Quit Feeding the Squirrels....

[goforette]

Someone in my neighborhood is feeling sorry for the squirrels (maybe because we've had 6 back to back snow storms)... and the squirrels are dropping their left overs and used goods in my yard all over the place. We have peanuts some opened, some unopened, apple slices - you name it they're giving it to the squirrels... and of course Hollie and Brystal are having a blast putting all these morsels in their mouths - and who knows how many squirrel cooties it has... Hollie ate a full peanut today before I could only get half the shell out of her mouth... they prefer the peanuts to the goodies I offer - and you know Cairns they are so quick to down something food related. Should I be worried about anything that the squirrels can eat that would be harmful to the girls if they consume it?

[Darcy's Folks]

Geeze, that's a great question! We live in an area of new homes, so not a lot of squirrels due to not a lot of mature trees. For sure you should worry about any squirrel feces.... but will be interesting to hear what others say about food that has been partial eaten by the squirrels.

And funny you mention that someone feels sorry for the squirrels. My mom lives in Colorado too. One of her neighbors called her the other day asking if she should go buy some barrels of hay to feed the deer. Can you imagine getting a whole herd of deer relocating to stay in a neighborhood because someone wants to feed them barrels of hay.

It's just like the zoo.... don't feed the (wild) animals!

[Kirby's Mom]

I would be concerned about apple SEEDS-I've heard those are bad. I have to say my dog loves birdseed-we have many neighbors who thoughtfully spread it on the ground Then I have to scoop her and move on-there's no way to get her to leave a three foot spread of seed, and I don't know if anything in the mix could be bad for her. I don't think you have to worry as much about squirrel "cooties"-so long as your girls have their rabies shots. That reminds of school, when the boys had "cooties" and the girls couldn't touch them!

[Amber and the zoo]

Great question...here in Iowa the squirrel run everywhere! My grandparents used to feed them and they would come up and sit on your shoulder even! Then, after my grandfather died and my grandma moved in with my mom, the squirrels got mad and "broke in" to the house!!! For now they are great amusement for Ellie to watch out the window and drool over. Silly things better watch out when she isn't stuck behind a window!!!

[GirlieJr]

Before I had a dog, I had no opinion of squirrels whatsoever. I probably thought they were cute and then never thought of them anymore. Now, however, I HATE squirrels! Is it bad to say that?? They tease Jack on purpose. They know if they are on top of the 6 ft. fence that he can not reach them so they sit there as if to say "Nanny nanny boo boo!" to him! I swear that is what they are thinking!

As far as your question goes, since Jack just recently had surgery to remove a whole acorn from his stomach/intestine, I would say that some of that stuff could easily get stuck in your Cairns digestive track. Especially nuts. They don't break down (apparently, the acorn didn't!) in the stomach if they are in a shell, and in Jack's case, not chewed.

I would try your best to keep them from eating anything "foreign". I know it is hard! Trust me, I know!!

[kcsdogs]

My rule is, If i didn't give it to them they'd better not eat it! If I ended up with this situation I would ask the neighbors to move their squirrel feeders. But if the squirresl themselves are depositing the stuff in your yard you might write a letter to the head squirrel in charge and ask that his citizens find somewhere else to deposit their leftovers or to please use appropriate trash recepticles........ Sorry........on cold medicine today so I am a little on the silly side .

This a good situation for the "leave it" command.

[kayharley]

Oh my...I think I'm sitting on both sides of the fence on this issue.

I love to feed the birds and now have feeders hanging in front of my dining room windows. These feeders are way too high for even the most athletic squirrels to reach so I now add corn/sunflower seeds to a platform feeder that serves not only the squirrels but the mourning doves, the cardinals, chipmunks and other wildlife that I enjoy seeing.

When my Cairns venture into our little yard of "wildlife", they enjoy the chase and I honestly think they come back into the house proud that they did their job.

As far as "remnants" left behind from these critters....I do watch my crew when they're out on the prowl and so far there hasn't been anything nasty that they've found/eaten/rolled in

.

[sheila and Misty]

sheila and misty here. sorry guys, I feed the wildlife as well, and misty will learn that they are friends and she will just have fun chasing them! My cairn that passed on this last Aug.(Scruffy) had 2 squirrell friends -he chased them and as soon as his back was turned they came back in the yard to tease him again. He loved it!

I did hear peanuts werent good for dogs. Mine never liked them anyway -usually just chewed them and spit them out.

Misty is just starting to learn-Not yours! doing well so far.

Soon hopefully, seeds and nuts will bore your dogs and they will walk right past them .Took Scruffy untill about 2 years old to get over the major snoop and neb stage. good luck! maybe you can put something very distastefull to your dog on a few peanuts and see if that works.