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OK, while I do feed generally "raw" in a recent discussion my vet said to feed "white fish" (we're in Fl and it's supposed to be a cooler meat) anyhow, do I really give raw fish to them?? I don't mind but it just seems dangerous as opposed to chicken and bones. I bought "talapi" (sp?) that is already boned.

 

Any input?

 

Thanks!

 

Karen

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OK, while I do feed generally "raw" in a recent discussion my vet said to feed "white fish" (we're in Fl and it's supposed to be a cooler meat) anyhow, do I really give raw fish to them?? I don't mind but it just seems dangerous as opposed to chicken and bones. I bought "talapi" (sp?) that is already boned.

 

Why does it seem more dangerous? Fish bones are smaller and much softer than meat bones!

 

I just hand them fish, whole fish - head, tail ... all of it. They love it.

 

RDM

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I'd think the most important thing in feeding raw fish would be freshness. At least when I eat raw fish, freshness is my main concern! :D For that reason, I'd stay away from tilapia. Most of it is imported, and I'd think in Fla. you'd have access to nice fresh fish. What about whiting? I remember catching alot of that the last time I was in Florida.

 

I think RDM's method sounds good. If fish bones would hurt you, I'm sure I'd be dead by now. :rolleyes: They're actually a good source of calcium, I'm told. Or you could feed shark - no bones, just cartilage.

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OK, thanks for the info! See, I hate fish myself, won't eat it, catch it or feed it so my not knowing is due to complete ignorance by choice up till now.

 

I will look at the "whiting", I haven't a clue what they are and the reason I bought the Talapi is it simply looked "whiter" in the cooler......

 

When you say "whole fish" RDM do you mean like catch it and toss it to them?? Is the Salmon they catch their dinner :rolleyes:

 

Thanks!

 

Karen

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I feed whiting to all of my guys - whole fish, gutted, head on. They eat it just fine. Althought the other day I bought some whiting from a ATL fish market, and it was cut into large chunks. Riley wouldn't eat it, she would start to and then stop. This has happened a few times with this fish so I think there must be something "fishy" about it. But the whole frozen whiting - like prey4pets sells they love!

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

My guys love whole, raw mackerel, and it's a relatively safe, nutritious fish for them. Tilapia is cheap but really lacking in the nutritional department and most of the wild caught tilapia is so contaminated I wouldn't feed it to myself let alone my dogs. I definitely wouldn't make a habit of feeding wild caught tilapia but it probably won't kill your dogs to have it every now and then, since it is cheap in most places ($0.99/lb here where it's plentiful).

 

Dinah, why gutted? That's an easy way to get the organs into a meal without having to add them separately. Plus, there are a lot of organs the dogs wouldn't otherwise get such as eyeballs, brains, etc.

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I definitely wouldn't make a habit of feeding wild caught tilapia but it probably won't kill your dogs to have it every now and then, since it is cheap in most places ($0.99/lb here where it's plentiful).

 

 

Uhhh, great, now I have to worry about contaminated fish...and please tell me that the price you wrote is a misprint??? You don't want to know what I paid for it here :rolleyes:

 

Karen

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Uhhh, great, now I have to worry about contaminated fish...and please tell me that the price you wrote is a misprint??? You don't want to know what I paid for it here :rolleyes:

 

Karen

 

Tilapia is rather not worth it actually, because it's a farm fed/raisied, basically grain fed.

 

White fish usually refers to cod when its mentioned in raw feeding. Variety is fine however, but per your question...that's what's it is.

 

I run fish larger than fresh sardines through the grinder. It suits my concerns about bones, and they get the whole thing.

 

Omas Pride sells these great packs of fresh frozen sardines. The dogs group around me and we play "feed the dogphin" :D

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

The price I typed is correct. In TX, Tilapia is in plentiful supply so it's very cheap. But as mentioned, it's a rather worthless fish to feed.

 

I have gotten HUGE raw sardines and the dogs like those, too. They were the perfect size for an entire cat meal, though, which was the real reason I got them.

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OK, so I am feeding a "worthless, possibly contaminated, cheap" fish that cost me a fortune :rolleyes: Well, won't happen next time. I'll go with the suggestions you all have given and I guess I will look for a fish market in this area.

 

Thanks for all the input.

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I feed my dogs and cat plenty of canned fish; mainly sardines, salmon, mackerel, tuna. Sometimes I will grab them whole fish from the "smelly fish selling shop" (no idea what they are actually called... its not a deli or a butcher :rolleyes:) and feed it to them whole. They love it. I don't see the point in grinding it though... that's what teeth are for. Dogs can get through anything if they put their mind to it lol especially fish bones.

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Don't mean to scare you guys, but I had to dissect a bunch of human quality fish 2 years ago. Virtually all of them had live, squirming, nasty little parasites in their guts. That turned me off of feeding raw whole fish to my monsters. I do sometimes feed canned whole fish (no added salt, flavoring, etc) as a treat. Maybe sushi quality fish is safe, but must be quite expensive.

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Freezing kills most parasites - not concerned about the odd one left in non-salmon fishes when feeding a healthy dog. If the dogs aren't healthy, then I'm cooking the fish anyway.

 

Most "human grade" meat products have parasites. I would be surprised if it didn't. Nature doesn't come very clean unless it's been over medicated and raised sterile - which has its own problems.

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