The sound of octopus, “yum”. I don’t know about you, but the sound of “octopus” makes me cringe. And to think, can dogs eat Octopus? Really? One thing for sure is that octopus is a form of meat. And as you may know, most dog foods have meat in them (emphasis in chicken, beef, lamb or fish). You’re probably here because you either accidentally dropped some fried octopus on the ground and your pup ate it, or you’re actually that curious if it’s safe for them to eat one? Find out below.
Can Your Dog Eat an Octopus?
First and foremost, there are benefits to eating seafood. One, in particular, is that they are packed with Omega 3 and protein. Dogs need protein! As for Octopus, they provide only 2% fat and only 1% saturated fat. In other words, healthy fat, which is good fat.
Additionally, this type of seafood has a good amount of Vitamin B12. The benefits of having B12 for your pet is that it helps with digestion.
Lack of B12 can also lead to some serious issues such as fatigue, depression (yes dogs can have that), and or lack of appetite. Other sources of minerals include iron, copper, phosphorous and selenium. So in short, yes your canine CAN eat an Octopus. But does that mean that they should eat it on a consistent basis?
How Often Should I Give Them Octopus?
If you think about it, how often do you hear from your friends or colleagues that they feed their dogs Octopus every day? Probably close to none. Now I’m not a veterinarian, but there are other types of foods that can pack all the nutrients for your dog(s), and those are from dry or wet dog food.
My suggestion is that it’s not best to give your canine Octopus on a consistent basis. I fear that one, they’ll get used to it and soon enough they’ll no longer want to eat their regular meals.
And by doing that, they could have some type of deficiency in the long run since they’re only eating “octopus” rather than obtaining all their nutrients from the normal everyday dog food.
Second, a lot of seafood contain mercury! And for those that don’t know what that is, it’s poisonous metal that can cause some harm to the nervous system.
We’ve been advised that eating too much seafood can be dangerous for us humans, and so I would think the same would occur for our best friend. The last thing I’d want for you is to have your canine become extremely sick due to mercury poisoning.
If you’re really curious, below are several examples of human foods that a canine should avoid.
As you can see, based on the image above, seafood isn’t classified as toxic. But again, I want to emphasize that giving your pooch seafood consistently isn’t the best choice either!
Related Post: Harmful Human Food For Dogs
Some are pretty obvious such as Chocolate, and then there are those that you rarely hear that’s considered harmful.
Final Thoughts
All in all, there is a lot of nutritional value in eating an Octopus. But as I mentioned, your canine can get all of that from eating actual “dog food”. I don’t think eating Octopus can be detrimental to your pet’s health, but anytime something new is introduced to your dog, then they could have some type of reaction.
And with that, you should take them to the vet as soon as possible. There are plenty of popular dog food brands out there that carry the right amount of protein and fat for your dog(s). And so you don’t have to just rely on Octopus.
Sources
- The 24 best dog food brands of 2021 – Care.com