Salmon Poisoning

If bringing salmon home is something new for you, and you have a dog, you should know that dogs should not be given raw salmon.

"Salmon Poisoning" is usually fatal in dogs.  Humans don't suffer from it.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/salmon.asp

Now back to your regular fishing chat..........

Pat

Thanks for the info,

I remembered reading about that in field & stream years ago, but only after reading your post.
Thanks for the reminder...
Ron

I've been debating this topic with my fishing and hunting buddies for years.  They like to feed the scraps from smoked salmon to their dogs, but I don't for the fear of salmon poisoning.  My friends argue that eskimos have been feeding salmon their sled dogs salmon for hundreds of years.

I have read the that the harmful bacteria responsible for salmon poisoning is more predominant in spawning salmon in the rivers as opposed to ocean caught salmon.

Personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry. No salmon for my dog.  Period!

You are correct Chuck that the intermediate host is a freshwater snail, however I have not read that the ricketsial organism that actually causes the illness goes away while they live in the ocean.  The impression that it is most common with migrating fish could come from the more likely contact between dogs accompanying people taking migrating fish in rivers rather than out in the ocean?  It's interesting that it does not affect us.

Apparently, if a dog survives an episode, it will have a significant immunologic response and should be able to tolerate future encounters. 

Thanks for the info Seabreeze! I am going to have two sad puppies come salmon season.

It really is wierd that dogs are affected. Dogs eat a lot of things that would give us food poisioning.


-Brian G

raw trout also, my friends dog got real sick from a reservoir planter.

My friends argue that eskimos have been feeding salmon their sled dogs salmon for hundreds of years.

They do, but they cook the hell out of it.  When I worked in AK our camp was about 0.5 miles from the Iditarod trail.  In the nearest town, Ruby, there were several "mushers".  They also do a lot of subsistance fishing in Ruby with fish wheels.  They do infact feed the dogs a LOT of salmon, but it is cooked to death in sort of a soupy-stewish mess that only a dog would eat!  Its about the only use for a ruby Chinook IMHO anyways, after 2000 miles in freshwater they are a little  mushy. YUCK.  They do however smoke them into real "squaw candy" in Ruby and it is delicious.  Proof that damn near anything smoked is delicious.

Yeah, I read years ago that salmon blood can kill a dog, but I always see people salmon fishing with their dogs on board. Seems risky.

I gave my land lord a whole salmon a couple of years back and they left it on the counter to marinate for about 5 minutes....they came back to see that the dogs got to it and cleaned it to the bones. Both dogs are still wagging their tails to this day. If I remember correctly, one of 'em threw-up but was fine after.

I also doggie-sit for a some of my friends and a few of them are breeders. The rules are plain and simple "NO PEOPLE FOOD FOR DOGS"

Really now, I'm not planning to poison the neighbor's dog

too late...I just reported you to PETA 

If you want the "pest" next door to "behave".....launch a big glob of peanut butter over the yard and listen to the beautiful sound of the crickets 

Yeah.  Salmon itself isn't poisonous to dogs.  If a salmon doesn't have the little evil thing in it, it won't hurt the dog.

And also yes, any anadromous fish can have the bug........and even Pacific giant salamanders.

Pat

 
 seabreeze,
  you have knowledge of the great pacific giant salamander!
 where do you live? as these animals are becoming more rare every year its nice to hear of another population somewhere.I see them on occasion while picking mushrooms along the rivers in our area. Not as many as when I was a kid screwing around all day by the river. Also dissapearing from our area is the common tree frog, Hyla sp.,used to be at dusk you could hear only the frogs, now it's hard to find a spot that SINGS any more and I miss it!
 Back to the thread,I have had a dog all my life and three that went everywhere with me got salmon poisoning, they all got sick and lethargic for a few days but pulled through never to contract it again. A lot like a dog bitten by a water moccassin or copperhead snake.

I'm down on Monterey Bay, so the Pacific Giant Salamander isn't what is in my streams.  They are up in the NorCal/WA corridor.  We have a smaller, long toed thingy.
Pat