How to use freeze-dried salmon as a meal topper

A salmon topper for dogs is quick: crush a piece of freeze-dried salmon between your fingers over the bowl and let the crumbs fall onto the regular meal. The bag says: "Feed as a treat or meal topper." It is not a complete diet, so the crumbs count as treats.

What is a salmon topper?

A topper is anything small that goes on top of a meal instead of being handed over by itself. Here it is our freeze-dried pink salmon pouch, which holds one ingredient: wild-caught salmon, freeze-dried raw in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

The bag puts it plainly: "Not intended as a complete diet." That line matters, so we will say it once and mean it: the bowl stays the meal, and the salmon rides along on top.

Because the pieces are medium sized and break into small ones, they turn into crumbs without any tools. No scissors, no grater, no thawing.

How do you crumble freeze-dried salmon over a meal?

You need the pouch, the bowl and your own two hands. Here is the routine in order.

1. Take one piece out of the pouch.
2. Hold it over the bowl and crush it between your fingers, so the crumbs land on the food.
3. Mix the crumbs in with a spoon, or leave them on top. Either is fine.
4. Reseal the pouch and put it back somewhere cool and dry.
5. Wash your hands with soap and water.

The last step is not decoration. The salmon is raw before it is freeze-dried, and the bag asks you to wash your hands after handling it. For anything beyond that on raw handling, the product page covers it, and your veterinarian is the right person to ask.

How much topper goes on one bowl?

The bag gives no pinch count and no piece count, so we will not invent one. What it does give is a way of thinking about it: a topper sits beside the treats, not the meal, so it comes out of the same treat allowance as everything else you hand out that day.

Two sentences cover the method. Find the daily calorie target for your dog from the food bag or your vet. The treat budget calculator on the product page takes 10 percent of it and turns that into a weight of salmon, using the label figure of about 85.6 kcal per ounce.

We do not write amounts by dog size. Dogs differ a lot, and the listing's fit chart puts the pouch with adult dogs of all sizes, which is a wide range to give one number for.

Does it work on kibble and on raw meals?

The product listing says to crumble a piece over kibble or a raw meal, so both are covered. That is the full extent of what it tells us, and we will not stretch it to wet food or home cooking.

On kibble, the crumbs sit on top and get stirred through as your dog eats. On a raw meal, they go over the top of something already moist. In both cases you can mix or not mix. Your dog will have a view.

Neither the label nor the listing describes a water step; soaking the pieces in plain water is optional and our own guidance. Fresh water goes in its own bowl, and it is worth watching your dog while the bowl is down, since the bag asks for supervision at feeding time.

Does a topper count as a treat or as part of the meal?

It counts as a treat. A pinch of salmon on dinner and a few pieces handed out on a walk come out of the same allowance, so a day with a generous topper is a day with fewer treats elsewhere.

That is bookkeeping, nothing more. If a topper is one of several ways you use the pouch, the guide to salmon training treats covers the reward side, and the guides hub lists the rest.