Can dogs eat raw fish? Yes, but only if you feed it correctly.
Raw fish can be an incredibly valuable addition to your dog’s diet, especially when it comes to Omega-3 fatty acids and naturally occurring vitamin D. But not all fish are safe, and feeding it incorrectly can lead to avoidable mistakes.
I’ve been feeding raw fish to my dogs for years, and in this guide I’ll walk you through exactly how I do it -from which fish to feed and how much to give, to whether whole fish (including bones) are safe.
You’ll also learn what to avoid, where to source quality fish, and how to confidently add it to your dog’s raw meals.
In this blog post, I mention where you can buy either along with these topics:
- Benefits of raw fish for dogs
- Which fish are safe to feed
- How much raw fish to give
- Feeding whole fish (including bones)
- Fish dogs should avoid
- Where to buy fish
- Easy raw dog food recipe with fish
- Alternatives to raw fish
Benefits Of Raw Fish For Dogs
Raw fish is as important for immune and brain health for dogs as it for us humans!
It also does wonders for their joints and skin and coat health.
That’s because it’s naturally rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and they’re the ones that decrease inflammation within the body.
For an overview of the Omega-3 fatty acid content in fish, click here. It takes you to a chart from Oregon State University.
The benefit of feeding whole fish is that it includes the fish brains along with the fish eyeballs.
Both are considered secreting organs which are essentially Mother Nature’s multivitamins.
Which Raw Fish Can I Feed My Dogs?
You can feed any oily fish like:
Green lipped mussels are another excellent choice of seafood you can add to your pup’s (raw) meals.
They’re chock-full of naturally occurring chondroitin and glucosamine and are extremely beneficial for joint health.
While they’re obviously not fish but mussels, they still belong into the edible seafood category for dogs, so I do want to mention them here.
A word of caution: Don’t feed green lipped mussels if your pup has a shellfish allergy.
My pup Wally can’t have them because of his shellfish allergy, but my previous Boxer pups Missy and Buzz could eat them AND loved them.
Fun fact: They’re only found in the pristine waters off the coast of New Zealand. But not to worry, you can also buy GLMs here in the US!
How Much Raw Fish Can My Dog Eat?
Raw fish should make up roughly 10% of your dog’s daily muscle meat allowance as soon as you’re transitioning them to raw dog food.
For green lipped mussels, large dogs can have 2 per day, medium size dogs can have 1 per day, and small dogs can have 1/2 per day.
For fish oils such as Planopaws Wild Caught Omega-3 Fish Oil (oil made from sardines, herring & mackerel), dogs can have 1 pump of the oil per 25 lbs of body weight.
Dogs who are new to the fish oil should initially get about half of their daily target allowance.
That’s because the oil is rich and concentrated and can potentially cause an upset stomach if too much is fed.
Can Dogs Eat Whole Raw Fish With Bones?
Yes, they can.
Raw fish bones are as soft and pliable as raw meaty bones from poultry or rabbit.
I’ve been feeding my pups Missy, Buzz and Wally whole raw fish since 2016 without any issues. And my Labrador puppy Pepper eats whole fish, too – she LOVES her whole sardines!
Dogs can even eat larger fish heads like salmon heads.
Should I Feed Fish Whole, Ground, Air-Dried, Canned Or As An Oil?
All of these options work!
As I mentioned before, my personal preference is to feed raw whole fish, followed by ground, air-dried, canned fish and fish oil.
It essentially depends on your personal preference and your sourcing ability.
Single Ingredient Fish Treats For Dogs
When I’m:
- Out of whole raw fish
- Waiting on a new online order to come in
- Can’t find whole fish at the grocery store
…I feed single-ingredient fish treats for dogs.
My favorite ones are the herring dog fish treats from Icelandic+.
Wally LOVES those!
Other fish dog treats from Icelandic+ are:
Fish Oil For Dogs
I also used to feed my previous pups Missy & Buzz Bonnie & Clyde’s wild-caught fish oil (made from sardines, anchovies, mackerel and added Vitamin E, unfortunately no longer available) as well as canned sardines.
Both are great options, but while my pup Wally had a food intolerance towards sardines, anchovies and salmon, that limited my choices for most fish oils from the store.
Spoiler alert: 5 years of not feeding him any of those fish made him able to eat them again no problem!
If your pup doesn’t have any particular fish allergies, try Planopaws Wild Caught Omega-3 Fish Oil (oil made from sardines, herring & mackerel)!
Fera Pets Fish Oil is another option.
That one’s made of mackerel, herring, sardines and anchovies that are wild-caught off of the coast of Iceland.
It also has Vitamin E added to it (just like Bonnie & Clyde’s did).
Where To Buy Fish For Raw Dog Food
Of course you can find raw fish at some local grocery stores, depending on your geographical location and how well the store is stocked.
For example, I can find raw rainbow trout at my local grocery store Harris Teeter here in NC, but that’s it as far as my local fish selection goes!
Thankfully, there are several online raw dog food retailers that carry raw fish.
For example:
- Raw Feeding Miami
- Raw Paws Pet Food
- My Pet Carnivore
- Hare Today
Raw Feeding Miami carries:
- Dehydrated green lipped mussels and smelts
- Whole mackerel, sardines, and smelts
- Ground salmon & salmon chunks
- Ground and whole thread herring
->Save 10% off your Raw Feeding Miami order with my referral discount link.
Raw Paws Pet Food carries:
- Ground Atlantic salmon
- A mix of beef and mackerel that’s ready to feed as is
-> Save 15% off your Raw Paws Pet Food fish order with my affiliate discount code K9Savings.
My Pet Carnivore carries:
- Ground lake herring
- Whole lake herring
- Whole sardines
- Ground lake trout
- Whole lake trout
- Ground lake whitefish
Hare Today carries:
- Whole sardines
- Ground sardines
- Ground Atlantic herring
- Ground sardines and bone
- Green lipped mussel powder
- Dehydrated ground salmon
Which Fish Is Not Good for Dogs?
Dogs shouldn’t eat larger raw fish like tuna and shark, at least not on a regular basis.
That’s because the larger the fish, the more heavy metals and toxins they come with.
If you’re feeding raw fish from the Pacific such as salmon, you need to freeze it for a minimum of 3 weeks before feeding it to your pup(s).
That’s because it can carry a parasite that’s known to be fatal to dogs.
The freezing process gets rid of the parasite, but if you want to be on the safe side, don’t feed any raw fish from the Pacific at all.
Dogs who have a specific fish intolerance obviously shouldn’t eat the kind of fish they don’t do well with.
For my pup Wally, that includes green lipped mussels, sardines, anchovies, and salmon.
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Easy Raw Dog Food Recipe With Fish
Here’s a super easy raw dog food recipe for your pup that features raw fish.
The main ingredient is a complete source of raw dog food.
Complete means that it can be fed as is because it consists of muscle meat, secreting organs, and raw meaty bone, the 3 main components of raw dog food.
In this particular raw dog food recipe, I chose rabbit grinds from Raw Feeding Miami.
I mixed them with Dr. Harvey’s Paradigm and added some rainbow trout from a local grocery store.
Paradigm is a dehydrated mix of low-carb veggies and healing herbs.
It only needs to be rehydrated with warm water, which makes it a very convenient way of adding healthy plant matter to raw dog food.
Of course you can also choose other complete grinds to mimic this recipe.
For example, any complete grinds from Raw Feeding Miami or Raw Paws Pet Food.
Tip: Save 10% off your Raw Feeding Miami order with my referral discount link.
Or save 15% off your Raw Paws Pet Food order with my affiliate discount code K9Savings.
Bonus: Can Dogs Eat Cooked Fish And Fish Skin?
Yes, dogs can also eat cooked fish along with the fish skin, but only if there’s no seasoning and no condiments on either.
AND as long as you’re only feeding cooked fish without the fish bones.
Remember, raw fish bones are soft and pliable – just like raw meaty bones in raw feeding – but cooked fish bones are pointy, sharp and dangerous.
Generally speaking, raw fish is always going to be more nutritious because cooking eliminates a bunch of nutrients.
However, some dogs with certain medical conditions may do better with cooked fish as opposed to eating raw fish.
For example, dogs who undergo cancer treatment.
Some picky dogs may also prefer cooked fish (even if it’s just lightly cooked) because it brings out more of its flavor.
And even aging dogs who’ve eaten raw dog food including raw fish for many years may prefer cooked fish and cooked fish skin as they get older.
That has to do with the weakening of their digestive system as they age.
Fun but Important Side Note: Can Dogs Eat Goldfish?
It depends on what you mean.
If you’re talking about actual goldfish from a pond or tank—yes, technically dogs can eat them. But realistically, it’s not something I’d recommend (and your kids might not appreciate it either).
If you mean goldfish crackers, those are a processed human snack and not a good regular option for dogs.
If your dog sneaks one, they’ll be fine—but there are far better single-ingredient treat options to choose from.
Raw Fish for Dogs: Bottom Line
Raw fish is an important ingredient in raw dog food and should make up around 10% of your dog’s daily muscle meat allowance.
That’s because it’s a natural anti-inflammatory food that’s important for brain, joint and skin health.
Fish can be fed:
- Whole
- Ground
- Air-dried
- Canned
- As an oil
If you’re lucky and live near the ocean or a well-stocked grocery store, you can potentially get your hands on a large, local selection of fish.
Otherwise, there are a several raw dog food retailers here in the US who carry raw fish such as:
- Sardines
- Smelt
- Herring
- Trout
- Mackerel
- Salmon
- Green lipped mussels
Remember not to feed any raw fish from the Pacific without freezing it for a minimum of 3 weeks.
That’s a safety precaution to get rid of a parasite that can be fatal to dogs.
Also, while it’s fine to feed your dog unseasoned cooked fish, another thing to remember is to never feed your dog cooked fish bones.
Those are sharp and pointy and can hurt your dog.
Only feed your dog RAW fish bones.
Happy (raw) fish feeding!
For more raw feeding resources, visit my full homemade raw dog food library.
Does your dog have a favorite fish? Let me know in the comment section below!
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Barbara Rivers is the founder of K9sOverCoffee and a raw feeding educator with over a decade of hands-on experience.
She has fed raw in the US and Europe since 2015, after her Boxer mix Missy’s cancer diagnosis led her to move away from processed kibble and commit to species-appropriate nutrition.
As a former professional dog walker, she developed deep insight into canine behavior, conditioning, and the essential link between proper exercise and long-term health.
Barbara completed online training with veterinarian Dr. Marion Smart and Labrador breeder Dana Scott and works for one of Germany’s leading raw dog food brands, BARFER’S.
In 2026–2027, she is completing a year-long raw nutrition certification for dogs and cats at THP School, founded by raw feeding pioneer Swanie Simon.
Through her blog and weekly newsletter, she provides clear, experience-based guidance to help dog owners feed raw safely and confidently.