Where to buy freeze-dried sardines for your dog

Where to buy sardines for dogs depends on the form you want. For ours, whole sardines freeze dried raw, you order from Sniff and Shift, and this page has the same buy form. There are three bag sizes, 1.5, 3 and 6 ounces, with one ingredient in each.

Where can you buy our sardines for dogs?

Our freeze-dried sardines are sold through the Sniff and Shift store, and the buy form on this page puts them in the same cart. Minnow Pet Treats is a microsite owned by Sniff and Shift LLC, so there is one store behind every page here, and one account for your orders.

We can only speak for our own bag. We do not know what other shops stock, what they charge, or what is in their cans, so this page does not compare. What it can do is lay out exactly what you get from us, so you can judge it against whatever else you are looking at.

The sardines are made in Malvern, Pennsylvania from imported fish, in small batches, and they go into the freeze dryer raw. The listing says nothing about where the fish were caught, and we will not guess at it.

What are you getting in the bag?

Sardines, and nothing else. They are sold whole, with the head, tail and bones still on, and the listing calls them small to medium fish. We describe them as roughly bite size, and the listing suggests breaking them into smaller pieces for rewards.

In our photos, the pieces look brown and tan, and a silvery blue-gray skin side shows on some of them. They look cut or broken rather than whole. Do not expect a tidy row of identical fish.

The bag prints a guaranteed analysis:

It also prints 3,347 kcal ME/kg, approximately 94.9 kcal per ounce. That energy figure is what the treat calculator on the sardine page runs on.

Which bag size should you buy first?

The three sizes are 1.5 ounces, 3 ounces and 6 ounces. It is one product with a size choice, one label, and the same sardines in each. Only the amount changes.

If you have never fed freeze-dried fish to your dog, the 1.5 ounce bag is the smallest way to find out. Our guidance is to use an opened bag within 30 days, so a small first bag keeps you from holding a large one that nobody wants. If your dog takes to it, the next bag can be bigger. Our page on freeze dried sardine bag sizes goes through the choice in more detail.

Shopping for a big dog or several dogs is a different sum. The share comes from the dog, not from the bag, so work that out first and pick the bag second.

What should you check before you order sardines for a dog?

Whatever shop you use, a few lines on the page are worth finding before you pay:

• The ingredient list. For ours it is sardines only, and the listing says nothing is added.
• The form. Freeze dried, canned and fresh sardines are different foods, and freeze dried is the only one we sell.
• The label analysis and the energy figure, so you can do the calorie arithmetic.
• Storage lines. The bag says: "No refrigerator needed." and "Press the bag closed after opening and keep it somewhere cool and dry."
• A best by date. Ours is printed on the bag, and our guidance puts it 1 year from production.

Then there is the raw part. These sardines are freeze dried from raw fish, so wash your hands after handling them. Offer them as a treat or a topper, not a complete diet, keep fresh water down and stay with your dog while it eats. If you are unsure how your dog does with fish bones, ask your veterinarian before you order.

For the portion itself, how much sardines for dogs works through the label math, and the sardine page has a calculator that starts at 10 percent of the day's calories. That figure is the calculator's default, and it comes from VCA's treat guidance, not from the bag. Your veterinarian's number for your dog beats any default.

Should you order once or on a plan?

You can do either, and one time is where the form starts. Subscribe and Save is an opt in, never preselected. Five plans are attached to the sardines, from weekly to every 3 months. The form shows each plan's live name and discount, so read them there, since we do not type them here.

A plan makes sense only if you would otherwise reorder on a schedule. Because our guidance is 30 days from opening, a plan that sends more bags than your dog finishes in that window works against you. You manage plans in your Sniff and Shift account, not on this site.

The price on the form is the live one. We do not type prices into pages, because they can change.