Homemade fish treats?

[gooeydog]

I bought a pack of these:
Dried Fish Strips from Petco last time I was there to get dog food, and the dogs love them. There are only 10 or so strips in a pack for $1.99 though, and between 5 dogs, that doesn't last long. I'm thinking I'll try just buying fish (we live on the water, so I can get the regular "store" types of fish as well as locally caught fish, plenty of variety), cutting it, and drying it out in the oven for the same treats. I was wondering if there are any types that I should avoid... I know this is a bit of a strange question, but just want to be sure I'm not going to make them sick :-?

Also, I'm giving Goo and Annie salmon oil as a supplement a once or twice a week, would there be enough omega 3 in something like these that I should stop that, or would it take a large amount of fish to do that? Currently I split a 1000mg capsule at about a 4:1 ratio between Annie and Goo, so Annie (13 lbs) gets approx. 200mg, Goo (55lbs) gets approx. 800mg.

[TDG]

the only fish problem i'm personally aware of is that you shouldn't feed salmon and other salmonids (e.g. trout) from the pacific northwest to your dog raw. they carry flukes that cause "salmon poisoning". these are killed off when the fish is cooked through tho.

as for fish oil, a normal daily maintenance dose is about 1000 mg per 20-25 lbs of body weight, depending on the concentration of omega 3 fatty acids in the product. much less than that and you don't get full benefits out of it, especially if the product you buy has a lower EFA content to begin with. if you are giving omega 3's to treat particular health problems (joint issues, allergies, skin problems), the doese would have to be significantly higher. that's why the EFA content of most commercial foods is mainly just a marketing gimmick - you can't possibly feed your dog enough of these products to get a dose high enough to actually be effective.

the same goes for glucosamine and chondroitin btw. it doesn't hurt that G & C are present in the food, it's just not worth paying a lot more money for a brand that has them but is otherwise of the same quality as one that doesn't have them.

if you want the benefit from feeding fish, you'd have to feed it quite often, but you would have the benefit of supplying a fresh, unrefined, unprocessed product.

[gooeydog]

So I should actually about double the amount of the oil I'm giving, and more frequently as well. I've read that you should give vitamin E with the oil if you're going to give more than a couple times a week so it's more easily digested, is that true, and what sort of dose would be needed for them to properly utilize it? I'm going to go ahead and get some fish next time I get out to the store to try and dry out for them, so we'll see how that goes as well (probably like everything else I cook.... charcoaly :lol: ).

[kendalyn]

Be careful feeding too much fish though. Mercury poisoning is a very real concern. Stay away from any sport or predatorial fish. They contain much higher levels of Mercury. The FDA says people should not eat King Mackeral, Shark, Swordfish or Tile fish at all. They also say people should not eat more than 12 ounces of other fish a week. I'm not sure what they would say about dogs, but most dogs are smaller than people so I would at least follow those recommendations.

I've seen people with Mercury poisoning when I worked at a doctor's office. There are lots of nervous system disturbances associated with Mercury poisoning. Changes in personality, loss of memory, tremors, difficulty concentrating. It's pretty nasty.

[TDG]

sorry gooeydog, i had meant to add some more thoughts to my post yesterday, but had to leave the computer in a hurry, so had to finish my post quickly. yes, you should add some vitamin E as well because it's an antioxidant and fatty acids are very unstable, so the body needs additional antioxidants to metabolize them. i give my (22 lb) dog one 500 IU capsule of vitamin E every other day. when buying, make sure you are getting natural vitamin E, which is better and easier utilized by the body and thus only needs to be given at about half the dose of synthetic vitamin E. anything that says "dl-alpha tocopherol" is synthetic.

also, kendalyn is right on in her post, heavy metal contamination in fish is a problem. unfortunately at the same time, fatty fish living in deep, cold waters are the best sources for omega 3's. human-grade fish body oil is the safest source, since the oil is molecular-distilled to remove contamination.

so you need to find a middle ground you are comfortable with between feeding fresh fish and giving fish oil. personally i do the fish oil because it's easier to keep on hand.

[gooeydog]

Thanks guys :)

I'm pretty poor (thanks to Annie and Goo who eat most of my paycheck :roll: ), so no chance of them getting the game fish, they're $$ around here. It is good to know what to avoid though, just in case. I think (at least for now, though homemade diets do interest me) these will just be treats, so no worries about them eating too much of it, and I'll keep them on their fish oil (which is human grade), and add in some vitamin E next time I get out someplace to buy some. Both of you helped a lot, thanks again.

[TDG]

gooey, i also have a link for you you might be interested in.

http://www.seapet.com/VitaminE.htm
this product is high quality fish oil with vitamin E and it is packaged in bottles. it's a lot handier than fiddling with different capsules (for fish oil and vitamin E) and a lot easier to feed in proper doses, especially if you have different sized dogs. this is the same grade fish oil the company also sells for human consumption, unlike for example the grizzly salmon oil, which is extracted from commercially farmed salmon that gets treated with antibiotics and other stuff.

the price is awesome considering what fish oild capsules and vitamin E capsules cost. :)