# Can a dog eat a whole fish, scales and all?



## counter

We've been buying our raw meat from a new source, and we tested the pack on tilapia fish fillets. They never had raw fish before, only fish kibble (Wellness Core Ocean flavor). They loved the raw fish. The fillets were $2.79/lb, but the company offers whole tilapia that are about 3x the size for much cheaper per lb. They told me the fish were gutted and scaled, but when I brought the 40 lb box home tonight, the fish have scales, fins, eyes, bones, guts, etc. Can I thaw these and feed them whole? I'm not about to clean all of these fish, and the company is closed until next Tuesday in case I have to try to return them. What should I do?


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## Verivus

I would chop off fins if they're spiny and maybe gut them. Scales are fine.


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## 4TheDawgies

I second the cutting fins off. Otherwise go for it!


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## Josie/Zeus

I used to buy whole trouts from costco and feed that to Zeus, he loved it.


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## Elaine

I would not feed the fins or the guts because of how sharp the fins are and the potential for parasites and who knows what's growing in their guts.


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## Castlemaid

Keeping the fish frozen for a couple of weeks will kill gut parasites. I feed small (whole) frozen smelts all the time. You can thaw the fish after a couple of weeks (may have already been frozen that long from the supplier), but my guys like it better frozen and crunchy.


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## counter

Just wanted to add:

The fish comes from a local bulk supplier of restuarants, and they also offer the pet products menu. The fish come frozen and I'm sure they've been frozen for a long time. I didn't want you guys to think I just bumped in to some random fisherman and bought freshly caught fish. These fish are all individually wrapped and packaged in a large box to feed to dogs whole. What confused me is the people at the front desk/cashier told me they thought the fish were scaled and gutted, and when I opened up the box, I discovered that they were wrong, and then thought that maybe I couldn't feed them to my dogs without first gutting and scaling them.

It seems like most of you agree that the scales are ok, but not the fins. I did a google search for feeding whole tilapia and some other raw feeders have fed the whole fish, head, fins, scales, guts, bones and all, and had no problems. So I'm going to touch the scales and fins, see if they're sharp, and if not, feed the entire thing. If I get pricked, I'm cutting whatever pricks me off. If it's the scales, then there's way too many of them to deal with, and I'll just take the box back next week.


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## yuricamp

good thread


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## counter

Update:

I took out a partially thawed tilapia last night at feeding time, and they were not thawed enough, and the dorsal fin (yes, I looked up tilapia anatomy on google images and am now a fish expert!) is the one with the sharp barbs or spikey points. I'm assuming that, if I opened the fish up, the bones inside would be sharp and spikey too, but for some reason it's OK for the dog to eat the bones, right? So can the dog digest (without complication) the dorsal fins? The scales are soft, and the other fins are all soft and probably edible. The only one sharp is that top dorsal fin. I tried to break the boney spikes with my fingers and could not. Should I cut these off or will the dogs grind and chew them up just like they're going to do to the internal bones?

Here's what the box says:

_*Cleaned scaled IQF, IWP*_
_*Whole round IQF, IWP*_

Not sure what that all means, but according to the company and the box, they are cleaned and scaled. The fish are still too frozen, If they are cleaned, that means the insides have been removed, right? Well, I don't see any slit or opening where anything was tampered with. This looks like a fish caught and frozen immediately, and packaged and shipped for dog consumption. 

When doing a google search for dogs eating whole fish, it seems like the majority of people (who don't impress me as knowledgeable raw feeders) all say NOT to feed whole fish, and some say not to feed fish at all.

Before I feed the fish (and harm or kill my dogs), I want confirmation on what to do from experienced raw feeders of whole fish. Can our dogs eat the small (possibly sharp) fish bones, and all of the rest of the fish too?

Thank you to everyone for your help!


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## Verivus

Uncooked fish bones are perfectly fine. I personally would cut off any spiny fins just so I feel better about it, not necessarily because my dog wouldn't be able to handle it.


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## RazinKain

Verivus said:


> Uncooked fish bones are perfectly fine. *I personally would cut off any spiny fins just so I feel better about it*, not necessarily because my dog wouldn't be able to handle it.


Agreed. I would remove the spiny dorsal (cut it out or trim it flush to the back). The rest should be fine.


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## kai.mc.square

Hey I would like to share with you guys what I've learnt (cut n paste):

"Anyways, I've been reading and found that the problem with fish is that many species contain Thiaminase, a substance which breaks apart Vitamin B1 (or was that B11?), which will cause "malnutrition"... a very bad kind of malnutrition.

I've experimented with a couple of fish and he loves Catfish (Mekong Delta) (he loves the innards as well), and especially Capelin. He slurps up the Capelin like it was Spaghetti! He also hates some kind of fish and would just gnaw on them but not eat them.

Sadly, I found out that Capelin contains high amounts of Thiaminase, so I'm gonna cut it off of our food chain completely starting immediately.

On a brighter note however, I found out through research that Tilapia (and numerous other species: Thiaminase - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki ) contain ZERO Thiaminase, and I assume are probably just as good as any other source of meat."

From: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/feeding-our-puppy/196287-feeding-mainly-raw-thawed-fish.html


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## kai.mc.square

Oh jesus didn't realize this thread was over a year old, sorry.


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## kiya

I would be very careful with any frozen fish, specially Tilapia & shrimp for human or canine consumption. There are a lot of farm raised fish that come from overseas, Indonisia, China and such. I would not feed that stuff to a stray dog on the street.


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## carmspack

totally agree with kiya . Tilapia a very popular FARMED fish and catfish , also FARMED, are surprisingly high in omega 6 -- because they are fed grain products . This was a discussion that was from the Mayo Clinic . Popular Fish, Tilapia, Contains Potentially Dangerous Fatty Acid Combination

read the first 3 paragraphs Tilapia vs. Trout ? Battle of the High-Protein, Low-Cal Farmed Whitefish | Poliquin Lifestyle
so instead of being beneficial you may be working against yourself . 
Additionally these fish are , both tilapia and catfish and kiya's shrimp , are bottom feeders and they feed on the sludge and garbage that settles . That is why you don't want them coming from China .

Now mackerel and herring are deep sea oily fish , an entirely different "kettle of fish " haha rich in health benefitting omega 3 . 
Pollock is an inexpensive oily fish - the constituent of many a "fish stick" - here is an omega 3 comparison - 

Pollock is a large marine fish that contain 0.45 g of omega-3 fatty acid per 3 oz. serving. Pollock is also labeled as whitefish when purchased from grocery stores​ 
vs catfish 
A 3 oz. serving of catfish contains about 0.2 to 0.3 g of omega-3 fatty acid. ​ 
I certainly would not count on fish as a main source of protein in the diet . 
Meanwhile my dogs will catch the makerel and have them slip down the gullet . You would think they were seals .


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## JakodaCD OA

I work in a fish market,,I would never myself eat (nor feed my dogs) any fish that is farm raised outside the US/Canada. It is absolutely disgusting We won't sell it either.

The problem with farm raised or imported fish/shrimp outside the US is, it is not strictly regulated, sure they may inspect here and there, but not all of it is inspected.

Farm raised fish from overseas, is basically raised in sewer farms.

Mine get alot of salmon, as in poached I don't do raw fish, to paranoid about bones/scales and such. 

I know this thread is quite old, but just wanted to add to the recent ones


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## billsharp

Hahaha, Kai, I wouldn't have thought to see how old the thread was either (admins, can we do something to keep stale threads from becoming active again?)

We feed the whole processed tilapia, dorsal fin and all. Liesl has never had a problem with it. It is sharp but she loves to crunch up the fins. Scales, head, etc., all contain valuable nutrients and calcium. This is not to say that it would be impossible for a dorsal fin spike to cause a problem, but I personally don't worry too much about it.


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## JakodaCD OA

actually we leave alot of old threads that have information for those looking for it


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## Lauri & The Gang

The only thing I would worry about with feeding whole fish is anything they may have ingested - like hooks.


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## kai.mc.square

well, this stinks.

first, we have to battle thiaminase. this goes for both us and our dogs.

and then now we have to battle O3 to O6 ratios.

i have half a mind to teach my dear GusGus to hunt sewer rats from now on heh heh..


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