Aunt's sneaky snack theft ends in indignant anger. 'You let me eat dog food!' AITA?
"AITA because my aunt ate my dog's food accidentally and she claims I 'let her'?"
Disclaimer: there was NO medical concern at any time, it was all edible and fine.
I am 25-year-old (F) and own a lil house where I live with my 1-year-old medium-big dog.
Backstory: My kitchen is structured in a way that there is an area dedicated to my dog's things: dog food storage, bowls, food toppers, kefirs, spoons for him, wet food, supplements, dedicated sponges to clean his bowls, basically everything that has to do with his nutrition.
Among these things, I have a shelf that contains food toppers, which I sometimes add to his food to make it more palatable. These are different flavoured: sirloin, mussel, other kinds of fish, lamb, chicken... and they are in powder form and contain a little wooden spoon inside each jar.
They are labelled and in the label it says what it is and what it is intended for, but there's no dog on the label that would make it super obvious at first glance that it's a dog item. That's just how the brand labels products.
On to the gist: My aunt (60 F) came to visit today as she needed me to do a few things for her (new phone, so she needed help setting it up). When she arrived, I saw I needed something long-ish to be able to open the compartment that would let me add the SIM card in.
I told her to wait and I went to look for one. Apparently she felt thirsty so went to the kitchen for water and to snoop a bit, it seems. Harmless, haha. Well when I came back I saw she was in the kitchen holding one of my dog's jars.
I didn't think much of it, thought she was reading it because she has a dog too and she might be interested. Next thing I hear is her asking what do I use that powder for, and that it tastes quite nice. I immediately gasped and let her know I use that for my dog, it's dog "food".
She freaked out, understandably. I assured her that while it's used for dogs, it's completely fine and safe for humans and that nothing's going to happen to her at all. I apologized for the fact she had eaten that in my house, and she started blaming me for leaving the food toppers "there" (in a rack over my dog's food corner, over his bowls).
I told her that wasn't fair and that while she's welcome to anything in my house and can eat whatever she wants, she should've asked about it given where it was and what it was surrounded with.
She has now gone to my mom, other aunts, cousins and everyone who will listen to tell them how I "let her" eat a spoonful of dog powder/food/thing. I've gotten mix responses, from "haha, poor aunt", to full on laughing, to "oh no that's awful you're an AH".
What do you think, reddit? Should I start storing the toppers behind close cabinets (although she opens cabinets whenever she wants too...), label them with DOG FOOD just in case, or just move on and think about it as a funny lil incident? I don't think i'm an AH per se but at the end of the day she did eat dog food on my watch, so, IDK. Thanks!
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
Aunt will be known forevermore as 'Snoopy'.
HeartbrokenLemon (OP)
ROFL that's so fitting with the double-meaning. :D poor aunt!
If you open cupboards in someone else's home and help yourself, no one "let you" eat whatever you consumed without asking! NTA.
NTA.
That's why you ask before eating someone else's food.
Did she... just... put the spoon back in there? Asking for your dog.
NTA. Who goes snooping and takes a spoonful of some powdered food, no matter what it is or who it's for? Silly lady. I keep all my cat stuff together too.
HeartbrokenLemon (OP)
Ohhhh that's a great question - I never thought about it in the heat of the moment with her freaking out and asking for a spare toothbrush but I assume she did. I don't think I will replace the spoon thingy though, my dog puts way worse things in his mouth and when the jar is finished and I open a new one there'll be a new spoon hahaha.
NTA. A happy person would find their mistake hilarious. Sounds like your aunt likes to stir up the drama.
HeartbrokenLemon (OP)
Haha. I don't know how funny i'd find it if I had eaten dog food, but then again it's human rated ingredients and she even said it tasted good! Thank you for your opinion. :)
If I see a bunch of meaty flavored powders on a shelf full of dog based products I'm going to assume it's some sorta thing for the dog like vitamins or something. NTA.
I think aunt needs to learn some manners, NTA.
HeartbrokenLemon (OP)
She's the type to trim my plants when she visits if she thinks they need a trim, clean, fold clothes... I do mind but if you say something to her she gets mad for days and my mom gets upset so I let her. I guess that's pretty wrong of me, but I do know she does it to everyone and not just me, and they all let her too just to keep the peace.
NTA. The jars may not have an obvious dog on them, but they do state what they are, and you stored them very obviously with the dog items. That would tell me clearly these are dog things, even without reading the label. But also, who eats something without reading the label to see what it is?
If your aunt had read the label, she'd have known it was for dogs, even if she was too dumb to realize storing things with dog-related items meant they were also dog-related items. Don't change anything. Consider it a fun anecdote to tell in the future - remember that time aunt ate something clearly meant for dogs and then tried to blame me?