The "Muscle" behind Mussels
Blue mussels (the variety common in restaurants, grocery stores etc) are an amazing little mollusk with a powerful nutritional punch for our pets and us.
Among the strengths of mussels are that they are high in vitamin B12 and provide a readily absorbed source of many other B & C vitamins, amino acids, vital minerals including iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc, along with Omegas.
They are a well rounded food, full of lots of nutrition in a tiny package, low in fat and calories so suitable for calorie reduced diets.
They are also a good source of taurine. Taurine has been in the "dog world" news for a while since the FDA published some info on increased rates of heart disease in dogs fed certain processed diets (link to our article on it https://www.facebook.com/healthmutts/posts/2104463499859725?__tn__=K-R).
Dogs produce their own taurine (unlike cats, who require it all through diet) but require amino acids cysteine and methionine to produce it. Mussels contain approximately 650 mg of taurine per 100 g (in comparison, turkey has around 200 mg of taurine per 100 g and beef has about 90 mg/100g). Dogs typically need 250-750 mg of taurine per day, so a mussel a day, along with a balanced diet is generally enough to ensure required taurine is present for a dog. They can also be a supplement for dogs being fed a processed/kibble diet.
Health Mutts has packages of 28 freeze dried mussels for sale for $10 per package. These are a great and convenient way to add to your pet's diet. Freeze drying preserves over 90% of the nutrition in the mussel meat and makes them shelf stable for storage. Mussels are available for shipping.