Oil for dogs - skin/coat/arthritis

Rowan9

My 12 yr old Golden Retriever gets 500mg evening primrose oil capsule in her tea. Within a week her coat was soft and shiny. She gets a qualitysenior dog food and is also on Flexadin (glucosamine and chondriton (sp?)) for her arthritis as well as anti-inflammatories now. But the eve primrose oil was the thing that made the difference to her coat (and the cheapest ones - £1.50 a tub of 30 from local chemist).

RachyD_3

Second the vote for cod liver oil - the vet got me onto that one (well, not me personally - the dog!)

paddypaws101

I know it is possible to overdo it with cod liver oil...too much Vitamin D is not a good thing. Fish oil is a safer more balanced bet. Mixing this with Evening Primrose oil and maybe a little olive oil should help her, but go easy, eh? Oil is a laxative after all....

Caroline_a

Paradigm wrote: »

Tinned Sardines or Pilchards. Dirt cheap, full of omega 3 & your dog gets the benefit of all the other nutrients.

Yup, thats what I use on Oakley and Sid, once a week.

MessyMare

Sardines in sunflower oil. My greyhound was a right state; we fed him this and pasta in olive oil and he went from having stiff (but not arthritic) joints, being virtually bald and having bad dandruff to being an utterly magnificent beast of a boy However, one of the other greys I took to the vets does have arthritis; when my friend asked about giving him oil the vet said it was too late for that, as it's more of a preventative/maintenance thing. However- I don't know if that was to get us to buy the anti inflammatories or not!

Paradigm

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I know it is possible to overdo it with cod liver oil...too much Vitamin D is not a good thing.

Quite true but CLO also contains high levels of vitamin A which is even more toxic.

Unless a special CLO for pets is available with these excess vitamins somehow removed, I'd give it a miss. Good quality dog food contains the required amount of vits & minerals, unless advised by a vet I'd be reluctant to add more.

Fish oil on the other hand contains the omega 3 we're after but with far less vit A & D.

Edit to add: I take high doses of fish oil to help with my Psoriasis & was warned off CLO by the specialist for the above reasons.