Last Updated on March 9, 2023 by Woody Pet

Can Dogs Eat Tunaa?

You have just gotten back from the grocery with bags of newly-bought food and all sorts of supplies. As you lay the bags on top of the kitchen counter unload them and sort them accordingly as to what goes to the fridge, the freezer, the drawers, the cupboard, and the pantry.

As you start sorting the cans that have not yet been eaten, you stumble upon an old can of tuna. You check the label if it has expired or not. It hasn’t. And then a thought occurred in your mind:

“Can dogs eat tuna?”, to which the obvious answer is yes because tuna is meat and dogs love meat.

There was a reason why you bought that can in the first place, but now that you have forgotten about it, would it not be a good idea to feed it to your pet instead?

In this blog, we are going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of feeding your dog tuna.

Tunas Aren’t Just For Cats, They’re For Dogs, Too!

You heard it right! Cats are not the only pets that get to have dibs on tuna, because your canine companion is most likely going to be drooling once it sees tuna being served in its bowl. 

There is actually a good chance that whatever product of dog food, be it commercial or locally sourced, may in fact contain some tuna. As to what parts of a tuna are included is not very well established, but due to the distinctive scent that dog food and cat food have, you would be surmised to say that some guts and innards may be included in the mix.

With all the “mystery tuna” set aside, we must ask the age-old question: 

What makes tuna an ideal food for your dog?

Simple! It’s the protein. 

That’s not it, is it?

Apparently not. Tuna is rich in a fatty acid that’s called Omega-6. It is a type of fatty acid that aids in the overall mechanisms and functionalities that all the cells in the body do, this fatty acid is found all throughout both humans and dogs’ bodies, and by regular consumption of food that is rich in Omega-6 such as tuna, your cells as well as your dogs will be able to do their work and function properly.

Tunas Aren’t Cheap, You Know? Is It Worth The Big Bucks Or Is It Safe To Go With Canned Tuna?

It is true that fresh, raw tuna is not cheap, due to the manner by which they are caught by fishermen at rough, sub-zero seas with waves big and tumultuous enough to topple sailboats. 

It is also worth noting that tunas as a fish are notoriously evasive and cunning, which only adds to the trouble, and consequentially as well as the price by which they are eventually tagged as they become available to the everyday consumer. 

So, you are left with only canned tuna as a cheaper alternative if you would want to feed it to your dog.

Let’s say you have opted for canned tuna. Word of advice, pick the canned tuna that is placed in water, not oil. Even though both choices have some preservatives in them, the kind that is preferably safer and healthier due to it containing fewer preservatives and artificial additives and flavorings is the one enclosed with water. 

Tuna’s Good And All, But Is There A Catch? – There Is! Read More And Find Out:

If you have read the newspaper or have viewed some articles about the dangers of seafood, chances are, you might have heard about fish having mercury in them. 

As scientists have discovered, large fish such as tuna have trace amounts of mercury found within their bloodstream. This is due to how the food chain works. 

Industrial waste that is expelled from drain pipes often contains heavy metals such as mercury, and as the mercury makes its way towards rivers, which spill out of the seas and oceans, it often makes its way into small animals such as plankton, which are then eaten by shrimps, then eaten by small fish, and eventually eaten by larger fish such as tuna. 

The amount of mercury found is relative to size, so that means the bigger the fish, the more concentrated mercury is present in their bloodstream.

Companies such as canned tuna manufacturers have gotten a lot of complaints and have filed many kinds of lawsuits, and in response, they have developed a system wherein they are able to get rid of, or at least minimize mercury in contaminating their food products.

With such strict health codes being put in place, mercury poisoning by means of canned tuna consumption still persists, albeit in significantly fewer numbers.

With all that said, it is still advisable to take precautionary measures when feeding your dog canned tuna. One of which is minimizing the amount of tuna that you feed it, as well as prolonging the frequencies at which you feed it tuna. 

This way if the inevitable may occur, such as microscopically traced and insignificant amounts of mercury do make their way into your dog’s bloodstream, practicing the seldom frequency and minimization of tuna consumption by your dog should give the dog’s body enough time to flush the trace amounts out of its body. 

In conclusion, the query asks “Can dogs eat tuna?”:

It is advisable to feed tuna to your dog, due to it being non-toxic.

Although the many steps and efforts that canned tuna manufacturers have imposed to ensure the partial riddance of mercury from their products, it is recommended that you feed your dog tuna as less as possible in order to avoid mercury poisoning. 

As for the ideal type of canned tuna, the kind that is enclosed with water is preferable, not the sort that is enclosed with oil.

If you have access to raw tuna, it is best to lightly fry the tuna in minimal amounts of olive oil or butter. Do not add salts, kinds of garlic, or any sort of flavoring.