JaderBug Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 I heard somewhere recently that adding flax seed oil or olive oil to your dog's food will give him/her a shinier coat. Is this true? What would be some guidelines for adding oil to their food? This may have been brought up in some earlier threads, but for some reason I can't seem to search for it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 I add Flax oil to Quinn's meals (1 teaspoon 2X a day). It is supposed to be beneficial for a whole bunch of things such as immune system, heart, GI and I'm sure it is good for his skin and coat. It's a source of Omega 3. There a variety of oils to choose from, including Salmon oil which many people swear by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillalove Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Yeah I've heard many good things about any fish oil for the skin and coat benefits! Flax oil benefits other things as it has a load of Omega 3s! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnLloydJones Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Yeah I've heard many good things about any fish oil for the skin and coat benefits! Flax oil benefits other things as it has a load of Omega 3s! There's a difference between fish oils and plant oils that you should be aware of. Fish oils contain the forms (EPA and DHA ) that is ready for the body to use. Plant oils mostly contain a form (AHA) that has to be converted to the active form. Not everyone (or every dog) does that conversion efficiently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoZo Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Olive oil is the greatest! We always add a teaspoon per cup of good quality olive oil to our dogs dry kibble and they both love it. We've have our rescue, Jinx, for about six months now and his coat has changed from very rough and dry with terrible, flaky skin to great looking skin and fur that's soft, silky and shinny. We get many comments from people we meet about how nice their fur looks and how soft it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillalove Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 There's a difference between fish oils and plant oils that you should be aware of. Fish oils contain the forms (EPA and DHA ) that is ready for the body to use. Plant oils mostly contain a form (AHA) that has to be converted to the active form. Not everyone (or every dog) does that conversion efficiently. I've heard about EPA, DHA, and AHA but never really understood the difference. Thanks a lot for that! I'll keep that in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 I add a teaspoon of a fish oil that is supplemented with vitamin E to Daisy's food. It has completely fixed her skin being itchy. When DH fed her for a few weeks and forgot to add the oil, the itchiness came back. When we began adding the oil again, the itchiness went away. That's as close to a real experiment as I can report! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurae Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 I add a teaspoon of a fish oil that is supplemented with vitamin E to Daisy's food. It has completely fixed her skin being itchy. When DH fed her for a few weeks and forgot to add the oil, the itchiness came back. When we began adding the oil again, the itchiness went away. That's as close to a real experiment as I can report! Hi Jan, Wat kind of fish oil do you use? I've been looking for a liquid fish oil that has vit e in it (in higher doses than necessary to preserve the oil) forever. My local pet supply store has promised to bring in such an oil if I can find it... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 Seapet Gold. I don't use them because I have problems with their extensive use of shark in their products, but it's reported to be a good company and high quality/good prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 The name of the product in our pet store is Lipiderm, by IVS (International Veterinary Supply). The active ingredients are omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A and E. The product contains fish oil, safflower oil, lemon flavor, and some kind of surfactant which they maintain makes the oils better absorbed. I'm skeptical of that last claim, since I don't know of any reason why fish oil or safflower oil wouldn't be absorbed readily. BTW, the Lipiderm active ingredients seem to be similar to those in Carlson's Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, a human product sold in Whole Foods, and which is much more concentrated in the omegas for the same price. I just give less. It just has the fish oil, not the vegetable oil. It does have the vitamin E, 10 IU per tsp, same as the lipiderm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracer Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 The same thing with us. He was having real itchy skin so we would add fish oil to his food and he would stop itching. Sometimes we would forget and it would come back but as soon as we started it again he would no itch. We use 3V Caps liquid HP skin formula, DVM, ours comes in a pump so I just use 1 pump with breakfast and 1 with dinner. Only downfall is he starts smelling fishy, anyone else find that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooky Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Thanks, after reading this I am going to start supplementing with fish oil (or flax oil) as Odin had fleas when we got him and is not over the residual itchiness. Omega-3s are wonderful for our health, and I'd assume they'd be great for any canine athlete. Due to processed fats and dairy, we get an overabundance of Omega-6 fatty acids, which are the biochemical precursor to a natural pro-inflammatory hormone made by our bodies to control swelling, etc. Omega-3s, on the other hand, are the precursor molecule to an anti-inflammatory hormone. A diet too rich in 6s will lead to more muscle and joint inflammation, and you can tip the balance the other way by having a diet rich in the 3s. One thing I've noticed personally about flax seed oil is that it makes my eyes feel and work a LOT better. I am an ecologist so work out in the field for long days, with sun, wind, dust, and pollen or even bugs getting in them. (I imagine herding carries similar difficulties!) When my eyes are dry-feeling and have weird trouble focusing when I first get up, 3-4 flax seed oil capsules really help - and one a day helps stop them from ever feeling bad to begin with. I don't know if this would be the case for dogs, or what component of flax oil does this - maybe salmon oil would do the same. As for the surfectant, that might help absorption because it would break the oil into smaller droplets. Oils are hard to digest because our bodies are so water-soluble. To get the oil into packets big enough for individual cells to take them up, our livers manufacture a salty surfectant-type stuff, bile salts. But since your liver does already do this, it's not like the dog wouldn't be able to absorb any oils without the additive. --ooky + Odin (BC pup) Dr. Benway (ocicat) & Lobo (bengal) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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