Can you feed your dog fish?

A matter of balance

The main thing that an animal needs from the diet it receives is balance. Food should saturate the pet’s body with all the nutrients, minerals, and vitamins necessary for life.

Fish—whether processed or fresh—doesn’t strike that balance. Indeed, in it, in particular, too much protein and phosphorus. An excess of the first overloads the pet’s liver and kidneys. Excesses of the second increase the risk of developing urolithiasis and, in addition, provoke kidney disease.

This is worth a separate stop. As a rule, urolithiasis is a problem that cats suffer from. However, its danger to dogs should not be ignored either. Fish is contraindicated for them as a factor provoking the development of the disease.

Other risks

The lack of balance of substances and minerals that a pet needs is not the only drawback of fish. It also poses other threats.

For example, if the fish is raw or insufficiently processed, then this can cause the animal to become infected (by the way, the same is true for humans) with parasites or harmful bacteria. They penetrate into the internal organs of the dog and cause the development of many severe parasitic diseases.

Thus, the conclusion from the above arguments is one: fish as the only or main food is categorically not recommended for dog nutrition.

Special diets

However, the dog can be offered industrial feed containing fish. They are balanced and safe for the animal, unlike fish in the form we are used to.

But you should pay attention to the fact that, as a rule, such diets are marked “hypoallergenic”. That is, they are indicated for animals that are allergic to meat protein. For such pets, manufacturers produce food in which the meat base is replaced by salmon, herring, flounder, and so on.

In other words, it makes no sense to purposefully feed a healthy dog ​​a diet with fish. Another thing is when there is a problem with allergies.

As for specific examples of such foods, the following rations can be found in stores: Eukanuba dry food for adult dogs of all breeds with salmon and rice, Acana dry food with Pacific sardine, Brit dry food with salmon and others.

Summing up, we will answer the question “Is it possible to feed a dog with fish?” like this: “If it is fish as the only or main source of food, then it is definitely impossible. But if you mean a balanced diet with the addition of fish, then, of course, you can.”