# Ranger's Tribute to Daisy - Eating a Raw Fish



## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

After Jo Ellen's cute video of her adorable Daisy eating a raw mackeral, I decided to give it a try with Ranger. His fish was a little smaller (only 5 oz) and frozen, but he definitely enjoyed it. In fact, I'd say it's his new favourite food!

Here are some pics of Ranger eating his raw fish:

"Mmmm, I don't know what that is but it smells GOOD!"


Going for the best part first - the head.



Ranger's look of bliss - glazed eyes, drool everywhere...headless fish.


"The best part is gone, mom."


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Aw, well this is a wonderful tribute to Daisy! :bowl:

Headless fish LOL

Daisy's out of mackeral for the time being, can't even find any at the grocery store but she's getting a daily scoop of tripe with her meals, and honestly, I can't tell which she loves more now! 

Dogs are so gross, but oh how we love them! :wave:


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Ranger thought canned sardines were good, but this is a whole new level of tastiness! He's very grateful to you for posting that video and inspiring me! I'm already making a list of things to get on our next shopping trip to the asian market - I might grab a BIG mackeral this time.

Oh yeah, the tripe...so stinky! Ranger got some yesterday and had tripe burps for the rest of the day. Deliciousness.

How often do you feed Daisy fish?


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Oh am I glad I already ate breakfast!!! I can handle almost anything but the thought of my dogs tearing the head off of a fish is just kind of ....morbid!! Well, I suppose I could just not watch.....

So glad Ranger enjoyed his fish....certainly looks like he did!!!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

It actually wasn't too gross, suprisingly! It was frozen so he just kinda chewed on it happily. He ate it pretty quick, too. I found feeding him the pork lung the other day was grosser! He really liked playing around with it before he ate it - gross!


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Ranger*

Very Cute!

I'm in love with Ranger!


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I like to give Daisy a fish meal every week. Though when she's fishing at the lake, she gets fish several times a week. All they have at the grocery store now is tilapia and I have no experience with that so still just thinking about it.


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## Katie and Paddy's Mum (Mar 31, 2010)

hahaha, I just love that first picture where he is licking his lips. He's like "wow, what kind of delicacy does she have for me now?!" 
What a very lucky boy.

Katie and Paddy both love their canned mackerel. But I bet this was a whole new experience for him. 
As always he looks amazing ...

and yea, the pork lung would have definitely had my stomach in twists!! 

I kept meaning to ask if you tried the tripe patties yet? Aren't they much stinkier than the canned stuff? Then again, I let mine defrost - maybe I should have just given the whole raw pattie itself (might not have stunk up my whole kitchen!!)

Kim


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Aw, thanks Karen!

Jo Ellen - Ranger is loooving his mackeral meals! He's getting another one tomorrow...trying to clear out the freezer so we can go get more on Saturday!

Kim - I love that first pic, too. It's so rare for him to lick his lips like that - I've never seen him do that before so was happy to get it on camera!

He's getting more creepy things this week - pork tongues are on the menu this week, too!!


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Haha, something about mackeral and lip licking  This is just after one of her mackeral dinners....


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## newgolden (Jul 2, 2010)

omg - love the one of him licking his lips just waiting for that fish!!

So fish...at what age would a person recommend a whole raw fish for a dog?? I'd love to give Sawyer raw fish (and in no short supply here on the Atlantic), but I'm afraid his tummy might not be happy with me!!

Also, what kind of fish - I keep hearing mackeral here but what about trout, salmon (though I'm not sure i'd spend the money on salmon and then give it to the dog), anything else??


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## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

Ugh! I know Ranger loved that fish but ... I don't think I could handle watching mine decapitate a fish! 

Darby found a sand shark washed up on the beach and I thought he was going to grab it.... I gave him such a "LEAVE IT" a wind surfer dropped his sail. Darby did not grab the fish - TG!!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

From what I've heard, fresh salmon can have parasites in it so it has to be frozen at a certain temperature for a few weeks to kill them. Jo Ellen also told me that some fish have harder bones than others, which is why I started with mackeral since the bones are softer. Ranger also gets tinned sardines a few times a week - he likes the mackeral more!

Daisy looks so cute!! I just love her sweet face!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Muddypaws - Ranger once grabbed a dead, stinky, decomposing sea gull! I kept telling him to "give" and he kept looking at me, waiting for me to put my hand out since that's how I taught "give"! I eventually pryed it out of his mouth with a stick, then went home and started working on "drop it" - no hands required!


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

newgolden said:


> So fish...at what age would a person recommend a whole raw fish for a dog?? I'd love to give Sawyer raw fish (and in no short supply here on the Atlantic), but I'm afraid his tummy might not be happy with me!!
> 
> Also, what kind of fish - I keep hearing mackeral here but what about trout, salmon (though I'm not sure i'd spend the money on salmon and then give it to the dog), anything else??


If your dog has never had fish, I would start with something small and soft, like a butter fish. Check with your grocery store, seafood section. Trout is good too, but rather large sometimes, I think I'd stay with smaller fish for an inexperienced dog but that's just me. Salmon ... I never give my dog raw salmon. I know it's just the Pacific salmon that is harmful (even fatal) to dogs but I don't take any chances. If I feed salmon, I cook it first. Daisy loves that dark skin yuck stuff underneath :bowl:

I've been seeing tilapia at the grocery store lately, wondering about that. Anyone given their dog raw tilapia before? 

And there's always the trusty sardine : Even a very young puppy can handle a sardine! Not sure about what age to start feeding whole raw fish, I'm going to let someone else answer that. Daisy was catching her own fish by the time she was 1-1/2, but I'm sure she could have handled it well before then.

I definitely stay away from whole catfish and walleye ... bones are just way too hard, rock hard. If I can bend the fish in my hands, I'm comfortable giving it to my dog. Everyone always asks me about the fish bones but honestly, Daisy has eaten 100's of fish in her lifetime and has never had a problem.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

It's official - the mackeral is Ranger's new favourite! He just got another mackeral meal this morning and is now sitting next to me, burping and licking his lips non-stop. Of course, he's doing this right in my face just so I can fully appreciate how delicious it was. He's worried his non-stop drooling before, during, and after the meal wasn't enough of a sign.

I guess I'll picking up more fish on Saturday. Now I need to decide whether to get mackeral again (a known favourite) or try something else.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I'll be sure to let Daisy know how much she's contributed to the quality of Ranger's dining experience  My sweet girl, she does leave a legacy in her path, doesn't she :heartbeat


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

Don't know how I missed this thread. 

Sam used to eat minnows right off of our local beaches. He was pretty good at catching them.
I never bought larger fish, we always caught ours. I've given bluefish, rockfish, spot, croaker, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Not whole though, or frozen, just cut up fresh pieces. We don't fish as much as we used to so Ike isn't getting the fish that Sam used to get. 

I would think they prefer mackerel because it's so oily, which they seem to like better than less oily fish. Tilapia is a white fish isn't it? My father loves it and swears it's as good as flounder. I'd guess it's fine for dogs, raw or cooked.

*I just googled and found 2 opposing answers. A definite NO and a definite YES. ? Each posted answer did say that cooked is safe.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Being in a landlocked province, I have no idea about fish. I know next to nothing about them. Didn't know that some fish have harder bones than others, didn't know mackeral was oily (though that would certainly explain Ranger's love for it) and that some fish aren't...this is why I love this forum! So many different experiences contributing to the well-being of others. Ranger gives BIG tail wags to Daisy!!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Bumping this up for a funny fish story:

I gave Ranger two more mackeral fish for supper tonight. He's been eating the heads first for every fish I'd given him - all six. Tonight, the fish froze together head to tail and I couldn't seperate them with my hands (and I don't use knives anymore :uhoh so I just tossed them to him. He couldn't figure out where to start!! Everytime he picked up the head, he saw the tail of the other one, and would drop it. Then try to pick it up again, then drop it. It went on for about 10 minutes while I stared at him, wondering how he was going to figure it out. Being the problem-solver that he is, he eventually licked the fish until they split apart and then picked up each one seperately and ate the head first. 

That was 5 hours ago and now he's farting fish farts. I'm assuming he usually does and I just never noticed before since he'd get fish for breakfast then I'd go to work. He probably tooted in peace and quiet before...and now he's doing it on the couch next to me and, I'm sure, will do when he's on my bed later. I'll make sure he's pointing his nose towards the pillows tonight. I'd rather fishy breath than fishy out of the other end!


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

That is funny! I think it's very interesting this head first thing ... maybe it's very logical ... it's the biggest, crunchiest, gooyest part 

gooyest? LOL I have no idea how to spell that!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

We're out of mackeral so I'll have to pick up more fish on Saturday. I'm going to go over the list of "soft-boned fish" you gave so I know what to pick up. Maybe I'll get some BIG mackeral. I still love watching the video of Daisy chomping down on hers!


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

I was wondering about fish, now that I am making the foray into raw feeding. I was looking in my freezer and saw a huge fish head from a whole fish I bought some time back. I was going to use the head and make a fish stock.
I suppose it is too much bone and not enough meat for me to give it to Brooks?


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

Copper gets fish whenever I get off my lazy behind and go catch him some. He definitely eats head first.

Since we are not talking about a champion fisher here, there has been no worry about the fish being too big for Copper.
In fact, most of my "prize catches" probably look a little like bait. Good thing copper loves me unconditionally.

Ignutah - I don't know about the fish head since I only have experience with little fish. I'd think it might not be good for Brooks.
Maybe we'll take Brooks to Eastatoe creek (2 miles from my house) and I can catch him some bait size ones.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

I'll take you up on that and save my fish head for stock.


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