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I've been buying canned, boiled oysters for my dog. They're farm raised in Korea and I'd prefer to buy locally harvested oysters, but everything I've found is raw. Why is this an issue? I do feed raw, after all. It's an issue because I'm a big scaredy-cat. We have red tide warnings here all the time; I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I know it ain't good and I don't want my dogs eating it.
I was at Costco recently and saw a huge jar of raw oysters sourced locally in the Pacific Northwest. That's closer to me than Korea and I don't have to worry about red tide. Winning! But I still won't feed them raw, but I can cook them. The question is – how badly will our house smell after I follow the below recipe?
Benefits of Oysters for Dogs
But first, let's talk about WHY I add oysters to my dogs' raw meals. Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Habib did a video (yeah, doesn't it seem to always start with them – hahaha) making a raw meal for Reggie and they added a can of oysters. I was stunned because I had never thought to add oysters and when I did a quick Google search, I found that oysters are a great source of zinc and other nutrients, including Omega 3 fatty acids.
So now I add oysters.
CLICK to learn more about the Benefits of Oysters for Dogs and to find Rodney and Karen's recipe.
Broiling Oysters without The Shell for Dogs
Ingredients
- 1 jar of raw oysters – medium oysters are less expensive than small oysters
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley
- 2 tsp of fresh oregano
Alternative Ingredients
- 1 jar of raw oysters
- Sprinkle dried parsley, dried oregano, and/or dried basil
Directions
- Set oven to 450 degrees F (232.222 C)
- Line oysters on a non-stick baking sheet
- Sprinkle oysters with seasons (dried or fresh)
- Bake oysters for 10 minutes
- Let cool.
- When the oysters are cool, transfer them to a Rubbermaid container and store in the fridge for a few days or the freezer.
How Many Oysters I Feed My Dogs
I thought cooking the oysters would make them smaller, but they kept their size. Currently, I split an 8 ounce can between my four dogs once a week. I'm not sure how many oysters are in the can, but I think each dog gets about 4-5 small oysters each. When I baked the medium oysters, I gave each dog one oyster (except Scout, who ate the two smaller oysters).
I also expected the oysters to stink up the house. Nope. The dogs were interested in what I was cooking, but the house didn't smell like oysters.
CLICK to learn more about the Benefits of Oysters for Dogs.
Can I Feed My Dogs Raw Oysters
I personally choose not to feed my dogs raw oysters because I worry about if they're safe. Cindy Hansen, one of my readers, recently reminded me to avoid eating raw oysters in the months with an R, this leaves the only a few months where raw oysters are okay: May, June, July, and August. That seems so strange to me so I just avoid raw oysters altogether.
When it comes to raw oysters in the jar, since I don't know when they were packaged and since I'm cooking them, I feel okay feeding them to my dogs.
Broiling Oysters without The Shell for Humans
If you like oysters too, here's a recipe that I might try for myself.
Ingredients
- I jar of small or medium-sized oysters
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp of fresh oregano
- a dash of red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup (or a little less) of extra virgin olive oil (save some for drizzling later
- 1 tsp of champagne vinegar
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Directions
- Preheat broiler.
- Chop up the herbs
- Mix herbs, red pepper flakes, oil, and vinegar in a large bowl.
- Add oysters to a large bowl toss.
- Transfer the oyster mixture to a shallow baking dish, sprinkle cheese over the oysters and season with black pepper.
- Broil until golden brown (about 2 minutes).
- Serve up!
Recipe Source: MarthaStewart.com
I mix oysters into their raw when I’m doing meal prep. Occasionally, I’ll bake oysters and split the total between four dogs in a meal. Please note that I give oysters for zinc and not for iron. Your dog is going through a transition and the stress may be leading to the loose stool. I’d be careful about adding a multivitamin to the mix because this can stress the system further. If you are feeding a raw food diet, then check out this post about how to transition your rescue: https://keepthetailwagging.com/transitioning-your-rescue-from-kibble-to-raw-dog-food/
Just curious you give each dog 4 oysters each day or through the whole week? The dog I just rescued is anemic believe due to malnutrition and the vitamins I got him I dont think have enough iron as it’s been one week and he still has loose stool and has been on pumpkins and goats milk as well. Just want to get more iron in him with out going over the dose
No, I’m only interested in food my dog could catch and find in my area. I won’t feed my dog deer, beef or bison, for instance.
And regarding manganese. manganese is ubiquitous in plants and animals. It’s even in the water.
It’s extremely rare for humans or dogs to be deficient in manganese. It’s more likely to have liver and neurological problems from to much manganese.
Without a hair test you’re just guessing at the dogs manganese level.
Dogs typically have 2-3 mg of manganese per kilogram of hair.
True carnivores – ones which don’t take baths using emulsifiers roughly once a month – and live out in the dirt their entire lives – with occasional rinses – have a concentrations of manganese which is order of magnitude higher.
The problem with testing hair from carnivores is the hair test can’t distinguish between manganese which is on the hair from manganese which is in the hair.
So to compare the manganese levels of a dog to a true carnivore is misleading at best – as is being done at a number of websites.
— Cinaed
I cook them too. I learned last year that Eastern oysters are a better choice than Pacific oysters so I did some research on where exactly in the US would have the highest valued oysters & I learned that Massachusetts is the best. I found an awesome vendor in Mass with high quality seafood that overnight ships to California. I add extra oysters on my human seafood orders for the dogs now!
In regards to the wolf commentary- Just because dogs evolved from wolves doesn’t mean we keep feeding the evolved and domesticated dog an exact mirror of the wild wolf’s diet. We domesticated dogs so we need to do our best to fill dietary gaps with the highest quality options we can offer via real food sources; such as high in zinc oysters. Though wild wolves don’t have someone to cook oysters for them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from them.
Studies have shown many wolves are actually pescatarians & they eat a lot of seafood. In fact, gray wolves actually eat more fish than meat when given the choice. I learned this in school but you can definitely find several sources just as easily as you found Kimberly’s blog.
Hope that helps you to look further into expanding the optimal ways you can bring better nutrition to your dogs.
Thanks for the comment. Because I’m in charge of my dogs’ diet, I look for sources of nutrients from various whole foods. Oysters are also a great source of zinc. Best of luck in your search for wolf nutritional information.
Of course, I may be misunderstanding your comment. If you’re looking for more information about wolf nutrition, this isn’t the right resource because this is a blog about what I feed my four dogs. For more information about wolves, I highly recommend the following resources:
– Wolf Haven International: https://wolfhaven.org/blog/
– International Wolf Center: http://www.wolf.org/
I’m not sure how much into wolf nutrition these blogs go into; they’re just sites that I know of that discuss wolves.
Green tripe is excellent source of manganese – 12.5 ppm.
As a general rule, I never feed my dog cooked meat. If have to cook the meat, then I shouldn’t be feeding it to the dog.
But who knows, maybe there’s a wolf somewhere on a ocean beach eating oysters and the pathogens don’t bother them.