What's the Best Fish-Based Dog Kibble?

Being carnivores, dogs can be fed meat, fish or both in the same formula with no problem at all. Some dogs, though, need a good fish-based kibble to improve their coat, skin or because of digestive problems or food intolerances.

There are many fish ranges we can feed our dog, but not all are good quality or advisable based on the needs the dog presents. Let's look in detail at the best fish-based dog kibbles and their characteristics.

The Benefits of Salmon Kibble for Dogs

Salmon is a fish offering great nutritional benefits to dogs, since it contains a high amount of high-quality protein and plenty of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, essential for a dog's coat and skin.

We can find plenty of salmon-and-meat kibbles, or salmon-only ones, with or without grains, the most important thing being that salmon is always the first ingredient on the kibble's label. Let's look at the most notable benefits of salmon kibble:

• Helps improve the skin, especially in dogs with dermatological problems
• Improves coat quality, also boosting its shine
• Helps improve the joints thanks to the omega acids
• Low in saturated fat, helps clear cholesterol
• Supports brain development thanks to EPA and DHA
• Excellent as an alternative for dogs with allergies to chicken or any other type of meat

Even so, salmon kibbles also have some downsides, such as being a little heavy to digest, so it is not entirely advisable for dogs with sensitive digestion. Salmon is also fairly fatty, so we should check the kibble does not have too high a fat level.

The Benefits of White Fish Kibble

Unlike salmon, white fish also brings a great many nutritional benefits for dogs, but without being as heavy to digest as salmon kibble, and containing far less fat, which makes it ideal for avoiding weight gain or for dogs on a diet.

Let's look in detail at the benefits kibbles made with white fish as the main ingredient offer:

• Highly digestible, making the dog's digestion far easier
• Also help brain development thanks to their high EPA and DHA content
• Their omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids help improve skin, coat and joints
• Very low in fat, making them an excellent option for dogs looking to avoid weight gain or lose weight
• Excellent alternative for dogs with meat intolerances
• They also carry no high level of saturated fat, so they help reduce or avoid cholesterol
• Their flavour tends to be intense, something most dogs love

There is a wide variety of white fish, and all bring the same benefits to our dogs; among them we can highlight whiting, cod, coley, plaice, sardine, mackerel, hake, sole or blue whiting, among so many others.

White Fish Kibble vs Salmon Kibble: Which Is Better?

Among the high-quality ranges containing white fish or salmon among their ingredients, or rather, as their main ingredient, there is no best or worst, simply the one most suitable for your dog based on their nutritional needs.

If your dog has a coat or skin problem but does not have a sensitive stomach, the best move is to go for a good salmon kibble. If they have a somewhat sensitive stomach, go for a white fish one, since as we have mentioned, salmon kibbles are a little more complex to digest than white fish ones.

You should also bear your dog's preferences in mind; plenty of dogs love fish kibble, but salmon can be a bit strong for them. Salmon is a fish with a very intense flavour, so much so that some dogs prefer white fish, which is milder.

If your dog has a food allergy and you know which ingredient to avoid, this is even easier. If you don't know it, try an elimination diet for dogs; it is the most effective way to identify the ingredients that do not agree with them, always under veterinary supervision. There is no magic formula; it is all about trying things out until you find the best one for your dog, or varying it so they do not get bored of eating the same thing all the time.

Guide to the Best White Fish Kibbles

There are plenty of companies offering, among their ranges, the option of buying kibble with white fish mixed with other meats, or simply with varied or single white fish. If we are looking for a white fish kibble for our dog, the ideal is to get one with no other meats, such as chicken, beef or lamb, that is, avoiding the most common red and white meats. These are the best ranges we have found currently.

NFNatcane Fish Gourmet

Here we have one of our favourite ranges for its wide variety of white fish and the inclusion of a highly novel protein in canine feeding, insect protein. It is a kibble combining both, hydrolysed for better digestion and nutrient absorption.

NFNatcane Fish Gourmet includes hake, cod, monkfish, plaice and pollock. It is made with no grains and contains a wide range of fruits and botanicals beneficial for a dog's health. You can see all the details on their website: NFNatcane Fish Gourmet

Orijen Six Fish

Although not a budget range, we cannot overlook that this is without doubt a high-quality white fish kibble, with which our dog can enjoy every nutritional benefit of this type of food.

Orijen Six Fish includes sardine, mackerel, hake, sole, flounder and herring in its formula. A combination of white fish that will have your dog licking their lips just from smelling it. You can see more information on their official website: Orijen Six Fish

Acana Pacifica

For those who don't know, Acana is Orijen's own-brand (budget) label, a little lower in quality than Orijen but still a good dog kibble made with white fish and free of other white or red meats.

Acana Pacifica includes herring, sole, cod and hake among its ingredients. Being a more affordable range, some of these ingredients are added in meal form, which is always lower quality than adding dehydrated or whole, fresh fish. You can see their range here: Acana Pacifica

Other Options

Hard as it may be to believe, we have not found many more options offering only white fish in their formula that are also good quality. There are indeed plenty of ranges mixing white fish with salmon, or that do not specify what type of fish they use, or whether it is dehydrated or meal, or whose main ingredient is potato or grain rather than fish — in short, there are plenty of white fish kibbles of questionable quality that we would rather not recommend, so when choosing one, make sure you are not being sold short.

Top Best Salmon Kibbles for Dogs

Unlike with white fish, with salmon we can find far more ranges. Salmon is a more common and cheaper fish for making kibble, so it is also far more widely used, and consequently has far more ranges. Let's look at the best kibbles made with salmon.

NFNatcane Salmon Plus

This is not the first time we have talked about NFNatcane on this site, and it possibly won't be the last either. That is because the composition of their formulas offers a perfect balance between quality, palatability, nutrients and price. By not selling through middlemen, they can offer genuinely fair prices for their ranges.

NFNatcane's Salmon Plus contains dehydrated, hydrolysed salmon; the hydrolysis process makes it far more assimilable by the dog's digestive system, letting them make far better use of its nutrients. As a carbohydrate source it uses rice, the only grain that, in the right amounts, is beneficial for dogs. You can see all the details here: NFNatcane Salmon Plus

Purizon Single Meat Adult Salmon

You may never have heard of Purizon, since it is not a brand heavily promoted on pet blogs, but it has high-quality ranges such as Single Meat Adult Salmon and Spinach, entirely grain-free and using potato as a carbohydrate source. It is without doubt another excellent option when choosing a good salmon kibble for our dog. You can see all the details on their official website: Purizon

Edgard & Cooper Norwegian Salmon

Just because a dog kibble brand is not well known does not mean it is low quality; the proof is Edgard & Cooper, who offer a range formulated with fresh salmon and using potato as a carbohydrate source, which also makes it grain-free. You can see all the details on their website: Edgard & Cooper Norwegian Salmon

Natural Greatness Salmon Recipe

Next up is another excellent option for feeding our dog a salmon-based kibble: Natural Greatness's Salmon recipe. With 20% dehydrated salmon, 10% fresh salmon and grain-free, with potato as a carbohydrate source. You can see all the details on their website: Natural Greatness

Is Fish Kibble Better Than Meat Kibble?

Both options are equally good for our dog, as long as we are talking about high-quality kibbles. Choosing fish kibble over meat kibble is always done based on the dog's needs, whether that is because they cannot tolerate certain meats, prefer the taste of fish, or on a vet's prescription.

Nutritionally, both meat and fish can provide every nutrient a dog needs. So neither is better nor worse; it is simply the best option for that dog.

Are There White Fish or Salmon Ranges We Should Avoid?

It is not that there are bad ranges, but there are ones of lower quality. For instance, ones whose main ingredient is grain or potato rather than fish. Fish, whether salmon or white fish, should always be the first ingredient on the kibble's label.

You should also try to avoid kibbles containing wheat or maize in their formulas, since this is a very cheap grain used as filler in many kibbles, but which offers no great nutritional value to the dog.

Steer clear of pages that recommend dog kibbles and only list Amazon options, since these are pages that simply work on commission from Amazon sales and do not focus on finding the ranges that are genuinely good quality — only the ones they can sell through that platform. Google should place more value on which pages genuinely offer truthful information and which do it purely for commercial gain.

If your dog has kidney or liver problems, they may need a kibble lower in protein and fat, one that does include more grains to balance the formula. In cases of dogs with medical conditions, we should always follow our vet's recommendations. Sometimes a lower-quality kibble can be the most suitable one for them.

Ingredient Quality in Fish Kibble

When we read the label of a white fish or salmon dog kibble, besides checking that fish is the first ingredient listed, we should know that the quality of the fish can also vary. Fish meal is not the same as fresh fish, for instance. And fish is not the same as hydrolysed fish.

This is the quality ladder when using fish as an ingredient:

1. Dehydrated fish (gives us the real percentage of fish used).
2. Fresh fish (also good quality, but somewhat misleading, since the percentage stated includes water; once we remove the water, the percentage will be lower, and that is the real figure to bear in mind).
3. Fish meal (third on the quality ladder; not the best option but not the worst either).
4. By-products (understood as by-products, everything discarded from fish intended for human consumption — think heads, bones, guts and so on…).
5. Unspecified fish (if it just says "fish", that's bad, since it does not state what kind of fish it is or whether by-products are used, or what exactly).

And if they do specify it, hydrolysed fish will always be better than non-hydrolysed. Hydrolysis is a very expensive process in making kibble, and not every brand uses it. It works by making the particles smaller, making the fish far more assimilable by the dog and preventing intolerances.