Feeding Fish to Dogs

mrcol1000

My dog loves fish. We give her fish flavoured Burns food and as a treat we sometimes give her tinned sardines or mackrel. My parents in law have been given her pink salmon and even fish and chip fish (with the batter taken off). She loves her sardines and it makes her coat shine. I just wondered can dogs eat any fish or is there any that should be avoided? Is there any better for them than others? Also any cheap tips as I don't mind spending 40p on a tin of sardines but wouldn't buy fresh fish.

Rosie75

Our dogs get dried sprats as training treats / rewards. They love them.
http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/item--Dried-Sprats-200g--dog-treat-sprats---dogs
I'd imagine that oily fish is more beneficial to them (and their coats) than white, but I may be wrong.

GracieP

Raw or smoked salmon can have a bacteria in it which is dangerous to dogs. It's fine if it's cooked.

foreign_correspondent

I think everything (healthy) in moderation..it's a great source of protein and omega oils, my dog has canned oily fish (sardines etc) in oil (drained), or occasionally tomato sauce, leftover fish skins etc, she also has the occasional pollock fillet (cheap white fish, available frozen in biggish bags) as we bought some and didnt like it!

I would avoid smoked fish, anything with much salt, but apart from that I have never had any problems with feeding fish... oh except for the other day - my stumpy short-legged dog loves fish so much that I when I went to the door, I returned to find her in the kitchen, at full streatch, on her hind legs, with her snout on the worktop, eating my smoked mackeral (my tea!) off a plate!!:eek:

I never realised she could reach before!!! - still, I was hungry, so I cut the end off that the dog had chewed and ate the rest!:rotfl:

billieboy_2

Our dog loves fish too. In fact if I'm making a curry dish with smoked mackerel and rice he knows it before I've even got the fish out of the fridge because he knows the combination of smells cooking (I give him the skin)! He can be a bit fussy with food but give him something with a whiff of fish in and he'll eat it.

GracieP

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

oh except for the other day - my stumpy short-legged dog loves fish so much that I when I went to the door, I returned to find her in the kitchen, at full streatch, on her hind legs, with her snout on the worktop, eating my smoked mackeral (my tea!) off a plate!!:eek:

I have similar problems. I regularly add tinned sardine to my dogs' dinners, but now whenever I decide to have a tuna melt and open a can of tuna my dogs think they are getting an extra meal and come sit by me very expectantly. Then when they realise it's my meal, they sulk.:rotfl:

Frugalista

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

- still, I was hungry, so I cut the end off that the dog had chewed and ate the rest!:rotfl:

Been there, done that!! (More times than I care to mention)!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

PS: OP, there is a company called Fish4dogs - not sure if it is complete food or just treats - I'm sure you could Google it. It may give you more information about which fish is safe (or not).

Barneysmom

Any fish is good, my dogs love it.

Mr. M's do salmon trimmings and you get loads for £1 or so. Enough for 2 goes easily.

moomin5

My dogs love fish, they have salmon & potato dry food which seem to suit them and we add in sardines/mackeral which gives them a beautiful shiny coat. They also love the fish4dogs biscuits/fish skin rolls, but be warned they pong.

Just watch the salt content on the tinned so avoid fish in brine, go for the oil/water and i think the tomato sauce one is ok.

Found this from another dog forum i use;

There are also other concerns with feeding fish, such as the mercury level (typically these are the very large fish that live longer and thus have more time to accumulate mercury). Here's a quick list of the mercury levels:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp

If you are feeding fish for the Omega 3 benefits or to improve your dog's skin and coat, you want to stick to the dark oily fish rather than white fillets (which are typically more appealing to our human taste buds).

Paradigm

Fish is excellent for dogs.... low in fat, rich in protein & highly unlikely to cause problems with food intolerence hence it is included in many hypoallergenic foods.

Oily fish is better than white for everyone, not just dogs.

Feeding it exclusively can cause problems in the wallet though

Quinny_2

Stella loves the small tins you can get at the likes of the Co-Op,Asda,Tesco etc.

She especially likes the flavoured ones like tomato sauce,curry and the like,but she is a fussy eater,and will only eat them if she's in the mood.