Can Dogs Eat Seafood? Human food for dogs

  • Post category:Dog
  • Post comments:0 Comments
  • Reading time:6 mins read
You are currently viewing Can Dogs Eat Seafood? Human food for dogs

Seafood has become one of the popular elements in food menus in the past decade. Because of its health benefits and delicious taste. It is considered to be an alternative source of protein, and it is much healthier than a lot of other types of meat. Consequently, people project such belief on their pets thinking that seafood would have the same effect on animals as on humans. Some even wonder Can Dogs Eat Seafood?

1. What is seafood?

The most common definition and the most obvious one for seafood is anything eatable that is derived from the sea, be it fish, or seaweeds. However,  because of its variety, it is not enough to know what is seafood, you should pro

There are four common seafood types:

  1. Salmon,
  2. tuna,
  3. mollusks, and
  4. Crustacean

Each type has other varieties containing, basically, the same nutrition value.

Regardless of what kind of seafood you are eating or feeding your dog, they all possess the same benefits as well as side effects, for both humans and dogs. The major difference lies in weight and the immune system.

Seafood consists of small amounts of saturated fat, harmful fat, and more unsaturated fat, good healthy fat, than any other type of red meat. This healthy fat helps in reducing the chance of getting heart diseases. Fish, in general, are a great source of calcium, protein, niacin, selenium, and Omega-3 fats that are very useful for your dog.  As a matter of fact, giving your dog a whole fish is the best way to give your dog Omega-3 fatty acids, even better than giving it fish oil existing in canned dog food, which is usually unstable and can become rancid easily.

2. Can dog eat seafood?

Can dogs eat seafood? YES, they can, but with conditions:

  • Moderation is the key to all food problems. The amount of seafood depends on the size of the dog, for instance, large dogs can eat more shrimp and tuna fish than what a small Chihuahua would eat. Therefore, the dog’s size is the first thing to consider.
  • Seasonings are not recommended by veterinarians because they can cause serious problems like trouble with indigestion.
  • Do not ever feed your dog raw fish! For example, Salmon, If it is served raw, the dog would probably get poisoned because it contains harmful parasites.
  • Seafood contains considerable amounts of mercury in their bodies.  Like we have discussed in can dogs eat tuna fish? the article, Mercury is a poisonous metal that, with regular consumption, can damage the dog’s nervous system.
  • Sodium is the major component of most processed food. A normal canned tuna has 200 milligrams of sodium per 2.5 ounces serving. Despite the fact that we can feed our dogs tuna, we should probably give it to them on rare at least a few occasions.
  • Seafood is salty by nature and this type of food can lead to excessive urination which could cause, in the long term, sodium-ion poisoningsymptoms of such illness are: diarrheavomitinghigh temperature, and rarely causes death.

3. Precautions

  • Most, if not all, veterinarians recommend serving your dog cooked seafood only, because the heat will kill any parasites or bacteria that live in the raw fish.

  • Some spices and seasonings can make your dog ill, therefore, if it happened that you are eating seafood next to your dog try to prepare an in advance plain seafood dish to serve to your dog, so you won’t feel guilty.

  • If you have never exposed your dog to seafood, then you should start with very small amounts to see how the dog reacts, because your dog may have a seafood allergy that you don’t know of.

  • Seafood should be served in moderation.

  • You may want to check if the seafood has bones or shells because it’s important you take them out before giving it to your dog. Bonesand shells in general, can cause a major obstruction inside of your cannin little friend, might even lead to shocking hazard!

 

Can dogs eat seafood? Yes, but remember, before you start giving your dog anything, try to look for it first and have the appropriate research so you won’t hurt your dog in any way.

Leave a Reply