Siman - Shabbos 155

• Food preparation for animals

Based on the next Mishnah, there is a machlokes Amoraim regarding food preparation for animals:

• Rav Huna holds that one may exert himself to improve an existing food such as untying bundles of straw and scattering them in front of the animal, but one may not make a non-food item such as cedar boughs, which are normally used as fuel, and give it the status of food by untying them and scattering them in front of an animal.

• Rav Yehuda holds that one may make an animal food edible for an animal, such as untying bundles of straw, since before it is untied it cannot be eaten, but one may not exert himself for the mere enhancement of animal food, such as scattering the bundles which makes them more appetizing. Rashi explains that when the straw is packed together, it becomes warm and does not release much of a scent. As a result, the animals do not find it appealing.

• Cramming food

The next Mishnah discusses the feeding of animals and states, אין מאמירין עת העגלים – One may not fatten calves, אבל מלעיטין – but one may put food down their throats. There is a machlokes Amoraim on how to define these terms:

• Rav Yehudah says, המראה למקום שאינה יכולה להחזיר – Fattening denotes putting the food in an area in the animals throat that is so far back that that the animal cannot bring the food back. הלעטה למקום שיכולה להחזיר – Putting food down their throats denotes placing the food in the throat where the animal can still bring it up.

• Rav Chisda says that both terms denote placing the food so far back that the animal can no longer bring it up. The difference is that המראה כבלי, fattening refers to using an implement, which Rashi defines as a spoon, which the Mishnah prohibits, and הלעטה ביד, - putting the food down their throats refers to when this is done by hand, which the Mishnah permits.

• Dogs

Rebbe Yonah expounded at the entrance to the Nasi’s palace: What is the meaning of the passuk, ידע צדיק דין דלים – The Righteous One knows the suffering of the poor? יודע הקדוש ברוך הוא בכלב שמזונותיו מועטין – HaKadosh Boruch Hu knows that a dog’s food is typically meager; לפיכך שוהה אכילתו במעיו שלשה ימים – He therefore decreed that a dog’s food should linger in its belly for three days.

Rav Hamnuna said that we learn from this that it is proper to throw a chunk of meat to a stray dog.