Raw Fish?

I was wondering if raw fish is safe for my dogs? Of course it is gutted and cleaned. I also freeze it to kill off any parasites. My dogs eat a combo of kibble and raw chicken, beef, turkey necks, and I've given them raw fish on a couple occasions. I've checked on other forums and there's always a mixed review. Some say yes it's fine... other's say no way. I just wanna be sure before I do it again. They seemed perfectly fine the first time with no changes in there stool!

 

I have before but never again, only fish I will feed now is jack mack. Be careful as to what kind of fish it is, pacific northwest salmon and trout are very dangerous if feed raw. The carry some type of bacteria that can harm dogs, forgot what it was called but look it up. I said pacific northwest cause if your close to what your handle says, I'm sure some of that gets shipped down by you. Frezzing doesn't kill all bacteria.

 

Thanks Mac! I know about the salmon and trout. I probably wont feed the fish until I get more info! I wanna make sure!

 

Thanks for this post. Could the zinc and mercury in the fish, if given too much, be toxic to the dogs?

 

only fish i have fed is catfish and other than worming often i had no problems

 

i used to feed Atlantic Mackerel back when i lived in NE. it was f.a.s. so there was no worries about bacterias and such.
the rule of thumb i have always heard is freshwater is ~risky~ ( due to mercury) while saltwater is safe ( provided it was Frozen At Sea or cycled at home)

 

Was the catfish caught by you or was it from the store? the fish that I gave my dogs was caught by me. It was a channel cat. I gutted cleaned and filleted it and gave my dogs roughly bout half pound each of the fillet. They loved it and there was no problem with there stool afterwards.

 

Not sure about either, but there is some type of bacteria that lives inside the fish, and it has nothing to do with the zinc or the mercury.

 

i caught it out of a pond behind my house, i never gave A LOT of fish just a little now and then

 

Here's a couple of interesting articles regarding bacteria in fish:

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/110509/fis_9_002.shtml

http://blogs.dogster.com/vet_blog_information_advice/is-it-safe-for-dogs-to-eat-fish/

 

Why are you gutting and cleaning it? I thaw fish to a cuttable, semi-frozen state (even finicky dogs that don't like raw fish will accept it that way) and feed everything but the fins and tail to the dogs. Guts, heads and backbones are where the value is in a fish. Just cut down the whole thing to bite sized pieces that work for your dogs and your patience.

 

Thats the one the first one

 

Raw fish can be dangerous if given alot of it. and depending what type of fish to. What i would be more concerned with would be mercury, here is a site that tells you what fish to stay away from. "mercury that may harm an unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system" Feeding fish to your pups, or pregnant bitches (talkin about dogs of course) could be very dangerous.
The bigger the fish, the longer its lived the MORE mercury he has become in contact with. Just some FOOD FOR THOUGHT

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/advice/