Fish Oil?

[Guest Diadado]

I'm interested in adding fish oil to their dry food for their coats. Do people use capsules or liquid? A dog brand from a pet store or ? Dosage? Once a day? Is this better for them than using something like olive oil?

 

Thanks!

[OwnedBySummer]

I give Summer one teaspoon per day of fish oil. I buy her human-grade liquid oil from a health food store. It's Ascenta Nutra Sea "Balanced EPA & DHA Omega-3 Supplement". It's actually lemon flavored (supposedly). I stir the oil into her dinner, which is canned meat, vs her breakfast which is kibble. People remark on the super softness of her coat! And I have heard that K9 Shine Herring Oil is also good.

Edited October 21, 2010 by OwnedBySummer

[Guest Greytluv]

Grizzly Salmon Oil from Greyhound Gang here. LOVE the stuff. If you search fish oil there are lots of posts on it.

[Guest Ola]

I would not get one from the pet store - I think fish oil meant for humans tends to be better quality. We get ours from Costco in gelcaps and the dogs love it. The first time I had to pierce the capsule and squeeze some out to show them there was good stuff in there but now they will even do tricks for their fish pills. Mayhem who is about 75 lbs gets 4 pills per day (I give them all together at bedtime) but you'd want to start with one capsule or even one every other day, and slowly work your way up to the full dosage. Fish oil, like any fat source, can loosen stools so needs to be introduced gradually.

[Hubcitypam]

An Afghan breeder friend really likes the Spectrum Brand. I can see where she gets it.

 

 

[TheFullHouse]

We get ours from Costco. The dogs just chew up the capsules. I vet friend of mine told me that for good heart health a greyhound should get 4,000 mg. a day. The Costco brand comes in 1,000 mg. capsules. Start slowly or your hound may get the runs. I started out at 1 capsule a day for a week and then added another the next week and so on until I reached 4,000 mgs. a day. A nice coat is another result of the fish oil.

[Guest cwholsin]

We have Hermes on a human-grade capsule twice a day with meals. He's super soft, but we're still having some dry skin--now that I look I see that he's getting 2000 mg a day. Maybe if we upped his dose? We're also giving him glucosamine HCL in capsule form twice a day for joint support and repair. We put both capsules on top of his kibble and he eats it right up! He associates vitamins with meals, so he starts to drool when he hears pills :lol

 

 

[PatricksMom]

Human grade capsules from Cosco (I think they're the Kirkland brand). You want vitamin e to stabilize the free radicals released with consumption, and I couldn't find that in pet products. That and Patrick and I now take the same ones.

 

He won't eat the gel caps, so I pill him along with his other meds.

[Guest Ola]

The thing that's important is to look how much EPA and DHA is actually in the capsules, not just how many mg the capsule itself is. Each 1000 mg capsule should have 300 mg of combined EPA and DHA - this should be listed on the label. If yours has less you will need to give more of the oil.

 

Also, the regular dosage is normally 1000 mg (that meets the above requirements) per 30 lbs of dog's body weight, with the maximum dosage being 1000 mg per 10 lbs. I would go to the maximum if you are dealing with health issues such as arthritis or severe allergies, etc where your dog needs lots of anti-inflammatory help.

[Guest Swifthounds]

I would tend to stick to the fish oil prepared to be human quality. Too many of the dog versions have significant levels of murcury and other metals. I get mine from Puritan's Pride and have had great results. You want a fish body oil (salmon, herring, anchovy, mackerel, etc.), not a cod liver oil or an olive oil or other plant-based oils. Plant based oils contain too much omega 6 and 9. Dogs have no use for omega 9 and they require omega 3 supplementation to balance out the excess omega 6 in their diets, so adding more 6s is counter-productive.

 

A maintenance dose of Omega 3s (the ones you're looking to add) would be 300 mg (combined total EPA & DHA) per 30 lbs. of dog and the theraputic dose of Omega 3s (the ones you're looking to add) would be 300 mg (combined total EPA & DHA) per 10 lbs. of dog. Unless your dog is sensitive to soy, which is in many processed oils and need not be listed on the label, the numbers are what you need to know.

 

The mgs (usually 1000 or 1200) listed on the front of the bottle is them mg amount of the oil, not the concentration of EPA/DHA. Flip the bottle over and look for those two numbers. Also, be sure to check the "dosage" - some bottles will list the amount as 1 pill and some will list the EPA/DHA per two capsules. It's how you can compare "less expensive" and "more expensive" fish oils to see what actually gets you the most bang for the buck.

[Guest Diadado]

Grizzly Salmon Oil from Greyhound Gang here. LOVE the stuff. If you search fish oil there are lots of posts on it.

 

I had done a search on "fish oil" on this forum and it came up with nothing which is why I posted. For some reason it wasn't picking anything up.

[Guest Diadado]

The thing that's important is to look how much EPA and DHA is actually in the capsules, not just how many mg the capsule itself is. Each 1000 mg capsule should have 300 mg of combined EPA and DHA - this should be listed on the label. If yours has less you will need to give more of the oil.

 

 

I picked up BJ's brand yesterday as it was closer than going to Costco. They are 1000mg softgels with 300mg EPA/DHA. 300 pills for $8.99. I gave them each one last night with their dry food and a little pumpkin in case they got the runs. Normal BM's this morning. So far so good

[Guest Diadado]

I would tend to stick to the fish oil prepared to be human quality. Too many of the dog versions have significant levels of murcury and other metals. I get mine from Puritan's Pride and have had great results. You want a fish body oil (salmon, herring, anchovy, mackerel, etc.), not a cod liver oil or an olive oil or other plant-based oils. Plant based oils contain too much omega 6 and 9. Dogs have no use for omega 9 and they require omega 3 supplementation to balance out the excess omega 6 in their diets, so adding more 6s is counter-productive.

 

A maintenance dose of Omega 3s (the ones you're looking to add) would be 300 mg (combined total EPA & DHA) per 30 lbs. of dog and the theraputic dose of Omega 3s (the ones you're looking to add) would be 300 mg (combined total EPA & DHA) per 10 lbs. of dog. Unless your dog is sensitive to soy, which is in many processed oils and need not be listed on the label, the numbers are what you need to know.

 

The mgs (usually 1000 or 1200) listed on the front of the bottle is them mg amount of the oil, not the concentration of EPA/DHA. Flip the bottle over and look for those two numbers. Also, be sure to check the "dosage" - some bottles will list the amount as 1 pill and some will list the EPA/DHA per two capsules. It's how you can compare "less expensive" and "more expensive" fish oils to see what actually gets you the most bang for the buck.

 

 

Thanks for all the info. I'm just looking for a maintenance dose right now. I'll do one pill at dinner this week and add one to their breakfast next week and see how they do with that dosage.

 

I appreciate everyone's input.

[Guest Sunset123]

Arrisa (57lb.) gets 3 Costco fish oil tablets per day. I put a tiny dab of peanut butter on them so she just eats them in one gulp instead of biting them. She loves her "fish candy."

[Guest gryhnd3]

I use The Wholistic Pet's Deep Sea Salmon Oil (buy it from Smartpak online but I'm sure there are other vendors). Use the liquid, very handy with the pump nozzle to just squirt some in their breakfast. It has Vitamin E.

 

"... is the finest quality, human-grade salmon oil from the body of fresh-caught salmon (wild, not farm-raised). Rich in the Omega 3 Fatty Acids EPA and DHA, Deep Sea Salmon Oil is the perfect combination of Omega-3's and Omega-6's that is naturally present in freshly harvested salmon straight from the cold waters of the North Atlantic! Free of All Pollutants & Heavy Metals!

 

Declared Ingredients

Ingredient Per Serving Per Pound

Total Omega 3 Fatty Acids 29.8%

DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) 11%

EPA (Elcosapentaenoic Acid) 9%

Total Omega 6 Fatty Acids 6.3%

Total Omega 9 Fatty Acids 21.5%

d-alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E) 1075 ppm

Other Ingredients

Wild Atlantic Salmon Oil, Vitamin E."

[Guest Diadado]

Do I need to add a Vitamin E pill too since the fish oil softgels don't have contain it?

[Guest Swifthounds]

Some amoutn of vitamin E should be in the diet, but if you're feeding a commercial kibble diet or a raw diet with lots of variety, you don't need to add more E. Vitamine E is used as a natural preservative (you'll see tocopherols or mixed tocopherols on the labels of items) in kibbles and often in the fish oil, though it's often not listed.