Sardines help

[Madhousemummy]

Thought I would treat my dog to some sardines as he seems to have went off his kibble. Split a can between dog and my cat and they both loved them they have never had sardines before. Now just realised they are in olive oil and worried as I don't think dogs should have olives. Should I be worried and quick help would be appreciated thank you

[Pestilence13610]

It is meant to be good for their coats.
I had a DF who feed to feed his cat sardines in tomato sauce, it was the healthiest 18yo cat I have ever met.

[Bubble2bubble]

My dog has a tin every other day - either in sunflower oil or olive oil. I started it because he was incredibly skinny, but now he's a bit addicted actually...
Never heard there's any problem.

[Madhousemummy]

Thank you and I'm delighted it's ok he wolfed his dinner down with gusto! I really don't mind if he gets addicted if it's good for him and seeing him eat with enthusiasm was a delight he has only been eating his kibble for the last week or so when he was really hungry - would try another brand but we bought loads of it last time Millies wolfheart haf 5% off
Is it ok to feed it every day will was thinking of getting a supply of sardines, tuna and salmon just to top the kibble.

[Hoppinggreen]

I add some to my Goldies kibble about 3 times a week. His coat is beautiful ( unlike his breath)

[Madhousemummy]

Haha hopping I have had a kiss from the dog tonight it wasn't pleasant.

[shockingsocks]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the recommendation is only three times a week.

[Rumtopf]

My gsd has a tin in with his kibble every third day or so. It's either sardines in olive oil, or tomato (whichever I can pick up cheaply on offer).
He's not keen on plain kibble now so I bought a bag of "meaty chunk" type food and chuck a handful of that in with it which seems to improve things for him. Or else I chop up a carrot and an apple and throw that in for a bit of variety.

[Adarajames]

Having fresh raw sardines is even better for them my girl (pointer X) goes crazy for raw fish, she has this special ultra excited face for it!

Think with olives it's the stone you need to watch

[Madhousemummy]

Thanks both I will try the veg too I know he loves peas as the toddler takes great delight in dropping hers for him. With the fresh sardines adar do you need to freeze them first then defrost before giving them?

[TheCatsBiscuits]

I read somewhere that tomatoes help to neutralise the grass-killing component of female dog wee, so always went for the sardines in tomato sauce. Lidl do small tins of sardines for about 40p - I used to split one between my two dogs a couple of times a week, rinsing the tin with hot water and pouring it on top of the kibble for extra fishiness. Gorgeous glossy coats and fishy kisses urgh !

[Adarajames]

I don't generally freeze them, use is usually frozen when caught and doesn't usually carry any parasites that could cause dogs problems, but if unsure then you can freeze and then defrost to feed. I've given them still partially frozen in hot weather, means ah has to chew
More too rather than just swallowing it!

[Madhousemummy]

Haha fishy kisses!
Thanks again last question I promise I went into Morrisons they didn't have fresh sardine but did have fresh sprats are these pretty similar to the sardines. I've just gave the cat one but he doesn't not look impressed

[Adarajames]

Lol some take longer than others to get used to raw, can make a few cuts in it to help him get into it?

[Madhousemummy]

Adar that worked a treat and he ate most of it. He can gleefully disembowel mice, birds and shrews but just looked at the whole sprat in horror

[Shriek]

Raw is great and endows great benefits as you describe but shoild not be mixed with what is an already completely balanced set of rda's in a 'complete' dry food. Thisnwill meam going way over the recommended protein limits, fats, etc amd can cause probs laater. If you are not happy they look not healthy enough on 'complete' then dump it for raw but dont set yourself up to future illness by continually feeding out of balance diet and exceeding very important rda's which can be dangerous

As regards smelly breath that indicates illness of some sort (unless just fishy kisses!)

[Madhousemummy]

Shriek this is what the lady who runs the puppy classes I took ddog too always said well not the raw she didn't advocate that at all (she wasn't keen on high protein even thought my 60/40 Millies was going to make dog hyper )but said not to top the dry food with anything as it upsets the balance. My problem is my dog looks great on Millies but does not enjoy eating it but by mixing in tuna and the sardines he scoffs it. What problems does it cause I'm getting a bit confused with all the conflicting advice as lots of people seem to add to the kibble. I do want to try raw but as we are getting a puppy on fri I won't be making the switch for a few weeks as will keep pup to the food he is used to until he settles in.
In all honesty tho as wee often go away for weekends I would really rather feed kibble with toppers but obviously don't want to set dog up for problems later on.

[FuzzyFairy]

My dog recently went off his Millies kibble too. Totally uncharacteristic and it was after a short bout of sickness so we wondered if there was something wrong with the food. The bag we have is a 50/50 lamb mix.
Just curious if yours is also Lamb, Mad?

[Shriek]

On the whole I think dry food is very poor substitute for REAL food. I have seen many ddogs just not be bothered to eat it and I find that upsettinf that one of a dogs great joys in life is reduced to dry crunch. But the fact that so many people are now mixing it with add-ons just shows how unpopular it is with ddogs

I rear pups on raw but have to give dpups some of the dry stuff because of familiarisation to avoid upset tums when they have to go to their mew homes who will likely feed it (whereas it seems most breeders are only using real food to get pups onto complete! )

[Shriek]

Anything extra is going to take levels over the rda and will heighten levels that would show on blood profiling done by vets.

Pancreatitis is result of not coping with fats and these are finely balanced between fat types to ensure within safe ranges but then just adding random fats on top is risky obvs.

So why giving toppings which defeat object of scientificall balances diet? If ddog clealry dont like it feed something it does?

[Madhousemummy]

Thanks shriek I think I am going to switch in the next couple of weeks as seeing my dog enjoying his food brings me and him great happiness but the look of disappointment on his face when presented with dry kibble makes me feel awful. I just worry about getting the ratios right with raw. Is there any guidelines about transitioning a puppy over to raw too?
Fuzzy no lamb in ours but dog really has went off it won't touch it until really hungry even with Millies wet mixed through.

[Shriek]

You can make patties! Like any food change do it gradually. With dpups cos they have so many meals its easier to start substituting out one kibble meal for a raw one.

Get yourself a reference book like theBARF diet to get into the rudiments of the different approaches . Although I wouldnt try cold turkey approach on dpup obvs.

The idea being that ddogs convert protein to energy instead of relying on any carbs and can enjoy the scraps leftover from your own meals!

I love seeing them enjoy special foods. They love it all including apples carrots bananas nuts ....

[Madhousemummy]

Thank you shriek. I think I may start off with Nutriment and once they are established and hopefully enjoying raw will get more experimental xx

[pigsDOfly]

My dog was always fed on high quality wet food until she kept going off different foods so I thought I'd try a dry food.

At first she loved it but that didn't last long. I think she found the dryness boring, so I now add some warm water to it. It brings out the flavour and obviously, makes it less crunchy, which she seems much happier with.

She never eats with gusto the way some dogs do though, and if she's had enough she'll just leave the rest; I think she just doesn't have a huge appetite.

[weegiemum]

I remembered this thread at lunchtime as I was having sardines on toast (my gran lives on....) and had half a can left. Labradoodle of 6 months isn't really enjoying his kibble but will go mad for anything else, so just now i tried mixing a large sardine with the kibble and he's eaten the lot!

Will try wetting the kibble too, just saw that on here. He's very lively but not finishing his meals - have a huge bag of Millies Wolfheart to get through and don't want to throw it out!

[dudsville]

We get the sardines in spring water. It's still oily but just from the fish. And mmm, smells great doesn't it? (bleugh)