Can dogs eat raw fish and salmon?

Yes. Raw fish is a normal part of a raw diet and the easiest way to get omega 3 fats into a dog. In the UK the rules are short: freeze it first, go for small oily fish most of the time, keep the thiaminase fish occasional, and skip anything smoked or large and predatory. Here is the detail.

Updated 31 October 2026
6 min read
UK freezing rules for raw fish checked

The short answer

Sardines, mackerel, salmon and trout are the fish to use, one or two meals a week, frozen for at least 3 days at home or bought frozen. Small fish go in whole, bones and all. Salmon poisoning disease is an American problem that does not apply to UK fish. Herring, sprats and whitebait are fine occasionally but contain thiaminase. Tuna and the big predatory fish carry mercury. Smoked fish carries salt.

Which fish, and which to skip

Fish	Raw?	Notes
Sardines, pilchards	Yes	The easiest fish for dogs. Whole, bones and all. Frozen from fishmongers and raw suppliers, or tinned in spring water.
Mackerel	Yes	Oily and rich. Whole small ones or fillets. Fatty enough to loosen stools if the dog is new to it.
Salmon, trout	Yes, freeze first	Farmed UK salmon is fine raw once frozen for parasites. Skin on is fine. Not smoked.
Sprats, whitebait, herring	Occasionally	Good omega 3, but these contain thiaminase, an enzyme that breaks down vitamin B1. Fine as a treat, not as the weekly fish.
White fish: cod, haddock, pollock, coley	Yes	Lean. Useful for diet dogs and the lowest fat fish option. Less omega 3 than oily fish.
Tuna	Rarely	Large predatory fish accumulate mercury. A spoon of tinned tuna in spring water occasionally is fine. Not a regular fish.
Swordfish, king mackerel, shark	No	Highest mercury fish. No reason to feed them when sardines exist.
Smoked salmon, smoked mackerel	No	Salt. A 20 kg dog does not need a day of sodium in a strip of smoked salmon.
Shellfish: prawns, mussels	Cooked only	Raw shellfish carry more bacterial and viral risk than fish. Plain cooked prawns shelled are fine as a treat. Green lipped mussel is sold dried as a joint supplement.
Fish in batter, breadcrumbs or sauce	No	Oil, salt, often onion in the sauce.

Freeze first: the one rule that matters

Wild and farmed fish can carry parasites, the best known being Anisakis roundworm. Freezing kills them. UK food law requires fish that will be eaten raw or lightly cooked by people to be frozen to minus 20°C for at least 24 hours, or minus 35°C for 15 hours. A home freezer sits around minus 18°C, so leave fish in it for 3 days to be sure. Anything bought frozen, including the frozen fish blocks raw suppliers sell for dogs, has already met the rule. Fresh fish from the counter has not, so freeze it before feeding. The one exemption the FSA allows is farmed, pellet fed Atlantic salmon, which is reared without exposure to the parasites, so a fresh fillet of farmed Scottish salmon is the one fish you could feed without freezing. Freezing it anyway costs nothing.

Freezing does not remove bacteria. Fish is handled like any raw food: fridge defrost, separate board, wash up, bowl lifted after 20 minutes. The handling guide covers it.

Salmon poisoning: why the warning does not apply here

Search for raw salmon and dogs and you will find alarming pages about "salmon poisoning disease". It is real, and it kills dogs, but it is geographically specific. The disease is caused by a bacterium carried inside a fluke that infects salmon and trout in rivers of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The fluke's life cycle depends on a snail that lives only there. UK farmed and wild Atlantic salmon do not carry it, and the disease has never been found in Europe. The precaution that does apply to UK salmon is the freezing step above, for ordinary parasites.

Thiaminase: sprats, herring and whitebait

Some fish contain thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys thiamine (vitamin B1) when the fish is eaten raw. The species lists vary between sources, but herring, sprats and whitebait appear on all of them, while salmon, trout, sardines and mackerel appear on few or none. Fed as an occasional meal, thiaminase fish do no harm, because the rest of the diet supplies thiamine. Fed as the only fish several times a week, over months, they can produce a deficiency, which is how the problem was first found in cats and farmed mink. Cooking destroys the enzyme. The simple rule is to make salmon, trout, sardines or mackerel the regular fish and treat sprats as an extra. Tinned sardines in spring water have been cooked in the tin, so the question does not arise with them.

How much fish

Fish counts as muscle meat in the 80/10/10 ratio. Replacing one or two meat meals a week with fish, or putting fish at about 10 percent of the weekly total, supplies enough omega 3 without unbalancing anything.

Dog weight	Daily food	Fish per week (10%)	Looks like
5 kg	125 g	About 90 g	2 sardines
10 kg	250 g	About 175 g	3 to 4 sardines
20 kg	500 g	About 350 g	A small mackerel, or a tin of sardines twice
30 kg	750 g	About 525 g	A salmon fillet and a mackerel

Oily fish is fatty. For a dog that is overweight, use white fish or smaller portions of oily fish, and see the low fat guide.

Fish oil instead?

If your dog will not eat fish or you would rather not handle it, a fish oil or salmon oil supplement gives the omega 3 without the fish. Dose by the label, keep it in the fridge once opened because the fats go rancid, and add a little vitamin E if you use it long term, since omega 3 oils use it up. Whole fish brings protein, vitamin D and minerals as well, so it is the better option if the dog will eat it.

Sources

Food Standards Agency, freezing fish, fishery products and treatment for parasites, the freezing requirements for fish eaten raw
Retained Regulation (EC) 853/2004, Annex III, Section VIII, Chapter III, part D: freezing treatment for fishery products to be eaten raw
MSD Veterinary Manual, salmon poisoning disease in dogs, on its geographic range
GOV.UK, raw pet food: handling and hygiene guidance

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can dogs eat raw salmon?

Yes, in the UK. The warning you will read online about raw salmon comes from North America, where salmon in the Pacific Northwest can carry a fluke infected with a bacterium that causes salmon poisoning disease in dogs. That parasite is not present in UK or Atlantic salmon. The UK precaution is simpler: freeze the fish before feeding it raw to deal with any parasites, as the law already requires for fish sold to be eaten raw by people.

Do I have to freeze fish before giving it to my dog raw?

Yes, unless it has been frozen already. UK and EU food law requires fish intended to be eaten raw to be frozen to minus 20°C for at least 24 hours to kill parasites such as Anisakis. A domestic freezer runs at minus 18°C, so 3 days is a sensible home equivalent. Frozen fish from a supermarket or raw supplier has already had this done. Fresh fish from the counter has not.

Can dogs eat raw fish bones?

Small fish bones, yes. The bones in a sardine, sprat or small mackerel are soft and a dog crunches straight through them. The spines of large fish such as a whole salmon or a big cod are a different matter and can lodge, so feed those as fillets or remove the backbone. Cooked fish bones are harder and sharper than raw, so no cooked fish on the bone.

How much fish should a dog eat a week?

Enough to supply omega 3 without turning the diet into a fish diet. One or two fish meals a week, or around 10 percent of the weekly food, is the usual range. For a 20 kg dog on 500 g a day that is about 350 g of fish a week, roughly 3 or 4 sardines across two meals. Count it as muscle meat in the ratio.

Is raw fish good for a dog's skin and coat?

Oily fish is the main natural source of EPA and DHA, the omega 3 fats that most raw diets are short of because farmed meat is low in them. Owners who add oily fish or fish oil often report a glossier coat and less itching within a few weeks. It is one of the few supplements to a raw diet with a sound reason behind it.

Can dogs eat raw salmon skin?

Yes, raw or plainly cooked. It is mostly fat and collagen and carries much of the omega 3. Skin from smoked salmon is out because of the salt, and skin from a fish cooked in oil or seasoning is out for the same reason as the flesh.

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