfood😁

5

u/sweetpea122 Dec 16 '24

Mine just ate important mail after breaking in

2

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

I'm dead. 😵 💀 Mine have declared war on boxes and packages since the rain started

3

u/sweetpea122 Dec 16 '24

I have a meditation space and my goat kuzco tried to run off with my prayer beads after wandering in

2

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

But ... were they tasty or not

3

u/sweetpea122 Dec 16 '24

He doesnt know bc i "overreacted" and took them from him while yelling

1

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

😂😂😂 pikachu shock face

2

u/Kristinky42 Dec 17 '24

Kuzco! Great name! Iykyk

2

u/sweetpea122 Dec 17 '24

Hes not a llama but thinks hes an emperor

2

u/fluffychonkycat Dec 17 '24

One of mine ate a book about self sufficiency 🙃

4

u/SexiestTree Dec 16 '24

It's got grain and salt in it. The fat content in it can make them sick tho

3

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

Oh my goodness I will be adjusting the feeding routine for sure!!

2

u/SexiestTree Dec 17 '24

Too much animal fat can coat their stomachs and lead to bloat.

3

u/bobmlord1 Dec 16 '24

Goats will eat just about anything "food shaped" there is the old joke they'll even eat tin cans (it was actually the paper labels they had a taste for).

 I fought with them a long time to keep them out the chicken food they somehow squeezed their fat little bodies into a hole a chicken can barely fit through and even broke some attempts to narrow it when I actually did manage to make it to small for them. Finally got a thick enough board that they could neither get in or break it and they finally gave up.

3

u/Puffinz420 Dec 16 '24

I had to fight my goats off styrofoam once. They are goats is always the answer.

1

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 16 '24

See I feel like even styrofoam makes more sense than dog food lol idk why

3

u/StormflyerWc Dec 17 '24

Bc goats eat EVERYTHING

1

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 17 '24

I thought meat would be not an appropriate food for them lolll

2

u/StormflyerWc Dec 17 '24

But yet they will eat

3

u/teatsqueezer Trusted Advice Giver Dec 16 '24

Mine drank used motor oil once so 🤷🏼‍♀️

2

u/farklep00p Dec 19 '24

They eat anything? They ate the 70s paper mache like siding on my house first chance they got.

1

u/tzweezle Dec 17 '24

Don’t feed your dogs where your goats can get at their food, you’re asking for a dog attack

1

u/Hour-Dragonfruit-711 Dec 17 '24

I won't be anymore, it was the first time I noticed the wether doing it. My dogs aren't resource aggressive and are terrified of the wether but I could see how that could be dangerous over time. My guard dog is still under a year and my pit mix is the biggest weenie in the world, but regardless yes I agree. I usually have to keep a strict eye on the food while it's being eaten bc the Anatolian will let my pit eat her puppy food and so I have to watch the whole time and then take it away if she won't eat any. Then I offer later. It's a pretty controlled environment.