[Codex]

I’m worried about people saying that fish oil supplements can cause vitamin A surplus over time.

It made Codex’s coat turned shinier and absolutely no dry skin–fingers crossed it’ll stay like that.

I’m wondering if the fish oil is not a long term solution to keeping her skin and coat silky. I suspect it might be masking food allergy symptoms(surf and turf makes her scratch)?

Any suggestions of a supplement I can use instead of fish oil?

[dogspotindia]

you can try Drools Skin and Coat Supplement i think its fulfill your requirement.

[JASTECH]

Codex, in order to dial it in per say, what breed, age, ect is your dog? You are feeding grain free Fromm S&T, let us know the information on doggie to better assist you.

[Shasta220]

You can buy expensive, special-formulated supplements (I’m sure the vet could help out), but I’m always on a tight budget. If fish oil doesn’t work out for a dog, then I use either flax oil or ground flax. Flax oil is about the same price as fish, and has pretty much the same amount of nutrients. I’m not sure how much ground flax would match up to say a tsp of fish oil, but it certainly is cheap. You can buy bags of flax for 1-3$ and grind it yourself.

I hope you can get onto something that works out for your dog! Don’t go overboard, either… I know a dog owner who takes WONDERFUL care of her girls, who are 12 and 13y.o. But they still go for daily runs, and they get NutriSource GF. She makes only one mistake with them: I always notice they’re virtually odor-free when I pet them – a sign of a good diet – but they tend to feel a bit oily. The reason for that is they get 1tbsp olive oil daily AND 4 fish oil pills…(her dogs are average size too. Collie and lab/b.collie) I’d never feed more than 2 fish oils to my dogs daily.

[theBCnut]

Dogs don’t convert the ALA in flax to the DHA that they need very well, only about 15%.

[Naturella]

For about a month I was giving my 12-ish lb Jack-Rat Terrier a tsp of mushed up canned cod liver in fish oil every other day with his breakfast. He LOVED it! On the days of no fish liver and oil he got a mix of cooked and raw beef liver. He looked and felt amazing, and nowadays he is on raw, unrefined coconut butter (ground up coconut flesh and oils) every other day with breakfast. He loves that too, and people keep commenting on how soft he is.

His coat has been very shiny since I switched him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy a month after my boyfriend and I got him, but I am not sure if it was that food or the fish skins he got in combination with it. So if fish oil worries you, you can always try the Beams or Wishes by THK (I think?). I need to get Bruno some more, and more cod liver, and alternate them and the coconut butter every few days. 🙂

[theBCnut]

You have to be careful with cod liver oil. It can cause excesses of fat soluable vitamins like A and D.

[Naturella]

Patty,

Oh, I didn’t know that! I will certainly watch how much I give Bruno. He hasn’t had any for over a month now. Do you know what the vitamin A and/or D surplus can cause and what symptoms of it I need to watch for?

Thanks!

[theBCnut]

Just google vitamin A toxicosis and vitamin D toxicosis. Both affect how the body uses calcium and can cause severe problems.

[Shasta220]

Gosh I really didn’t know that about flax! I’ll still give it to the dogs in their home made treats, but I’ll be sure to keep a drizzle of fish oil in their daily food! Thanks, Patty. =)

[theBCnut]

One of my dogs does great with a dose of flax in his food, it still counts as extra oil, I just also add fish oil.

[dogspotindia]

yes,I think, in dogs diet its safe to give him a fish oil daily.

[mountainhound]

Should be fine, if you want to be on the safe side, add some vitamin e along with the fish oil to help balance it. Honestly, I’ve been giving my dog salmon oil for the last 7 years with no issues, but he also gets raw eggs twice a week and other foods with vitamin E that balance it out.

[minit]

my 13 yr old, 20 lb jrt gets Swanson’s 500mg krill oil daily in addition to a slew of heart meds & 50mg Quinogel Ubiquinol (CoQ10). I didn’t know long term fish oil supplementation could create a vit A surplus…. how much E should be added to balance this? i used to add E as well, but he seemed to particularly dislike the E capsule no matter how well i hid it…

[theBCnut]

Not all fish oils have too much vit A, cod liver oil is known for that. Vit E is used to stablize many fish oils so you should check yours first, especially tubes and pumps.

The dosage for vit E is
<25lbs 50-100IU/day
25-50lbs 100-200IU/day
50-75lbs 200-300IU/day
75-100lbs 300-400IU/day
>100lbs 400IU/day

Older fish oils will have used up the Vit E used to stabilize it, so that’s why using capsules is usually recommended, but either way always make sure your fish oil is fresh.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there are actually 8 different vit Es, most supplements only have the 4 tocopherols. NOW Foods has a Gamma E complex that actually has all 8 Es in it.

[Queenichi Says COOK]

Coconut oil is fantastic & cholesterol free, it has wonderful properties but I find it very expensive. I recommend 1tsp of Rapeseed/Canola oil per serving for EFA’s or Walnut oil 1/2 tsp of the walnut (depending on how large your dog is).

[Queenichi Says COOK]

Sorry I may have missed the thread, are you home cooking your dogs food? Or is he on a commercial diet? Just wondered why you wanted a supplement?

[Author]

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