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Ingredient file // Animal protein

Hoki Fish

A lean, real fish protein, light on omega-3

Hoki is a New Zealand whitefish, caught by trawl and mostly sold as frozen fillets. In dog food it is lean animal protein, about 84% protein once dry, with a modest dose of omega-3 that falls well short of therapeutic levels.

Role in the food Main nutrition
What it is
A lean whitefish from New Zealand's deep-water trawl fishery, used as a named animal protein in dog food.
Made from
Wild hoki from New Zealand waters
Main job
Lean animal protein
Typical amount
Not published
Watch for
Freeze-dried hoki is raw; handle it like raw meat
Not the same as
Hoki liver oil or fish meal

Straight answer

Is Hoki Fish safe for dogs?

Count it as lean fish protein, nothing more

Hoki on a label means real fish protein, but lean fish. Any omega-3 promise rests on a separate fish oil, so look for one. In a freeze-dried mix with beef and organs, it is one protein among several. Skip it for fish-allergic dogs, and handle freeze-dried food as raw.

Why it is in the food
Lean animal protein

Our read // In our catalog

In 1 of every 3,204 foods we track

Share of foods that list it

<1%

1 of the 3,204 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All freeze-dried dog food.

Each square is 1% of the catalog

Where it sits on the label

Median position 4. In the top five of 1 food, so it is usually a main ingredient.

Top five List position, heaviest first

Above the salt

100%

Almost always listed before the salt, so there is more of it than a pinch.

Price per lb

Foods with it $36.12
All foods $3.25

Median of the cheapest bag price across 1 priced foods, 1011% above the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.

Who leans on it

100%

of the foods that list it are from K9 Natural. 1 brand use it in total.

What it is

How it is made

Hoki is New Zealand's big whitefish fishery, about 101,000 tonnes in 2021, trawled mainly for fillets and fish fingers. Parts that do not become fillets go to fishmeal and fish oil.2,3,4,5

  1. 01 // Source Wild hoki Caught by midwater and bottom trawl around New Zealand, usually 200 to 700 m down.
  2. 02 // Process Filleted Most of the catch becomes fillets and fish-finger products exported to the US, EU, Japan and Australia.
  3. 03 // Process Leftovers rendered Leftover fish parts go to by-product plants that turn them into fishmeal and fish oil for animal feed.
  4. 04 // Process Freeze-dried For freeze-dried dog food, raw fish is frozen and its ice drawn off under vacuum, with no cooking step.
  5. 05 // Output Dried raw hoki Labels rarely say whether fillet, trim or whole fish went in, and that changes the bone and mineral content.

What is in it

Composition, dry matter

84

% protein

Protein in hoki fillet with its water removed. As sold it is about 79% water; what remains is mostly protein and about 10% fat.

Crude protein 79.8-85.9%1
Crude fat 7.5-16%1
Ash 4.7-5.6%1
DHA 2,770-11,925 mg/kg1
EPA 1,737-4,977 mg/kg1
Phosphorus 7,089-8,404 mg/kg1
Calcium 272-362 mg/kg1

Values are for frozen fillets. Fat swings most, 1.6 to 3.4% as sold, and drives the omega-3 range. Whole fish or frames would add bone, raising ash and calcium well above fillet levels.1

Why it is in the bag

A real protein source, not filler

  1. Main nutrition
  2. Supporting nutrient
  3. Does a job
  4. Mostly filler

Hoki is fish muscle: frozen fillet is about 18% protein and 79% water, so once dried it is mostly protein [1]. That makes it a protein source the food is built on. Labels rank ingredients by weight with water included [11], so a wet fish's dry share is likely smaller than its list spot suggests. Its omega-3, about 239 mg EPA plus DHA per 100 g, falls far short of the 50 to 220 mg per kg of body weight used therapeutically [1, 8].1,8,11

  1. 01

    Lean animal protein

    Frozen hoki fillet is about 18% protein and 2% fat as sold. Dried, that is roughly 84% protein, so it lifts protein without adding much fat.1

  2. 02

    Some marine omega-3

    It brings preformed EPA and DHA, about 239 mg per 100 g of fillet. That is a contribution to the diet, not a therapeutic dose.1,8

  3. 03

    Large certified supply

    The fishery landed about 101,000 tonnes of hoki in 2021 under an MSC certificate, so fish with a sustainability label is easy to source.3

How much No public source gives how much hoki a recipe holds, and no dog trial has fed hoki as a test ingredient.

Our read // The claims

What the evidence supports

Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.

  1. Brands say

    Lean, high-protein fish

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Plain arithmetic. Frozen hoki fillet tested at 17.8% protein and 2.2% fat as sold; with the water gone that is about 84% protein and 10% fat. The claim holds.1

  2. Brands say

    Sustainably caught, MSC-certified fish

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Hoki was the first large whitefish fishery MSC certified, in 2001, and MSC reports both stocks have more than doubled since. The current certificate runs to 2031. A bag claim still depends on the supplier's chain of custody.2,3

  3. Owners say

    A novel protein for dogs with food allergies

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Fish caused reactions in 5 of 297 food-allergic dogs, against 102 for beef, which may reflect how rarely dogs were fed fish. It is novel only to a dog never fed fish, and a recipe that also holds beef is no elimination diet.6

  4. Brands say

    Fish omega-3s help skin, coat and joints

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Fish oil helps arthritic dogs at high doses: a 127-dog trial used food with 31 times the omega-3. Arthritis doses run up to 220 mg EPA and DHA per kg of body weight; a 20 kg dog would need about 1.8 kg of hoki fillet daily.1,8,9

Straight answers

What owners ask

  1. Q01

    Is it just filler?

    No

    Hoki is fish muscle. Dried, a fillet is about 84% protein and 10% fat, the opposite of filler. Its job is to supply amino acids, and it does that job.1

  2. Q02

    Is freeze-dried hoki cooked?

    No

    Freeze-drying pulls water out of frozen food under vacuum without cooking it, so freeze-dried hoki is raw fish unless the label says it went through a heat or high-pressure step.

  3. Q03

    Is hoki rich in omega-3?

    Modestly

    Hoki is a lean whitefish at about 2% fat as sold, carrying roughly 239 mg of EPA plus DHA per 100 g of fillet. Fatty fish and fish oil carry far more.1

Who uses it

Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps

Top brands, by foods that list it

  1. K9 Natural 1 / 8

Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.

Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it

  1. Beef 100%
  2. Beef Heart 100%
  3. Beef Tripe 100%
  4. Beef Liver 100%
  5. Beef Lung 100%
  6. Sunflower Oil 100%
  7. Flaxseed Flakes 100%
  8. Carrots 100%
  9. New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel 100%

On the shelf

Foods that list Hoki Fish

1 food in our catalog lists it, highest on the label first.

K9 Natural Beef & Hoki Feast Grain-Free Freeze-Dried Dog FoodK9 NaturalK9 Natural Beef & Hoki Feast Grain-Free Freeze-Dried Dog FoodFreeze-Dried // No. 4 on the label

Sources

What we read

Checked October 1, 2026.

  1. 1 HOKI de Nouvelle Zélande - Nutraqua - Composition nutritionnelle des produits aquatiques Nutraqua, n.d. // Database
  2. 2 New Zealand Hoki Marine Stewardship Council, n.d. // Nonprofit
  3. 3 New Zealand hake, hoki, ling and Southern blue whiting Marine Stewardship Council, n.d. // Nonprofit
  4. 4 Macruronus novaezelandiae, Blue grenadier FishBase, n.d. // Database
  5. 5 Our Operations Sealord, n.d. // Industry
  6. 6 Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats BMC Veterinary Research, 2016 // Journal
  7. 7 Fish Allergy: Fishing for Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Options Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 2020 // Journal
  8. 8 Fish Oil Dosing in Pet Diets and Supplements Today's Veterinary Practice, 2020 // Journal
  9. 9 Multicenter veterinary practice assessment of the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on osteoarthritis in dogs Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Europe PMC record), 2010 // Journal
  10. 10 Get the Facts! Raw Pet Food Diets can be Dangerous to You and Your Pet U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2018 // Government
  11. 11 Pet food labels: Cracking the code (Proceedings) dvm360, n.d. // Reference
An ingredient on its own tells you very little. What matters is how much of it there is and where it sits in the list. That is why we weigh the top five rather than reacting to any single name further down. Back to the wiki

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