When it isn't go-to-the-dock season here, I buy frozen white wild fillets at Trader Joe's (and even Family Dollar when I am in a bigger town than this one). Check out the frozen food cases. :> My sister found frozen wild cod fillets for $1.50 a package, running about 3/4 pound per. For adding variety, that price is OK with me. It's not like the basis of the diet.

But yeah, I too definitely keep the cheap canned ones on hand, too: mackerel, salmon, sardines.

The cheapest fish and probably the best are bait fish. High in oils, easy to feed raw and whole. There is a reason the bigger fish eat these guys. These include sardines, herring, and smelt. We have a smelting beach a few miles from my house and during the fall and spring run I normally get somewhere between 40-100 lbs of the stuff depending on what time the tides are and how they mesh with my work schedule.

You can normally request a shipment (like a 20 - 40lb box) of it from a good fish monger (if you can find one of those). They run me locally if I was willing to pay money for them about 1.45 a lb that way and a lb is about 4-8 fish depending on length. They are also darn tasty for people beer battered and fried. My lab loves a semi frozen one with a meal.

As far as purchasing Pacific coast salmon I would shy away from all Chum, Sockeye, Pink, Chinook, and Steelhead. Unless the grocer can tell the river that fish is associated with like Copper or Snake River which from what I can tell isn't really available info outside of the pacific NW anyways. Atlantic Salmon are much much cheaper anyways and way more available. I recall buying them whole at Walmart for $5-10 in Colorado Springs a few years ago.

I feed cooked herring and capelin, and raw mackerel to my dogs.

The pelagic species (mid-water schooling fish including all of the above) often are high in thiaminaze enzyme.

White fish species have less of this enzyme.

This enzyme depletes vitamin b1, which can cause paralysis and other symptoms. Cooking kills it (exceed 77C). I don't cook mackerel, because of the larger harder bones.

My experience has been that capelin and herring bones cooked are no problem.

I researched the thiaminaze enzyme issue by discussing it with a vet. at Nova Scotia Agri. College who studies this issue as it pertains to feed for mink and fox farms in this area.

I ran my own test by feeding the raw herring to my two dogs. I stopped when I detected some stiffness in the hindquarters of my cattle dog, normally a squirmy fellow. At that point I fed a bunch of vit. B1 slammed in boiled egg and he was better in a few hours.

The difficulty with raw is that calibrating the B1 offset is a crapshoot.

With mackerel, I keep it down to one fish a week.

On seal products: I get a 5 gallon bucket of food grade seal oil every few years, freeze it, and dollop it every few days on their food. You can't do this in U.S. because of your Marine Mammal Protection Act.

With all these species high in omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, it is important to up vitamin E consumption as more omega fats means more vitamin E is metabolized. I either ram the 400IU capsules into boiled eggs or cut them and squeeze them on the food.

By the way I get all this stuff free due to continuing good relationship with old employer Barry Group Inc., a fish company. just to make you all jealous.

I find no problem mixing the cooked fish with a kibble to make a sort of stew. This is often done by the sled dog folk in Alaska. I don't do this with raw fish, which I feed with a mix of other raw food.

Good point (and worth repeating as often as we do on this board) about the additional Vitamin E when adding PUFAs (a good thing).

But my dogs think the E caps are caviar; you may be going to unnecessary trouble by hiding or piercing them. :>

I AM jealous of free fish! Poultry, of course, often used for the RMBs of raw diets, is loaded with Omega 6s, and it's the 3s we need to work at adding ----- a free supply is extremely jealousy-making. :>

Interesting. I've never fed complete raw fish meals because of the consistancy of the leavings I got as a result the one time I tried it. It's always been a fish here or there as a suppliment to a regular meal. I guess that is what made a difference in not seeing an issue with feeding raw whole smelt or herring.

I guess like anything too much of a good thing is a bad idea. Variety always seems to be the key in this.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

It's always been a fish here or there as a suppliment to a regular meal. I guess that is what made a difference in not seeing an issue with feeding raw whole smelt or herring.

I guess like anything too much of a good thing is a bad idea. Variety always seems to be the key in this.

100% correct, Melissa. The way to cover the bases is to provide various protein profiles. Well said!

Wow!
Thanks for all the great information.

Getting saltwater fish isnt the cheapest or easiest thing to do in this part of the country. What about catfish, or trout or a similar lake living fish that is readily available in this state?

I did see some herring I think and some tilapia at sams the other day.

Connie: You mentioned the white fish filets from TJs to me before and I didn't follow up (oops). Thanks, I'm also going to see what I can find at TJs & Costco tomorrow.

 Quote: susan tuck

Connie: You mentioned the white fish filets from TJs to me before and I didn't follow up (oops). Thanks, I'm also going to see what I can find at TJs & Costco tomorrow.

There are several wild ones at TJ's, but NOT ALL. So you want to check for the "farmed" notice on the label.

Costco! I never thought of that. Let us know, would you? It might be worth re-upping my membership card.

P.S. Commercial freezing is also very low temp -- a good thing.

http://www.prey4pets.com/servlet/Detail?no=188

I can find these at the grocery store on occasion. Not whole, but as close as I can get right now.

Raw feeding got me back to huntin'. Might as well go fishin' too.

Connie, what is the farming issue if you don't mind my asking?