# Question about sardines....



## dogsbestfriend (Jul 21, 2007)

I give my dog a tin of sardines mixed in her food twice a week as a special
treat (and because it is good for her skin/coat).
Someone told me that giving a dog sardines/salmon too often isn't good.
Is twice a week too often? Should I change to once a week, instead? Thanks!


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## DelmarvaGold (Mar 7, 2006)

I feed sardines (packed in water) to my adults about twice a week. I wouldn't, however, give puppies sardines that often as they contain a lot of calcium.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

DelmarvaGold said:


> I feed sardines (packed in water) to my adults about twice a week. I wouldn't, however, give puppies sardines that often as they contain a lot of calcium.


I agree, and recommend as well checking the sodium content.


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## Celeigh (Nov 29, 2007)

I've never bought a sardine. I imagine Miley enjoys that! No advice from me about frequency, but Sue and Pointgold make excellent points.


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## Ash (Sep 11, 2007)

I would feed them once in awhile if I could stomach to open them.


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## Augustus McCrae's Mom (Aug 14, 2007)

DelmarvaGold said:


> I feed sardines (packed in water) to my adults about twice a week. I wouldn't, however, give puppies sardines that often as they contain a lot of calcium.


How much calcium is okay? I had been giving Gus and Charlie Brown (now 8 and 9 months) a large spoonful of yogurt mixed in with their food maybe twice a week, but when I heard too much calcium could be bad, I stopped giving it to them at all.


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

We raised Kimo (an American Eskimo) on sardines and tuna fish and can salmon sometimes 3X a week and we did the same for Sidney until at about a year and half of age when we determined through a lengthy food trial that he was allergic to fish protein and raw eggs... these gave him 'dirty ears' syndrome... but I believe its quite alright to feed sardines twice a week as a small addition to the normal rations. We tried to mostly use the stuff packed in spring water but on occasion we fed the ones packed in olive oil. If you feed too much, too often, it is possible to unbalance any balanced diet but a half a tin, twice a week for a full size Golden I wouldn't think would be any harm.

BTW, 3oz of sardines (w/ bones) carries the same amount of calcium as 6oz of yogurt... ~300mg. For some basis of comparison, a typical large dog might consume 5000-6000mgs of calcium per day. One tin of sardines per week then adds less than a 1% in total dietary calcium to the diet... I should think that quite safe.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

Mine get fish twice a week--salmon, mackeral or sardines. They love fish. They also get a spoon of yogurt in their breakfast every monring for digestion.


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