Fish Oil Isn’t the Hero-Whole Fish Is (Omega 3 for Pets)
- Angela
- Nov 14
- 5 min read
Why the pet industry keeps bottling the wrong thing - and how we fixed it.
The Omega-3 Conversation Everyone Thinks They Understand (But Don’t)
For years, pet parents have been told that omega-3 = fish oil.
Shake the bottle.
Squeeze the capsule.
Add the pump.
Done.
Except… it isn’t done.
Because fish oil alone was never the full answer.
Fish oil is a fraction. Whole fish is the formula.
We’ve been extracting the lifeblood out of the very thing that makes fish medicinal and wondering why the results are inconsistent or even inflammatory.
1. EPA & DHA Are the Power Players -- Not ALA
The right omegas matter - and not all sources are the same.
Plant omegas (like flax, chia and hemp) have to convert inside the body to become usable. The omegas in real fish (EPA & DHA are already in the form the body needs and can use immediately. This is especially meaningful for pets in survival mode -
The inflamed, the aging, the hormonally taxed, the digestion-sensitive, the chronically uncomfortable. Their bodies don't have the extra energy to convert plant omegas into something usable.
They need nutrients that step in ready to actually help, not nutrients that demand more from a system already maxed out.
So remember:
• ALA (flax, chia, hemp) must convert into EPA/DHA
• Dogs convert poorly
• Marine EPA/DHA is already usable
2. Processing Matters More Than Marketing
Most omega oils are not as pure as they sound.
Most fish oils are:
• heat processed
• exposed to oxygen → oxidation (which means they turn rancid long before the bottle hits the sales shelves).
• cut or stabilized with carrier oils like coconut/MCT (histamine trigger for sensitive pets)
And here is the part most brands skip:
Rancid, oxidized fats don't calm inflammation - they fuel it.
Oxidized oils do not reduce inflammation...they add to it. You can't 'heal an inflammed body with inflammed oil.
3. Fish Is More Than Fat
Real fish doesn't deliver "just omegas".
It delivers an entire biochemical ecosystem.
When you strip and extract the oil from fish, you lose:
• natural antioxidants like astaxanthin (the inflammation shield)
• trace minerals
• amino acids, proteins + peptides
• enzymes + micronutrients that make the omegas actually work
Nature builds nutrients to collaborate, not isolate. True anti-inflammatory impact doesn't come from one extracted compound...(just like cannabinoids). It comes from the whole system working together, not an isolated oil.
Why So Many Pets Are Omega-3 Deficient
It isn’t because the world ran out of fish oil - there is no lack of access.
It’s incomplete nutrition.
• Kibble is heat-dead - it's nutritionally hollow before it hits the bags it's sold in.
• Some fresh diets lack marine diversity
• Fish oil = isolated fraction of a full food - not a foundation.
The body always tells you when something is missing.
Pets express deficiency through:
• itching
• yeast cycles
• inflamed skin
• joint stiffness
• hot spots
• dull coat
• sluggish immunity
These aren’t “just pet things.”
They are deficiency screaming for help.
We Asked a Better Question
Not:
How do we make omega-3s convenient?
But:
How do we deliver the power of the ocean - without dismantling it first?
The answer wasn’t a capsule.
It was whole fish.
Nature didn't design itself to be distilled, isolated, filtered, heated, bottled, and repurposed. Nature already built nutrition to be whole. Intelligent. Connected. Complete.
The problem was never that pets needed more products...it was that they needed more nature, more whole food nutrition.
So we started asking how to honor the fish instead of deconstructing it.
No extractions.
No separations.
No shortcuts.
Just the fish, from the wild, do what fish have always done:
Feeding cells.
Cooling inflammation.
Protecting the brain.
Shielding life from the inside out.
The ocean answered back - with blunt simplicity.
Trident Blend: Two Fish. Zero Compromise.
Wild-caught sardines + wild-caught mackerel
Whole fish. Never farmed. Never fractionated. No capsules, no isolates.
No stripped-down fractions asking the body to fill in the blanks.
Just a couple of wild-caught, small, clean, nutrient-dense fish living low on the food chain, exactly where contamination doesn't stack the odds against them.
Whole fish, working whole miracles.
Because purity isn't a buzzword here - Every Batch Is:
• Third-party tested for EPA + DHA potency (we measure what matters)
• Tested for mercury + heavy metals
• No carrier oils (no coconut, no MCT, no histamine headaches)
• No oxidation gamble - no synthetic stabilizers pretending to fix what heat already broke.
• Rich in astaxanthin, bioavailable proteins, minerals, enzymes, and marine co-factors that oil extraction simply leaves behind
This is not a supplement trying to mimic nature.
This is marine intelligence delivered intact.
Why these Two Fish Matter:
Sardines are small but mighty. Naturally low mercury, dense in EPA, DHA, CoQ10, selenium and B vitamins and one of the most bioavailable sources of vitamin D.
Atlantic Mackerel are one of the richest marine sources of DHA on the planet. Built for brain growth, nerve health, cellular repair and delivers vitamin D in the purest form the body actually knows what to do with.
TOGETHER, they don't just deliver Omega-3s...they restore eht entire marine nutrient complex - EPA, DHA, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and Vitamin D embedded in its natural fat matrix.
This is not "support", this is remembrance. A return to nutrition a body recognizes at a cellular level, without converting, translating it, or negotiating with it.
Vitamin D naturally rises, slowly, appropriately, because the body finally receives it in the environment it evolved with - whole fish, whole fats and whole nutrients.
Inflammation naturally softens, the skin sighs, coats glow, joints loosen their grip and the immune system remembers "normal". Your pets body stops fighting for nutrients that should have always been there. Not because we supplement with something brilliant, but because we stopped removing something essential.
The Goal is not Supplementation - it's always whole food nutritional excellence.
How Much to Serve (Trident Blend)
Start low. Go slow. Let the body lead.
Dogs - Daily EPA + DHA Targets
Goal EPA + DHA (mg/kg) Trident Blend Equivalent
Maintenance / Wellness 20–40 mg ¼–½ tsp per 20 lb
Anti-inflammatory (itch, skin, joints) 75–100 mg 1 tsp per 10 lb
Therapeutic (chronic conditions) 120–150 mg 1 tsp per 6 lb
Neurological / Cognitive 100 mg 1 tsp per 7–8 lb
⸻
Cats
Goal EPA + DHA Trident Blend Equivalent
Maintenance 30–50 mg ½–¾ tsp
Therapeutic 300–600 mg 1–2 tsp
Begin with ⅛ to ¼ of the calculated dose for 3 - 5 days.
Increase gradually.
Why the Caution — Even With Real Food?
Because omega-3s change physiology:
• They thin blood
• They shift inflammation
• They activate liver + gallbladder
• They stimulate detox and cellular repair
All good things - when the body is ready!
Dose must be done to tolerance. Not to (your) urgency.
The Rawsome Reminder
Wellness isn’t built on isolates.
It’s built on ecosystems.
The ocean solved inflammation long before laboratories tried to bottle it.
We simply stopped stripping it apart.
If your dog could choose, they wouldn’t choose fish oil.
They’d choose the fish.
Meet Trident Blend. Omega-3, evolved.
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