Freeze-Dried Salmon for Dogs: What to Feed and How Much

Freeze dried salmon for dogs starts with the question people actually type, can dogs eat salmon, and the answer is yes, as long as the fish is plain and either cooked through or freeze-dried. Freeze dried salmon dog treats are the no-pan version of that answer: pink salmon with the water pulled out and nothing else in the bag. The rest of this page covers what counts as plain and how much a dog should get, with a stop at the fish counter on the way.

What salmon is, as a dog food

Salmon is an oily fish, and pink salmon is the smallest and most plentiful of the Pacific salmons. It is the one most often sold in cans. Fresh or frozen, it has a mild taste for a salmon and soft pink flesh that flakes along the muscle lines once it is cooked. A fillet carries a row of fine pin bones down the middle, and the skin is edible when it is cooked plain. Salmon also has a strong smell that builds as it sits.

Plain is fine, seasoned is not

The rule for salmon is the same rule we use for any fish on this site. Plain means cooked with nothing on it, or dried with nothing added. Here is what passes.

• Baked or poached salmon with nothing on it, cooled, with the pin bones picked out.
• Plain canned salmon packed in water. Read the label for salt and drain it.
• Freeze-dried or dehydrated salmon with one ingredient on the bag.

The skip list is longer, because salmon is usually cooked for people.

• Smoked salmon and lox. Both are cured in salt, often with sugar, and both are people food that happens to be fish.
• Salmon cooked with garlic or onion. They are common pan companions for salmon and the two we would not hand to a dog.
• Glazed or teriyaki salmon. The sauce is the issue, not the fish.
• Breaded salmon and salmon burgers, for the breading and whatever is in the binder.
• Sushi and poke. Raw fish under a sauce that brings salt and usually sugar.

Raw salmon from the fish counter

This is the question that comes up most at our table, and it deserves a straight answer. Fresh salmon at the counter is sold to be cooked. Our answer for a dog is to cook it plain, the way the list above describes, and let it cool before it goes in the bowl. People who already feed raw have their own rules, and the first-time section below covers who to ask.

Ours is freeze-dried. Freeze-drying freezes the fish and then pulls the water out of it under vacuum, and what is left is salmon with the water gone, light and dry. That is why a freeze-dried piece does not need a fridge.

What our freeze dried salmon for dogs is like

Ours is freeze-dried pink salmon, and the only ingredient is wild-caught pink salmon. We freeze-dry it in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and treats ship from us. It comes in one size, a 1.5 ounce pouch, and we list it for dogs and cats.

On our own scorecard it is a medium piece with a crunch of 3 of 5, the middle of our scale. Training value is 4 of 5. The pieces break in your fingers into small quick-reward sizes. It is lightweight and shelf stable, and it stays clean in a pocket, which is more than you can say for a bag of cooked fish.

The guaranteed analysis, as printed on the package label:

• Crude Protein (min): 66%
• Crude Fat (min): 9%
• Crude Fiber (max): 10%
• Moisture (max): 11%
• Metabolizable Energy: 3,020 kcal ME/kg (approximately 85.6 kcal/oz)

The feeding statement on the bag is short. Feed it as a treat or meal topper, not as a complete diet. Provide fresh water and supervise while feeding. We list it for adult dogs of all sizes. More of our treats are in freeze-dried treats for dogs.

How much by dog size

A common rule of thumb for any treat is about 10 percent of the day's calories, with the rest coming from meals. The label number to work from is about 85.6 kcal per ounce, and a 1.5 ounce pouch is not a big bag.

• Small dogs, under about 20 pounds. One piece, broken into crumbs and spread across the day.
• Medium dogs, 20 to 50 pounds. One or two pieces, broken up.
• Large dogs, over 50 pounds. Two or three pieces. Break them anyway if the point is training.
• Cats. A pinch of crumbs. A cat is a small animal, and a 1.5 ounce pouch is a long run of cat treats.

Those are starting points, not a prescription. A dog that gets salmon crumbled over dinner should get less of it as a treat the same day.

The first time

Start with one piece, or a few crumbs for a small dog or a cat, on a day when nothing else about the food changes. Then wait a day and see how it went before you make it a regular thing. If your dog eats a special diet, or you are set on feeding raw salmon, ask your veterinarian first.

Storage

Reseal the bag after opening and keep it in a cool, dry place. That is the whole storage instruction. Dry food pulls moisture out of the air, so an open bag left on the counter softens over time and a closed bag does not. No fridge, no freezer. A sealed pouch rides in a jacket pocket without complaint. The longer version is in how to store freeze-dried treats.

We built a separate site on this one treat: salmondogtreat.com goes deeper on salmon than this page does, and it sells the same bag.

Salmon questions

Can dogs eat raw salmon?

Fresh salmon from the counter is sold to be cooked, and plain cooked is the version we would put in a bowl. Our answer on raw is in the fish counter section above, and it does not change here.

Can dogs eat smoked salmon?

We would not. Smoked salmon and lox are cured in salt, often with sugar, and they are made for a bagel, not a dog. Plain cooked salmon or a freeze-dried piece is the same fish with nothing added.

Can dogs eat canned salmon?

Plain canned salmon packed in water is fine in small amounts. Check the label for added salt and drain the can. Treat it as a topper rather than a meal. Skip anything packed in oil or sauce.

Can dogs eat salmon skin?

Cooked plain, it is the same fish and the same rule applies. Skin that has been crisped in oil or seasoned goes on the skip list with the rest of the people-food versions.

Can cats have freeze-dried salmon?

Yes. We list ours for dogs and cats, and a cat gets a pinch of crumbs rather than a piece. More of our cat treats are in locally made cat treats.

Freeze-dried salmon or freeze-dried sardines?

Salmon is a piece of one large fish. A sardine is the whole small fish with the bones in, and usually the head on, which some people find harder to look at. They are different treats rather than a better and a worse one, and we go into the sardine side in freeze-dried sardines for dogs and cats.