Can Cats Eat Salmon?

Plain cooked salmon in a small portion works for a cat, and so does freeze dried salmon, provided you have read the raw feeding notice first. Skip the butter, the lemon pepper and the glaze. The fish is the treat, and it does not need help.

The Merck Veterinary Manual describes cats as obligate carnivores, and fish is an ordinary treat for an animal like that. What changes from one piece of salmon to the next is how it was prepared and how oily it is.

Cooked, raw, canned and freeze dried salmon

Cooked is the simplest. Bake or poach a fillet with nothing on it, let it cool, and flake it with a fork into pieces smaller than a fingernail. Canned salmon follows the same rule if it is packed in water: drain it, and read the ingredient line for salt, sauces and oils before you open the can.

Raw salmon is where this site hands you to its own page. The raw feeding notice covers handling for raw and uncooked animal products, and freeze dried salmon falls under it because freeze drying is not cooking. Wash your hands and the bowl, and keep the bag sealed between uses.

Freeze dried salmon is dry and light, which is the whole appeal for a cupboard. The pink salmon in the rail comes from Sniff and Shift, which freeze dries imported salmon in small batches in Malvern; the 1.5 ounce bag is labeled for dogs and cats.

Skin, bones and seasoning

Pick out the bones before anything else. Pin bones run in a line down a fillet and are easy to miss in a flake, so run a fingertip along the flesh as you break it up. Take the skin off for the first few tries; it is the oiliest part of the fillet and the easiest to overdo.

Seasoning is where salmon from a kitchen differs most from salmon for a cat. Garlic, onion, lemon pepper, soy and teriyaki are all common on a fillet, so set the cat's piece aside before you season the rest. Smoked salmon is cured with salt and meant for people, so it stays out of the bowl.

Pink salmon and farmed salmon

USDA FoodData Central keeps separate entries for pink salmon, raw and for Atlantic salmon, farmed, raw, and the gap between them is fat. USDA lists the pink entry at 4.4 grams of fat and 127 calories per 100 grams, and the farmed Atlantic entry at 13.4 grams of fat and 208 calories.

Those are raw weights. A freeze dried piece has lost most of its water, so a gram of dried salmon holds more of everything than a gram of fresh, but the order holds: the farmed fish is the oilier of the two. A paper towel under the bowl shows the difference faster than a table does, because the fattier the fish, the more oil it leaves behind.

Here is the trade off. Oilier fish smells stronger, which is what some cats go after, and it smears on fingers and on the inside of a pouch. Leaner fish is tidier and keeps its shape in a pocket.

A cat sized portion

Put cooked, flaked salmon on a kitchen scale until it reads 10 grams and look at the pile; that is a reasonable place to start on a treat day. Applying USDA's raw figures to it, a 10 gram portion of pink salmon carries about 0.44 grams of fat and a 10 gram portion of farmed Atlantic about 1.3 grams.

VCA Hospitals recommends that treats stay a small portion of what a cat eats in a day, so a pile that size is a treat on its own and not one of several. For freeze dried salmon the label sets the weight, so count the pieces in one pinch the first time and you will know the number next time.

The same fish has a place in other guides: freeze dried fish for cats compares the fish on the shelf, sardines for cats covers the smaller, oilier option, and the fish cat treats collection holds them together. For the dog in the house, freeze dried salmon dog treats is the matching page.

Common questions

Can cats eat canned salmon?

Yes, when it is packed in water, drained and free of added seasoning. Read the ingredient line for salt, sauces and oils, and offer a flake the first time. Canned salmon often includes soft bones, so crush or pick them out.

Is smoked salmon okay for cats?

Smoked salmon is cured with salt and made for people, so leave it out of the bowl. A plain cooked or freeze dried piece gives a cat the fish without the curing.

Can cats eat salmon skin?

Skin is the oiliest part of the fillet, so take it off for the first few tries. If your cat takes to salmon, a small piece of plain cooked skin is a matter of taste. Skin that has been seasoned or fried stays out.

How often can a cat have salmon?

No source we trust gives a single number for this. VCA Hospitals advises keeping treats to a small share of the day, and a flaked pile of 10 grams is already a treat on its own. Spacing salmon days apart is easier than deciding how much is too much.