Left and right I see people recommend it for its shelf stable qualities along with it being easy to get and cheap and of course its strong attraction to animals, but using pet food? It seems like a recipe for disaster. How could it not attract a domestic animal? If a house cat comes by and it smells cat food that it normally eats its gonna come by and get caught, and the same with dogs and dog food. I just don't see pet food being a good choice. I would rather not take that chance and just use another bait that's cheaper or free like minnows, peanut butter or mice for example. Your guy's thoughts??

I can't speak for anyone else, but my pet food use is restricted to dogproofs. Although, most any bait or lure that is attractive to critters we trap is also attractive to pets.

I agree with loosegoose almost all my dog proofs run cheap pet food with something extra like grease or meat junks in, just like anything you have to be careful with your trap placement so you do not catch those animals more so than the bait that you use. even if you dont use pet food and you place a foot hold nearby a farmers house that has a dog with commercial lure, they would most likely go there to investigate and get caught. unhappy farmer and unhappy dog or cat so you will be out of there in a hurry most likely. make sure where you place traps is away from those domestic animals. I have yet "knock on wood" caught a domestic animal as i am very careful with my trap placement so they will never be around it

I also agree with loosegoose most baits used will be attractive to pets maybe more so with commercial bait with all the ingredients and smells that go into some of the baits.

Interesting, so your saying that pet food might actually attract domestic animals less than commercial bait since commercial bait has more ingredients and is a bigger concoction. I never though about that but that makes sense. I could see how that would work.

I use fish food pellets or kitten chow as a base but add a sweet syrupy attractant to it. This helps avoid cats and dog feet are too big to get into a DP anyway. ‘Use this concoction in half or more of my DPs and don’t worry about pets. Cats aren’t attracted to sweet flavors at all. Skunks, grinners and coon love this stuff. And because it’s cheap, I use it as a pre-bait if I’m unfamiliar with the area.

Everybody I know who uses catfood/dogfood in DPs adds sweet flavors so they can avoid pets. OR they stay away from buildings where pets are found.

Agreed

I use it strictly in dps

I run cheap dried cat food mixed with molasses and sardines, and a little liquid smoke in our DPs.
Cheap DP bait and works well.

Coon and skunks have no trouble finding pet food bowls on back porches, barns and garages. It makes sense to use pet food as a base. But from there, spicing it up a little with things that don’t attract cats results in avoiding pets very well.

Cats don’t like sweets in my experience. Molasses, persimmon oil, cheap maple syrup any of the sweet lures on the market mixed with dry cat and dog food catches coon, possums, skunks. And Occasionally rats.

It’s also EXTREMELY important to use dry pet food baits AWAY from homes and farm buildings. Use common sense with these baits and you’ll do fine.

yep, THAT is why you're ready for non-targets/domestics with a catch pole to help release......or notched tote or board.

canines will be canines whether wild or domestic......same with felines

I know of coyote hunters that buy Ole Roy dog food by the pallets and dump it in the middle of clearcuts and use thermals shooting from a tower stand.