This is a specific conversation about Dog treats — what's worth giving — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Excessive thirst after freeze-dried treats is a real red flag — it usually points to high sodium content, which is surprisingly common even in 'natural' freeze-dried products. The best treats are high in protein, low in additives, and sized right for the dog. Single-ingredient options like dried meat or fish skin are typically the cleanest choice, and many heavily marketed treats are nutritionally poor despite the packaging claims. To point you toward something better: how big is your Samoyed, any known allergies or sensitivities beyond what you've seen with the freeze-dried treats, and are you mainly using treats for training, general rewards, or something else?
She's about 25kg, no known allergies other than the reaction to those treats. Mainly for rewards throughout the day, occasionally training. She's quite food motivated so I use them fairly often.
inparticular.ai
Got it — a food-motivated dog who gets treats fairly regularly means sodium load really does matter over time, so switching away from freeze-dried is the right call. What brand were the freeze-dried treats, if you remember? And did you notice the thirst starting right after eating them, or was it more of a general pattern over several days?
It was Vital Essentials freeze-dried beef nibs. The thirst was pretty much immediate after eating them — she'd go straight to her water bowl and drink a lot. We stopped them and it went back to normal within a day.
inparticular.ai
That immediate response and quick resolution confirms it was the sodium in those specific treats rather than a systemic issue with your dog — that's actually reassuring. Vital Essentials beef nibs are notoriously salty for their size. For a 25kg Samoyed used fairly often as rewards, I'd go with Icelandic+ Cod Skin Rolls. They're a single ingredient — just wild-caught Icelandic cod skin — with naturally low sodium, high protein, and no additives at all. They break apart easily for smaller reward pieces, which keeps the volume manageable when you're using them throughout the day. Samoyeds generally do well with fish-based treats, and the omega-3s are a bonus for their coat. You can get them on Amazon UK in a 75g bag to try before committing to a larger size.
That sounds good. Are fish treats okay to give daily? I've heard some fish can have mercury issues.
inparticular.ai
Mercury is more of a concern with large predatory fish like tuna — cod is a low-mercury species, so it's fine for regular use. Cod skin in particular is mostly collagen and fat rather than muscle tissue, which is actually where mercury tends to concentrate. Daily use at reward-sized portions for a 25kg dog is no problem at all. Just break the rolls into smaller pieces so you're not giving a full roll every time — a single roll goes quite a long way when used as training or reward treats.
Perfect, I'll give those a go. Thanks for explaining the sodium thing too — I hadn't connected that to freeze-dried treats before.
inparticular.ai
It's not obvious because the packaging never mentions it prominently. Freeze-drying concentrates everything including salt, and many brands add more for palatability. With a food-motivated dog you'll likely find the cod skin rolls just as appealing to her — fish tends to be very high value for dogs — without any of the sodium spike. Hope she enjoys them.
