catfish
Catfish is aquaculture's quiet workhorse — farmed freshwater protein, mild and lean, novel-ish for pets that have eaten the usual ocean lineup.
Also appears on labels as: fresh catfish · deboned catfish
What it is
Farmed channel catfish, mostly US pond aquaculture: mild, lean, digestible white fish. Its farmed provenance is a feature for consistency (controlled feed, no wild-catch variability) and a fair question for those who track aquaculture practices.
Why it's in pet food
Named fish protein at farmed-fish economics, with mild novelty value — catfish rarely appears in mainstream pet food, so ocean-fish-sensitized pets may tolerate it. Lean like pollock: protein, not omega.
How Bowlmark scores it
Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.
Two notes as with its shelf-mates, both now pointing the same way: catfish holds a named-protein seat since the 2026-08 matcher update, and it draws no unnamed-fish deduction either — naming your species exempts you, and 'catfish' names one, whatever the last four letters spell. Credit at last for a perfectly serviceable fish.
Foods that list catfish
Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.
Compare foods that list catfish
Same species, same form, both scored — closest scores first, so the comparison is a real one.
Sources
Related ingredients
Further reading
Cite this page
Bowlmark. "Catfish in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/catfish
- Engine
- Methodology engine v1.1.0 · config 13c99e2f
- Verified
- Last verified August 20, 2026
No stored score to stamp yet — the engine and config above are the ones a scan runs today.