Cooked duck

Duck is a good protein for dogs. Skinless duck breast is lean, rich in amino acids, iron and B vitamins, and it appears regularly in veterinary elimination diets as an alternative to beef or chicken. Three conditions: pull the skin and visible fat, take every bone out, and cook it through with nothing added. Skin and rendered fat are the first caution. Duck carries a thick skin and a heavy subcutaneous fat layer, and roasting drives that fat into the meat and the pan. Crispy skin, the drippings, duck confit and the fat spooned over potatoes are all the same problem: a large fat load in one sitting is a classic acute pancreatitis trigger. Look for it 24 to 72 hours later -- refusing food, repeated vomiting, a praying posture with chest down and rear up, and abdominal pain. That combination is a clinic visit. Seasoning and salt are the second. The American Kennel Club advises not to feed a dog any meat with excessive salt, seasonings, onions or garlic. Duck almost never arrives plain in an American kitchen. Peking duck comes with hoisin and scallions, and scallions are alliums like onion and garlic, which damage canine red blood cells. Roast duck is usually rubbed with salt and often garlic, orange-glazed duck is sugar, and smoked or cured duck breast is a sodium product. Picking the meat out of a sauced dish does not undo any of it. Bones are the third. Duck is poultry, and the AKC warns that poultry bones can splinter during digestion, causing blockage or even tears in the intestines. Cooked bones are the brittle ones. No wings, no neck, no carcass, and no letting a dog work over a picked-clean frame. If a bone went down, watch for repeated retching, abdominal pain, and black or bloody stool, and call. Raw duck is the fourth. The ASPCA notes that raw meat can carry Salmonella and E. coli harmful to pets and humans alike -- the bowl, the cutting board and your hands put the whole household in that exposure. Cook it through. Keep duck and all other treats within 10% of daily calories, and do not let duck displace a complete and balanced diet; muscle meat alone is short on calcium and micronutrients. If your dog ate a meaningful portion of a sauced or cured duck dish, or swallowed a bone, call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 even without symptoms. Do not induce vomiting at home, because bone fragments cause more damage on the way back up.