MREs - not just for humans anymore!

[kman]

I just saw this auction on eBay:

Mayday Emergency Survival MRE Dog or Cat Food 12 packs
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0321076706

Looks like a good idea. A five year shelf-life is much better than the 1 year or so you get with regular bagged pet food.

[Stef]

Hi,
in case of REAL emergency you don't feed the pets: you EAT them

[AKross]

in case of REAL emergency you don't feed the pets: you EAT them

Thats messed up, but I hear rather tasty. Seriously though I think you should plan some survival equipment for your pet (singular) after all they do wonders for moral when you are trapped in a basement alone for a week. After supplies run out anything tastes good when you are hungry. I don't know how many people could do that though. Most everyone forms an emotional bond with their pet and a mercy kill is in that range, but eating them afterwards would be a little harder to swallow.

[bl00k]

Hi,
in case of REAL emergency you don't feed the pets: you EAT them

LOL, true.

[dirtbag]

in case of REAL emergency you don't feed the pets: you EAT them

Thats messed up, but I hear rather tasty. Seriously though I think you should plan some survival equipment for your pet (singular) after all they do wonders for moral when you are trapped in a basement alone for a week. After supplies run out anything tastes good when you are hungry. I don't know how many people could do that though. Most everyone forms an emotional bond with their pet and a mercy kill is in that range, but eating them afterwards would be a little harder to swallow.

Thats because you have never truly been hungry...
Eat bugs, grass, roadkill hungry...
CCC tastes delicious hungry...

[AKross]

I have been damn hungry before, but not near death or anything like that. I am not saying either way, my point is a lot of people couldn't even if they were dying of starvation. Its a moral or social boundary that some people have. Same reason why in some situations some people turn into cannibals and others starve to death (and then are eaten). Survival of the fittest you know. A normal human being in their lifetime will not have to worry about eating human, domesticated dog, or cat (bad Chinese food doesn't count).

Maslow's Hierarchy
////Physiological demands you eat your pet to satisfy biological needs.
///Safety demands you eat your pet to ensure health and extended survivability.
//Love/Social demands you don't eat the pet due to social views and feelings of companionship.
/Self actualization can go either way, but if morality is part of the conflict then it likely invokes a feeling of don't eat the pet.

Each level sees the pet differently.
////Food
///Calories, Fat, and Protein
//Companion
/Living being

My point is the choice to eat the pet or not eat the pet is based on a decision of self preservation and the current perceived level of need. The real problem with discussing it is you can know a person for your whole life and never know the limit of their Id. Some people say they would eat their dear golden retriever they raised from a pup but when it comes to the deed they cannot. The only way to find out for sure is to lock them in a room with the dog for a week with a butcher knife and see who comes out, but that is both cruel and as stated above rarely a necessity in modern life.

[dirtbag]

But...But...
Dog is damned tasty !!!
I've had it many years ago, and I'd have it again, were it offered!
Now, I might feel bad doing in MY dog, but I'd kill and eat YOUR dog in a heartbeat, should famine arise.
ALL the social niceties go out the window...
Of all the pictures of post war Europe, how many pets do you see ? Most went into the soup pot!

[Stef]

Hi,
AKross, thanks for the info about Maslow's Hierarchy and the correction, sorry, no more "petS"
I've heard that the Inuit (plural ) eat their dogs if needed, as a farmer would change his ox into beef. So did Amundsen during his polar expedition, wrong?
I've eaten dog-kebab in Togo but 1) it was not MY dog, 2) they told me it was dog meat after I finished to eat, 3) it wasn't that bad with a good hot chili sauce.
BTW, I've never eaten dog food (if we can't consider corned-beef as dog food), an uncle of mine eats his dog's "Frolic" in a sandwich every time he's both very drunk and very hungry around 2 o'clock in the morning... (i mean "very otfen")

Concerning the lack of pet in 1940's Europe, that's true! After the war my grandmother always asked to see the animal head before ordering some hare or rabbit stew in a restaurant!
Strange family, hey?

[AKross]

Well put. My main point only applies to pets. I guarantee that if I was in a famine situation I would be picking of anything that walks on four legs whenever I saw them. Also during longer disasters feral dog packs could end up being a physical threat. You are doing them and us a favor by eating them. My only concern would be which spice to cook dog with. I am guessing Thyme would be tasty, but you can't go wrong with Garlic or Chili pepper. The reason I emphasized the word pet was to simplify the argument. Would a person who has multiple pets be more likely or less likely to eat one of them? Seeing how I have droned on enough about this topic already I am not going to get into it.

Still the argument remains people are less likely to eat their own pets than they are to eat yours. Coincidentally I think a person who buys MREs for dog is more like to shoot you in the face during a famine situation for trying to eat his dog than a person who didn't prepare . Also pets aside, I don't think to many people in this forum would be going very hungry in the first month (Or Longer) if their was a food shortage.

[Hardtack]

When backpacking with my dog I would take meaty MRE entres to use as dog food. That way if needed, the dog and I could share food.