We often hear from families looking for creative ideas for healthy snacks for dogs.
In many ways, dogs are like humans. The wrong snacks, and a dog can get fat and develop disease. We don’t want that. Also, dogs get tired of eating the same things over and over again! Dogs also, like humans, can develop allergies to certain types of food if they eat it too regularly. Proteins are one of those potential allergens. And believe it or not, once a dog develops an allergy, those allergies can manifest in many different ways! We’ve talked a lot about our dog food recommendations, but the same rules can be applied to snacks.
Here are a few things you might notice if your dog develops a protein allergy:
- Skin problems: rashes, itching, scratching or sores on skin.
- Red eyes or sneezing.
- Ear problems.
- Problems with paws.
- Body odor.
- Stomach problems.
So we're always in search of new snacks for our 4-legged family members...
…and one of the best we’ve found is, believe it or not, SARDINES! Sardines can provide some variety in your pup’s diet while offering excellent nutrition. They’re easy to store and most dogs LOVE them!
If you’ve been wondering about feeding sardines to your pet, rest assured they’re one of the healthiest foods to share. They contain DHA and EPA omega-3 fats, which can benefit your pet’s health in several ways.
You can keep this simple; just add a couple sardines to your dogs meal a few times per week. The sardines will provide lots of nutrition including: Omega-3s, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and coenzyme Q10, besides the being an excellent source of protein.
Or, you can dehydrate them and make “sardine crisps”! The crisps will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to a week, and if frozen, for up to one month! (See the recipe and instructions here.)
A few words of caution, however...
As with anything else, feed these to your dog in moderation. There’s nothing wrong with a couple sardines every day or two for large dogs and maybe one sardine at a time for smaller dogs. But any more than that and you might run into problems. Sometimes dogs get spoiled, and stop eating their regular, dry dog food. And you don’t want stomach problems following a large meal of rich seafood!
Additionally, be sure to look for a couple things when you buy your sardines:
- Buy fresh, frozen sardines when you can. Or…
- Buy canned sardines packed in water or olive oil.
Be sure to read labels carefully and ALWAYS stay away from sardines packed in soy!
Watch for a future post discussing another healthy snack for dogs!
