Winter Itch

[beachdogz]

I did a search on this, but could not find exactly what I needed to know.  Parker is scratching and coat seems dry.   We have a humidifier, but it is still dry and it seems this happens every winter.  Had him on apequel, but it doesn't seem to help a lot. 

I'm thinking of doing fish oil but have some questions:

1.   How many mg (or whatever the measure) for a 35 pound dog?

2.  Is there something about Vitamin E and that it is needed to give with fish oil?  And if so, why? And how much?

3.  Seems I tried the capsules before on another dog years ago, but as soon as they broke, that dog hated the taste.  Anyone else have that     problem?

4.  Does anyone have any other supplement recommendations for this problem?

Thanks for any input!

[Journey]

Coconut oil.

[beachdogz]

How much?

[Journey]

Eh, depends on the dog..with the solid (wintertime), I use about half a spoonful, with liquid (summertime) I just use the same amount. Start with half the amount, wait a week and increase to a full half a spoonful (regular serving spoons) if needed 

[urge to herd]

I started Gibbs on fish oil caps, first used one daily for a week. Just cut one end of the capsule off and then squeezed fish oil into his kibble. After a week with no unpleasant side effects I started using 2 caps daily. Gibbs' coat got very shiny and soft in a couple weeks. People complimented me on his coat frequently. I think I used it for Shoshone as well and it did some good. 

For humans ~ I take 2 caps daily. My skin the last couple years has been very dry in winter. If I skip the fish oil for more than a day my skin starts to flake and I get a bit itchy.

Hope this is helpful.

R

[beachdogz]

So Ruth - my capsules are 1000 mg.  Does that sound about right???

[D'Elle]

My dogs have always loved coconut oil so that's been easy.

As for fish oil, I buy the kind packaged for dogs. It's wild Alaskan fish oil, good quality, I put it into a pump dispenser and it has instructions on how much per pound. I put it into their food and mix it in with their tasty topper and they never notice, or else like it, i don't know which. but none of them will take the capsules. I think because it's a burst of oil when they bite it. that's unpleasant. I tried it myself and could easily see why they hated it. 

[urge to herd]

1 hour ago, beachdogz said:

So Ruth - my capsules are 1000 mg.  Does that sound about right???

Label on these says, 1400 mg naturally formed triglycerides, 1000 mg of Omega Fatty Acids, and sustainably sourced. Sourced in USA. This is Kirkland, which is Costco's brand.  As for human use, last year at this time I was leaving a snowfall of dry skin flakes everywhere. I started using fish oil, 2 caps in the morning, and the dry flaky skin is not totally gone, but at least 80% less.

D'Elle, I can not eat seafood, literally makes me vomit. My Mom was that way, too. Taking the caps is soooo easy. 

beachdogz maybe mixing it in with kibble, which is what I did, made it tolerable for my dogs.   Shoshone's coat was oily, nasty oily. It does seem counterintuitive to give a dog with an oily coat fish  oil, but I believe it helped.

                                                                                                                                                   

[diane allen]

I'll second (or fifth!) fish oil.  My vet nutritionist recommends Bayer Free Form Snip Tip capsules.  I snipped that tip for awhile, until it squirted on ME.  After that, I just dredge the capsules in a little cream cheese and feed it as "dessert."  My 30 pounds dogs get one in the morning and one in the evening.  I suspect the 'hoover' of them would just snarf it down whole in his food, but ol' miss slightly-more-picky wouldn't, so they both get one after meals.  Coats are great!

BTW, any liquid fish oil you get will go rancid almost immediately - as soon as there is air in the bottle.  Even if you refrigerate it.

diane

[terrecar]

My Hannah and Jan will take fish oil capsules like they’re getting a treat. For the Chihuahua, I just puncture the capsule end with an ice pick and drizzle the oil on his food. An added benefit is glossy coats.

[gcv-border]

Another option for fish oil (and I am currently using it for 4 dogs) is Iceland Pure. Not that it is any better than another brand (I mean, how would I even test that?), but I was attracted to the claims of ‘Unscented’ and ‘Pharmaceutical Grade’. I like the dispenser, an aluminum bottle (no product deterioration due to light) with a pump dispenser. I just use one or two pumps on their meal once a day. But once they got a taste of it, all 4 will lick it from the pump as I squirt it in their mouth. My cat even licks the pump tip if she can get to it. LOL.

[D'Elle]

On 12/30/2022 at 3:44 PM, diane allen said:

BTW, any liquid fish oil you get will go rancid almost immediately - as soon as there is air in the bottle.  Even if you refrigerate it

My understanding is that if it is properly packaged and stored, it will last for months.

But I looked this up and some sites say can last a year or more, , others say that even capsules will go rancid in only a couple of weeks once the bottle is open.

So.....hard to know what is real, on this. And I suppose it might depend on the brand and packaging. Would be nice to know what the actual facts are.

Of course, they say if it smells fishy then it is rancid. Which doesn't help me, unfortunately, because I have no sense of smell!

 

[beachdogz]

Update.  Well I tried the fish oil. I wanted to post the next day because I saw results that fast.  Seriously.  But I decided to wait in case it was a fluke.  And waited.  And waited.  This is amazing.  He's getting 2 capsules a day with meals.  So I'm a believer!!  And this is so much cheaper than Apequel!!  Thank you everyone!

[urge to herd]

beachdogs that's awesome ! Hooray!!!!   In my above post I think I wasn't clear that I cut the tip off the fish oil caps then squeezed the oil on to their kibble. They gobbled their kibble all the same. No issues.

Ruth

 

[alligande]

My boys get fish oil year round, and if needed I add coconut oil in winter. My old man was very scratchy and chewing on himself so added coconut oil back and very quickly saw an improvement