# Can too much fish be bad?



## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Not a stupid question at all! And a lovely first post. 

I wonder if a northern breed like a Samoyed might biologically be better suited to an all-fish diet. I really have no idea. Hope someone more knowledgable weighs in.


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## AbBen (May 31, 2020)

Definitely not a stupid question! Vit D toxicity is a real thing, though I would think it would be more of a concern if a dog got into a bottle of Vit D supplement or certain types of rodent poison. 

I believe in humans, it’s hard to eat enough Vit D containing foods to end up consuming enough Vit D that it would cause a problem. I’m quite far north and use a Vit D supplement year round for myself as our climate makes it challenging to get enough sun exposure and I don’t get enough in my diet. 

For dogs, although I don’t know for sure, I would think that the chance of too much from a balanced home cooked would be low, especially by having other things in the meals beyond the salmon to balance the diet.


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## Olive Love (Jul 22, 2020)

Too much of any food or treat can be bad and unhealthy.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

I have noted before that different breeds tend to do better on different foods. For example, I see a lot of northern breeds that do very well on almost pure fish foods, as do many labs. Many collies seem to do better on a food with more grains and less fish. I always wonder if this is due to what the dogs were fed when the breeds were developed. 

My spoo has a food intolerance to fish. 

That being said, unless my dog was allergic to all other proteins, that's not how I would chose to feed, I really believe in variety.


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## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

Mylosz said:


> I heard a samoyed breeder say she feeds her dogs with homecooked food, but she only uses salmon (no meat, just fish and I guess some kind of grain and veggies).


The Innuit (Eskimos) reportedly had a very similar diet and were extremely healthy (link1, link2). Samoyeds, Alaskan Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, etc lived with them, many as sled dogs, and ate the scraps. Considering that they evolved with this kind of diet, I imagine it's a good fit for them.


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

I remember Werner Herzog's film "Happy People" follows fur trappers in Siberia with Russian laikas. They ate a diet of mainly pike, for at least a good portion of the year. So I do think fish often works well especially for northern breeds. But that's probably whole raw fish. If cooked you couldn't include bone, so I'd want to know there was adequate calcium in the diet.


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## Michigan Gal (Jun 4, 2019)

Yep, people of the north fed their dogs raw whole fish. Guts and everything. I don't know enough about vitamin D, other than it is suggested, along with C and zinc, to fight Covid.


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