Canine snacks made from wild Alaskan salmon, carefully cooked under temperature controlled conditions, offer a nutritious treat for pets that most dogs find really hard to resist.

Packed full of omega-3 oils, plus vitamin E and rosemary extract added as a preservative, Yummy Chummies, produced by Arctic Paws in Anchorage, are now sold nationwide from warehouse giants like Costco and Sam?s Club to pet food shops in many states.

?Feeding salmon to dogs has been engrained in our culture for a very long time, but as our company has grown we get occasional complaints from consumers that our food hurts their dogs,? said Brett Gibson, owner of Arctic Paws.

It was in response to a recent complaint from a pet owner in Arizona, whose veterinarian told him his dogs had salmon poisoning disease, that Gibson said he wanted to set the record straight.

It?s not the first time that Gibson said he has heard from a pet owner whose veterinarian told him a dog was sick ?because your dog ate salmon dog treats and you can?t feed salmon to dogs.?

Gibson, whose business was sparked by an interest in utilizing nutritious parts of pink salmon often discarded after the fish was filleted, is adamant that producing safe products is of paramount importance to his company.

?My Yummy Chummies are prepared to be safe,? said Gibson, who takes a number of precautions to that end. still, when he got the call from the Arizona man who had fed his dogs Yummy Chummies, he asked the man to send the rest of the package back to Anchorage for testing to confirm that the dog treats did not contain the often-deadly organism Neorickettsia helmonthoeca, which has been known to become embedded within raw fish.

The returned package of dog treats was duly tested and no evidence of the organism was found.

Gibson said he was aware that the parasite has been found in rivers from northern California to Southeast Alaska, but that the salmon used in production of Yummy Chummies dog treats and salmon oil, and the protein supply the company produces for other manufacturers of pet and animal products does not come from these areas.

Arctic Paws takes precautions nonetheless to always guard against such parasites. all salmon brought into Arctic Paws for use in its products is frozen down to 5 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and stored in a deep freezer for two weeks. then at each stage of the cooking process, the temperature is measured to be sure the fish is heated to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Michael Burkes, chief operating officer for Arctic Paws, noted that the company also contracts with an independent auditor every year to assure that they are producing safe, healthy products.

Further information on salmon poisoning disease, how to avoid it, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, is at oregonvma.org/care-health/salmon-poisoning-disease. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association notes in that publication that the best precautions are to cook fish thoroughly or deep-freeze it for a minimum of two weeks before feeding it to dogs.

You can reach Margaret Bauman with comments and suggestions at