Catfish Oil

Usually not. Freshwater fish such as catfish tend to have less EPA and DHA than oily ocean fish such as salmon or herring.

Catfish oil is fat taken from catfish, a freshwater fish, and is used in cat food as a source of energy and fatty acids. Catfish appears on the FDA and EPA Best Choices list of fish lower in mercury, though that advice was written for people, not pets. If your cat has a medical condition, ask your veterinarian whether a food with catfish oil fits its diet.

Source: fda.gov

Catfish oil is the oil rendered from catfish. It adds calories and flavor to cat food and supplies fatty acids, including some of the omega-3s EPA and DHA. Pettings notes that freshwater catfish usually carry less EPA and DHA than oily ocean fish such as salmon, so in a recipe it acts more as a fat source than as a concentrated omega-3 source.

Tufts veterinary nutritionists say the omega-3s ALA and EPA and DHA are considered essential for most animals. They add that cats cannot convert plant ALA into EPA and DHA, and they point to fish oils and algae products as sources of those two. That is why fish oils such as catfish oil, or algae oil, are the usual places EPA and DHA come from in cat food.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Catfish oil is a fish oil from a named species, while a label that says only fish oil leaves the species unstated. Catfish live in fresh water, and Pettings notes they tend to have less EPA and DHA than oily ocean fish like salmon or herring. So two products can both count as fish oil and still differ in omega-3 content.

Pettings scores catfish oil 5 out of 5 and lists it as a fish or algae oil. We found it on 1 of the 149 dry cat foods in our list. The ingredient score is separate from a food's overall score, which you can see on each food's page.