General Question People Fish Oil Pills?

[LillyNBruin]

I want to start giving Bruin & Lilly fish oil, but I absolutely hate fish. The whole idea of having to clean bowls that just had fish oil in it absolutely grosses me out and makes me gag.....soooooo, what about the capsules? I did a search and see a couple people have/do give capsules ( [MENTION=2291]cowsmom[/MENTION], [MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION] ) Are you just giving regular people pills? Can I just run down to The Vitamin Shoppe/Walmart and buy a bottle of their brand? If so, I'm seeing different amounts of EPA and DHA. What is the best amount? There is one on Petco that has a much lower amount than what I'm seeing on The Vitamin Shoppe (it also says to give 1 capsule per 15lbs body weight), it also includes omega 9. I don't know what I should use. I think I would feel more comfortable with a human pill over the petco brand.

 

[BruceP]

Walmart is our supplier of fish oil capsules!!! Regular people kind and they don't smell. We just toss one in with her morning kibble and she scarfs it right down

 

[LillyNBruin]

Thanks!

 

[ame16]

Yep. In fact, I'd recommend human grade. I'd personally use a fish oil that doesn't have any added tocopherols, but it's probably not a huge deal.

Remember, 100 mg of DHA+EPA per 10 pounds for a maintenance dose and 300 mg/10 pounds for a therapeutic dose.

 

[cowsmom]

i was giving sarah salmon oil in her food but now the joint meds i give her has it in there so i dont have to worry bout it. human grade fish oil will be fine in the capsule. if i were giving it to sarah id prolly just use one 1000mg pill per day.

 

[anatess]

Are you still feeding Earthborn Meadow Feast? If yes, then that dog food already contains 2,290mg of Omega-3 and 2,830mg of Omega-6 per cup of food. Barring specific health issues, your dog will need about 100 to 150mg of Omega-3 per pound of dog. So, for a 50lb dog, that would be 5000-7500mg of Omega-3. The Meadow Feast dog food recommended feeding guide for a 50 lb dog is 2.5 cups. So, if you follow the guide, your dog is getting 5,250mg of Omega-3 already in his dog food and about 7,075mg of Omega-6. A sufficient amount for your dog.

Now, Omega-3 and Omega-6 need to be in balance (anti-inflammatory, pro-inflammatory). Having more of one versus the other throws it out of balance - that means, more Omega-3 than Omega-6 would shift the balance to anti-inflammatory whereas more Omega-6 to Omega-3 would shift the balance to pro-inflammatory. The ideal ratio is 1:1. Having researched the prey-model diet, I find that the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in grass-fed ruminants and things such as rabbits is 4:1 (4 Omega-6 to 1 Omega-3). Fish has a higher Omega-3 than Omega-6, for example Salmon has 1:15 (1 Omega-6 to 15 Omega-3) but you don't usually see dogs camping on bodies of water subsisting on a heavy fish diet. So, basically, a dog, when left to nature, subsists close to a 4:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 with the ideal being 1:1.

So, if you supplement Meadow Feast with fish oil, you can potentially throw Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio out of balance and even overdose on Omega-3's (shooting way past the 7500mg target).

So, that's why I always advice - if you are using a high quality COMPLETE FORMULA DOG FOOD - like Earthborn Holistics Meadow Feast - be very careful with added supplements.

 

[cowsmom]

my problem with stuff like that in kibble is how much are they actually getting from the kibble vs a fish oil pill. i wonder sometimes

 

[sweetpeasmom2008]

I feed earthborn as well and I was thinking about adding the pill because Lola hates the grizzly oil we have.

 

[BruceP]

I have no qualms about giving HRH 1 fish oiil pill in her Fromm each morning along with a cranberry pill to help prevent UTI.

 

[anatess]

my problem with stuff like that in kibble is how much are they actually getting from the kibble vs a fish oil pill. i wonder sometimes

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Feeding kibble basically means you are giving the decision-making of your dog's food to the kibble company. If the kibble company lists on the back of the bag - 26% protein, you really have no other option but to trust that your dog is getting protein equal to 26% of its kibble consumption. If it lists 1.7% Omega-3, then you have no option but to trust that your dog is getting that much Omega-3. The back of the fish oil pill states the same thing - how much are you actually getting from that fish oil pill? Same difference. If you don't trust your kibble manufacturer, it is better to find a better kibble that you can trust rather than supplement what you think the dog is not getting which may result in an overdose posing a health risk to your dog. Unless you see that your dog is exhibiting health issues that may be due to a lack in this or that vitamin, you really have not much option but to trust that the back of the bag is correct information.

Many raw feeders go raw because they feel they have more control over their dog's nutrition in this manner.

P.S. This is the same thing with human food. I find it interesting that people without chronic illnesses prefer to pop a pill - especially the ones that pop the pill because some celebrity said it does wonders - than figure out what vitamins and minerals they are getting from the food they eat and adjust accordingly. I have a 35 year old health-conscious friend who pops 29 pills a day...

 

[cowsmom]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Feeding kibble basically means you are giving the decision-making of your dog's food to the kibble company. If the kibble company lists on the back of the bag - 26% protein, you really have no other option but to trust that your dog is getting protein equal to 26% of its kibble consumption. If it lists 1.7% Omega-3, then you have no option but to trust that your dog is getting that much Omega-3. The back of the fish oil pill states the same thing - how much are you actually getting from that fish oil pill? Same difference. If you don't trust your kibble manufacturer, it is better to find a better kibble that you can trust rather than supplement what you think the dog is not getting which may result in an overdose posing a health risk to your dog. Unless you see that your dog is exhibiting health issues that may be due to a lack in this or that vitamin, you really have not much option but to trust that the back of the bag is correct information.

Many raw feeders go raw because they feel they have more control over their dog's nutrition in this manner.

P.S. This is the same thing with human food. I find it interesting that people without chronic illnesses prefer to pop a pill - especially the ones that pop the pill because some celebrity said it does wonders - than figure out what vitamins and minerals they are getting from the food they eat and adjust accordingly. I have a 35 year old health-conscious friend who pops 29 pills a day...

im not sure you understood what i meant. im not saying that they are not putting the stuff in the kibble like the bag says what im saying is how much is the dog actually getting from the cooked processed kibble. if i thought my dog needed fish oil or joint meds or even vitamins i would think that they would get more out of them as fish oil pills or joint med pills and even vitamin pills than from processed kibble. of course getting them from real food is best but well we were talking kibble

 

[Baconator]

I think I may switch Bacon over to the pills when we are done with our current bottle of Grizzly Oil because it stinks and [MENTION=4676]thesspa[/MENTION] really likes when Bacon walks over the couch or the curtains immediately after eating to wipe his own face off lol

 

[bullmama]

Well I feed awesome kibble but I can still see a noticeable difference when I run out of salmon oil or Nuvet. Of course I don't put either in every meal and mix up everything I give quite a bit. But since bulldogs have sensitive skin I think their bodies require more oil to keep it nice and healthy. And owning 8 myself it's obvious each one will require more or less of certain things in their diets.


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[LillyNBruin]

Ok....thoroughly conflicted now

Bruin had missing patches of hair with some scabs, it all went away for no reason at all that I can tell and now it's back. Nothing has changed, except for the season. It was fall turning to winter when his coat cleared up and the dead of winter when it started to get patchy, which makes no sense to me. usually you see problems happening in the fall because of allergies. What the heck could have possibly changed in the winter to make it worse. He can't possibly be allergic to snow! He is a bulldog though....so I guess I shouldn't assume . So I was thinking some fish oil could help his coat. But if he's already getting the recommended amount then what's the point. I don't know

 

[Vikinggirl]

Most supplements that are good for humans are also good and safe for our dogs, and I find they are usually cheaper than the supplements you buy from your vet, or pet food stores, yet they have the same ingredients. I found the same thing with baby wipes, the Petsmart dog wipes are $10.00 for a box, but you can buy Pampers or Huggies sensitive, scentless baby wipes for about $3.00 a box, or even by the case at Costco for much less.