Feeding Mackarel (one off)

So since my freezer is loaded with mackarel - like the full fish head and all - how do you feed that - frozen or thawed?

Would it be ok (or a bad idea) to feed one to my pups as a treat (or i guess instead of a meal)? I think one fish is too big for Penny (38 pounds) but possibly ok for Rocky (80 poundS)? do I give half a fish to penny? we think they are about 400-600 grams per fisH (since she was told to feed one fish per meal) or could this lead to some...major issues? too much too quick?

Oh I feed kibble normally. I wouldn't feed fish and kibble (I know not to mix the two in a meal), the fish would be the meal. So likely something like breast at 8am (kibble) and then the fish in the evening (6-7pm).

We feed the sardines partially thawed and cut up. Heads, fins and tails. We use a large cleaver on a cutting board. Our Lab eats it all. I have thrown him a fully frozen whole fish in the back yard and he scarfed it down. We tried totally thawed and he wasn't interested. I think it's a texture thing. Partially frozen isn't mushy or too hard. I think you would substitute the fish instead of one meal. One of our Newfs won't eat the fish at all. Our newly rescued Newf will eat it cut up but not whole.

You can feed either way, frozen or thawed. And honestly, I don't think it is harmful to mix kibble and raw in the same meal. But given the size of the fish, it would make sense to replace a meal with one.

I just throw them into a bowl, whole. My guys are not gulpers. I feed them thawed or slightly frozen. They LOVE them. You can feed them as a meal. I don't really count the bones as "bones", so I will often feed them with a chicken back or a wing or something boney.

Mr. Fatty Pants gets 2 - 3 for a meal (he is in the high 90s) and Linus, who is younger, more active, and has less of a weight problem, gets 3 - 4 for a meal. It all depends on the size of the fish and whether it's all fish or part fish. I save the little ones for the cat, so usually the dogs get the ones that around around 8 inches long, give or take.

I feed them whole and frozen. It will depend on if your dog. Enjoy!

thanks :)
Ok I may try to cut one in half for penny - probably will try this weekend (and a full one for Rocky).

Any issues with dogs not chewing enough and swalling a piece that i too big? (yes I am THAT nervous about everything haha)

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Originally Posted by Tanya

Any issues with dogs not chewing enough and swalling a piece that i too big? (yes I am THAT nervous about everything haha)

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They are pretty good at not choking, even if they do swallow a big hunk. If you are worried though, you can always cut it up in smaller pieces.

Mine don't. They are easy to cut up though, even just with kitchen shears.

thanks :) ok pups will have a yummy treats sometime soon :D

Have you considered feeding your Labs raw? You already have the freezer...

i had yes. even dabbled in prepared raw (from a farm). But then there were some potential health issues noticed in his bloodwork so I was even more gun shy on the topic. But years later it seems those issues are none issues...
i am mostly just nervous about the entire thing. I hear so many "theories" and opinions, hard to tell what's science and what's bro-science. and then sourcing the stuff...

Before we switched I had lots of questions and concerns too. Now I wouldn't go back unless we had to. One huge thing that I never realized was the difference in their poop. I know - gross subject - but with multiple dogs it adds up. The amount of poop was cut to less than one third the amount that it was on kibble. We had a can in the back yard with a large kitchen trash bag that had to be emptied weekly and it was super full. We change that bag every couple of weeks now. What that demonstrated to me so visibly was that the kibble was "garbage in" and "garbage out" and we fed good quality kibble. The other thing is that our dogs love it. We were putting toppers on the kibble to get our Lab to eat it. It started out as canned dog food on top of the kibble and by the time we were cooking chicken in the crockpot to top the kibble we knew it was time for a change. I think of people saying "just eat real food" and you'll be healthier. Raw is real food for dogs.

They LOVED it! no issues whastever. The fish were fairly large so Rock got one full fish and Pen got half a fish. I let them defrost about an hour.

Rock took awhile to get thru his fish and seemed to work to figure out how to eat it. Pen wasted no time - grabbed her half and walked to the other end of the yard and just dug in. I sorta like the "working for their food" aspect ;) Even if I don't do raw, maybe i can do fun fish nights now and then if I find a place to buy them :D

Awesome! Glad to hear!

uh oh. Rocky has bad diareah now. Fish was fed saturday night. Poops were ok sunday am but todays poops are bad. and getting worse.

That could definitely be the fish. When we started raw the poop got worse before it got better almost like they were detoxing. But if you only fed it to him on Saturday it should have worked it self out by now. Sorry you have to deal with that!

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Originally Posted by shelly

That could definitely be the fish. When we started raw the poop got worse before it got better almost like they were detoxing. But if you only fed it to him on Saturday it should have worked it self out by now. Sorry you have to deal with that!

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Live and learn. Fish was fed saturday night and the diarhea started sorta...Monday (poops Sunday were not great but not diarhea). It's pretty explosive still now so I am a tad worried. he wouldn't take food (rice/pumpkin) this morning (fasted him tuesday). I assume it may have strated because of the fish (or maybe because I also fed him tripe on Sunday so could be that or something else or a combination of things) but may just have irritated itself into something worse.

But Penny is all good so next weekend she will get the other half of her fish.

I gave my dog a semi-frozen meal once and he had a terrible diarrhea almost immediately :D

I admire people who feed frozen meals to their dogs (to be more precise, I admire their dogs), but I always feed meals at room temperature. I get the daily portion out of the freezer in the morning or at noon (depends on the season) and feed in the evening.

didn't realise frozen was an issue...
oh hey, do you feed the tail to or was I supposed to remove that?

So I was at the vets today as the diarhea had not cleared up and was getting bad. the vet apparently isn't too familiar with raw haha. "raw?". "no bones though?" "with the HEAD?". so she focused on the possibility of a bone having perforated his stomach or something about the fish. Sigh.