Can Dogs Eat Turkey? Plain Meat, Skin, Bones and How Much

People ask us can dogs eat turkey more than almost anything else in November, and the answer is yes: a small piece of plain cooked turkey meat is fine for most dogs. The skin, the bones, the stuffing and the gravy stay on your plate.

This page goes through the bird one piece at a time, then covers leftovers, deli turkey, raw turkey and how much to hand over by dog size. If you want the rest of the table too, our plate-by-plate Thanksgiving guide picks up where this one stops.

Can dogs eat turkey meat? Plain, yes

Plain means cooked turkey with nothing added after it came out of the oven. No butter, no herbs, no gravy. White meat and dark meat are both fine. Trim off any visible fat and pull out gristle or stringy tendon, then cut the meat into pieces about the size of a thumbnail. Most dogs swallow turkey whole, so the pieces need to be small.

The American Kennel Club writes: "Feed your dog small portions of turkey meat." That line is most of the rule. Small, plain, and never the main event of the meal.

Skin, fat and drippings

Skip the skin. It is the fattiest part of the bird, and it is where the butter, oil and salt went before the turkey ever reached the oven. The AKC writes: "Remove turkey skin. Too much fat (from the skin itself, plus any butter or oil used for roasting or frying) and seasonings are dangerous for dogs."

Drippings and pan scrapings are the same fat in liquid form. They belong in the gravy boat, not in the dog's bowl.

Bones

No bones from the roasted bird. The drumstick, the wing, the neck and the carcass all stay out of the dog's reach. We wrote a separate page on turkey bones that covers the reasons with sources and what to do after a carving, including where the carcass goes.

Seasoning, stuffing and gravy

Almost everything around a Thanksgiving turkey is seasoned. The bird itself may be rubbed with herb butter, soaked in a salt brine or injected with a marinade. Stuffing is bread cooked with onion, celery and sage, sometimes with sausage. Gravy is drippings, flour and salt. Any of it can have garlic or onion in it, and a smoked or deep-fried turkey carries its seasoning in the crust.

Salt is the part people forget about. The ASPCA writes: "Excessive salt intake can produce increased thirst and urination." A brined turkey is salty all the way through, so even the plain-looking meat from a brined bird is a smaller piece, or none at all.

How much turkey by dog size

Turkey is a treat and not a meal. A common rule keeps all treats combined to about 10 percent of what a dog eats in a day, and for plain cooked meat that works out to roughly this:

• Small dogs under 20 pounds: two or three thumbnail pieces.
• Medium dogs, 20 to 50 pounds: about a tablespoon of shredded meat.
• Large dogs over 50 pounds: about two tablespoons.

Those are amounts for the whole day, not for each person at the table. A dog that gets a piece from six different guests has eaten far more than any one of them meant. Give one person the job of handing it out.

Leftover turkey

The easy way to have something to give is to set aside a few slices of plain meat before anyone butters or gravies the platter. Keep it in a covered container in the refrigerator, serve it cold and chopped, and use it within a day or two. Meat that sat on the table for hours is for the people, not the dog.

Deli and lunch turkey

Skip it. Sliced deli turkey is cured or brined, and it is often flavored with garlic or onion powder. If you want turkey in a package for the dog, a plain breast cooked at home does the job without the salt.

Raw turkey

Skip raw turkey too. The ASPCA writes: "Raw meat and raw eggs can contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli." A thawing turkey drips onto the counter and the cutting board, so wipe both down and wash your hands before you touch the dog's bowl. If the dog is getting turkey from the bird, cook it plain first.

The first time

Start with one small plain piece on a day when nothing else new is going on, and then wait a day. If everything is normal, give a little more next time. If your dog is on a special diet or has had trouble with a food before, ask your veterinarian before you start.

Turkey for the dog while people eat

The simplest way through the dinner is to give the dog its own turkey, so nobody passes anything under the table. Ours is Freeze-Dried Turkey Heart. The only ingredient is turkey heart, halved so each piece is a bite, and we freeze-dry it in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It comes in one 1.5 ounce bag.

Heart is muscle meat, not organ, so it eats like a lean piece of turkey and breaks clean. On our scorecard it gets 3 of 5 for crunch and 5 of 5 for training value. We list it for dogs of all sizes, adults and puppies, and for small dogs or cats you break a half in two again. Store it at room temperature in the resealed bag and use it within about a month of opening.

Turkey questions

Is turkey skin okay for a dog?

No. It is fatty, and it is where the butter and seasoning ended up. Cut it off before any meat goes into the dog's bowl.

Are turkey bones okay for dogs?

No. Keep every bone from the roasted bird away from the dog, and put the carcass in a lidded can outside.

Can a dog have turkey from the Thanksgiving table?

Only plain meat, in small pieces, set aside before the seasoning and gravy go on. Everything else from the table stays on the table.

How much turkey can a dog have?

A few thumbnail pieces for a small dog, about a tablespoon for a medium dog and about two tablespoons for a large dog, all counted inside that 10 percent treat rule.

Can a dog have deli turkey?

We say skip it. It is salted and sometimes flavored with garlic or onion powder, and plain turkey cooked at home is an easy swap.

Can puppies have turkey?

Once a puppy is eating solid food, one small piece of plain cooked meat is handled like any new food: one piece, then wait a day. We list our freeze-dried turkey heart for puppies as well as adult dogs.