Omega-3 for elderly dog

[Tal R]

Hi,

I’ve been told (here) that it is recommended to give Omega-3 to elderly dogs (especially ones with arthritis).

My dog is a 15 years old female medium sized, mixed breed (probably mostly German Shepard), weighing approximately 25 kg (55 lbs).

My questions are:

What amount of Omega-3 should I give her?
Does the source of the Omega-3 matter (e.g. fish oil)?

Thanks,
T.R.

[Anonymous]

Try the search engine toward the top of the forum home page, look up fish oil.

The most cost effective way is to just get the human fish oil capsules at the drugstore, at present I am using Sundown Naturals 1200mg, I put 1 capsule a day in their morning meal and they chew/gulp it down. They are small dogs. I take one a day too 🙂

Most dogs can tolerate one capsule a day, in my experience. I wouldn’t give more, unless your vet advises so.

If you want to be more careful, look into salmon oil or fish oil supplements specific for dogs from pet supply places and go by the directions on the jar.

The only side effects I know of are, fish breath or loose stools, I have not observed either with my dogs.

PS: My old guy will be 15 next month, he weighs 12 pounds. It is just a supplement, but I think it helps a little.
I have heard good things about krill oil, but it is more expensive.

[Tal R]

Hmm. I’m using Flaxseed oil for myself. Do you think that would be safe for her as well?

[Tal R]

Nvm, I googled it and it seems to be recommended for dogs even more than fish oil.

I’ll try that and see…

Thanks, L.M. !

[DogFoodie]

I would definitely use fish oil over flax oil. Dogs aren’t efficient converters of ALA to DHA.

For my dog that is fish intolerant, I use organic algae oil.

[Anonymous]

Flaxseed oil vs fish oil? Controversial. I’d ask the vet, leave a message for him to call you back when he has a minute, shouldn’t be a charge. I wouldn’t ask the vet tech, I would want the expertise of the vet.

I don’t think the flaxseed oil would hurt the dog…but maybe the fish oil would be more beneficial?

[Tal R]

DogFoodie, I found a few articles online that claim that flax seed oil is good for dogs.

Here the author also claims that all researches claiming that dogs can’t convert ALA to DHA were funded by the fish oil companies (but then again, this site itself seems to be only selling flax seed products, so they might be subjective themselves).

http://www.ellies-whole-grains.com/ellies-store.html

What do you think?

[C4D]

I use human fish oil for my dog that has arthritis in both hind knees due to old CCL tears. It’s really helped for over 5 years. She has very minimal arthritis and walks well.
Here’s a link to VA which is very mainstream. They seem to prefer fish oil.
http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/flax-seed-oil/458

[Christine M]

My vet told me to give my 12 year old, medium sized dog, 180mg of EPA and 120mg DHA.
I found it in my health food store but it also contains Vitamin E from soy and sardines, mackerel. Is the Vit E with soy ok? Is the fish ok? I really need help with this. My dog does have a sensitive stomach.

[C4D]

It seems that soy is often used as the Mixed Tocopherol Vitamin E source. I called Nature Made about it. I still use their fish oil pills since the double strength has double the EPA & DHA in each capsule. My dog hasn’t had any problem with it & I like the fact that Human Grade is more purified.
The sardines and mackeral are the source of the EPA & DHA, not vitamin E. They are actually a safer source than salmon as the mercury contamination is minimal, if any. As far as I know, sardines and mackerel are wild caught and not farmed either.

[Author]

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