Any seafood lover keeps shrimp around for a delish dish for dinner. Certainly, that shrimp calls to your furry friend’s stomach as much as it calls to yours. You love your pup so you don’t want to scrimp on the shrimp. But, can dogs have shrimp?

The answer is yes. However, not every yes is simple. When it comes to feeding your pup some sizzly shrimp, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Why Can Dogs Have Shrimp?

The low calorie, easily digestible shrimp makes for a yummy treat.

Shrimp contains generous amounts of beneficial minerals that aid your pup’s metabolism and bone and teeth strength.

Specifically, shrimp contains iron, calcium, and phosphorus. The iron and phosphorous work to maintain a strong metabolism for your dog. The calcium aids your dog’s bone and teeth strength, like it does in milk.

Just like your parents encouraged you to drink milk to build strong bones, you want your furry friend to develop strong bones as well. Luckily for your dog, they can get their calcium from delicious, cooked shrimp, and skip the milk.

Notice I said cooked shrimp…

Can Dogs Have Shrimp That’s Raw?

For those sushi lovers out there, I’m sorry. The shrimp needs to be cooked for your dog to eat it. While many meats can be fed raw to your furry friend, shrimp is an exception.

According to Smartdogowners.com, raw shrimp contains bacteria that puts your dog at risk for shellfish toxicity.

Shellfish toxicity (a.k.a shellfish poisoning) occurs when a shrimp contains an algae called, dinoflagellate. This type of algae produces harmful toxins that make your pup sick.

Also, some grocers claim their raw shrimp as ‘safe for sushi.’ While this may be true, there’s no reason to take the risk of giving your dog raw shrimp.

Obviously, you want to keep your pup in ship shape. So all you have to do is cook that shrimp. Easy as that.

By the way, a lot of that cooked shrimp has its sights set on your stomach. I know you love the heck out of your fur baby, but we all know that shrimp isn’t being cooked just for them!

Can Dogs Have Shrimp, Everyday?

While cooked shrimp provides healthy nutrients and protein, your pup doesn’t need to eat it everyday. For one, your dog’s diet makes up 90% of what they need to eat on a daily basis. The other 10% consists of delicious, healthy treats like fruits, veggies, or even… Shrimp!

Also, shrimp tends to contain fairly high levels of cholesterol. A high cholesterol diet leads to weight gain for your furry friend.

All in all, shrimp is best served in moderation. Particularly on those special seafood nights where you grill up some sizzling shrimp and salmon.

And on those nights, let your pup join in on that delicious meal and toss them some shrimp.

Preparing The Shrimp

But wait! Before you toss that precious pup a piece of shrimp, remove the tail! The tail creates a choking hazard.

Also, try not to feed your pup any shrimp that contains high amounts of seasoning. While you and your hooman friends love that new cajun seasoning, it likely contains too much salt for your dog.

When you grill up some shrimp, leave a couple pieces unseasoned and set those aside for your fur baby. It’ll definitely earn you some serious love points!

Avoid feeding your dog fried shrimp, as well. The large amounts of fat in fried shrimp often lead to an upset tummy for your furry friend.

Make Forrest Gump Proud

Quick recap: Can dogs have shrimp? They sure can!

Remember: raw shrimp, fried shrimp, and heavily seasoned shrimp are a no-no. So, give your pup some cooked, unseasoned shrimp and make Forrest Gump proud. And, oh, your pup will be pretty proud too!