Cod Liver Oil - safe for dogs?

barlowsmum

Have been giving my 2 (a young Springer and an elderly chocolate Labrador) Glucosamine & Chondroitin and Cod Liver Oil capsules for couple of years now, have to be careful of the Vitamin A toxicity but I figure if you only give a child dose it can't be that bad for them. At 12 1/2 have just had to start the Lab on daily Rimadyl, don't think that can be to bad a record. His coat is great and it's only recently he has started to struggle with his hips.
Better still perhaps would be the Omega 3 oil plus Evening Primrose oil. Try shining him up with a microfibre cloth too, it seems to help.

gettingready

I give Zara this one:




From zooplus.....

paddypaws101

It might be 'safe' in controlled doses....but whole fish oil is much safer and probably better all round. Widely available either from Zooplus as GR posted above or even in Holland and Barratt.http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=169&prodid=172
Capsules may look more expensive up front, but unless you are supplementing a large dog ( Hi Zara! ) or multiple dogs, the bottled stuff can go rancid quite quickly....and it STINKS anyway, so capsules are often a better choice.

melbury

My dog suffers from SLO and has been on Kronch for some time, he loves it!

http://www.csjk9.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=109&idcategory=0

snowman2_2

I would always be cautious with cod liver oil as I have seen it cause liver failure in dogs in the past - very easy to overdose, especially a small dog. I always advise people NOT to give it as there are better options anyway. Glucosamine is better for joints and Evening Primrose Oil better for skins although something like Viacutin would be better still.

materialgirl

robpw2 wrote: »

i wouldnt eat cod liver oil myslef its yeuck so there is now way id feed it my dog poor thing

I bet you wouldnt much on a raw meaty bone would you? :cool:
Dogs have different tastes.

For thoses abit unsure about CLO and the amounts to feed, its true what they say about the vit E overdose, which gives the dogs the squits, so try SOS (save our skin) Salmon oil from Fish4dogs.
Its taken from a different part of the fish and not as prone to give dogs the runs.
Also try googling Joint Aid. Its another form of additive to add to your dogs food, and a lot of people rave about it.
You can buy it from your local pet food store.

I would also echo giving your dogs treats of pilchards/mackerel etc from the supermarket or fishmongers etc.
Bones and all.
If you're lucky enough to live by the coast and can get fish off cuts like heads etc, most dogs will eat this as a treat aswell.

materialgirl

chucknorris wrote: »

I give my dog 'joint aid', half a teaspoon of cod liver oil and also a couple of drops of olive oil (good for their claws apparantly) every day.

i think you're overdoing the joint care tbh.

Feed each of the above seperately as they all do the same thing.
Esp since joint aid is quite expensive.

faded_flowers

Have you considered moving onto a high quality complete food instead? No worries about over-dosing or guessing what additions to put into the diet that way. If the current diet doesn't provide enough for a glossy coat there's also the chance that it isn't providing enough in some other way that isn't so obvious.

imaginarynumber

paddypaws101 wrote: »

It might be 'safe' in controlled doses....but whole fish oil is much safer and probably better all round. Widely available either from Zooplus as GR posted above or even in Holland and Barratt.http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=169&prodid=172
Capsules may look more expensive up front, but unless you are supplementing a large dog ( Hi Zara! ) or multiple dogs, the bottled stuff can go rancid quite quickly....and it STINKS anyway, so capsules are often a better choice.

I agree that the risks of overdosing vitamin A is a real concern.

I do worry about the quality of generic fish oils though, There is no knowing what fish have been used and may include the bottom feeders, which act as the sea's waste disposal units... Additionally the levels of mercury etc are variable.

With regard to human oils or capsules- I would not recommend them- the levels of omega 3 and 6 are not ideally suited to dogs- for example linoleic acid (omega 6) is important for dogs as they can't produce it, too much however can be harmful, leading to joint inflammation and arthritis etc.

The above also applies to horses- too much omega 6 can make a horse go loopy.

There are a number of cold pressed salmon oils that are consistent and tailored to suit dogs. It is true that you may only get half a year shelf life but the better quality ones will have bottles that extend the shelf life.

Two of the best are

1. Grizzly http://grizzlypetproducts.com/salmon_oil/salmon_oil.html
and my fav
2. Naturvet Unscented Salmon Oil http://www.naturaldogs.co.uk/store/salmon-oil-8oz.html

Both are American and use wild pacific salmon

Both are very good but the Naturvet does not smell fishy (they extra filter it- it smells more like linseed oil)

Others include Kronch and Paddy Paws

imaginarynumber

elsien wrote: »

I asked the vet re glucosamine, and he said there was no scientific evidence, but I could give it a go if I wanted (minimum of 2 months.) Any opinions anyone?

There is no hard and fast evidence for glucosamine but there is also no evidence disproving it.

However (from wikipedia)

I"n 2007, a review by Bruyere et al. about glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for the treatment of knee and hip osteoarthritis concludes that both products act as valuable symptomatic therapies for osteoarthritis disease with some potential structure-modifying effects.[32]
At present, OARSI (OsteoArthritis Research Society International) is recommending chondroitin sulfate as the second-most-effective treatment for moderate cases of osteoarthritis[33] Likewise, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) supports the usefulness of chondroitin sulfate in the management of knee osteoarthritis and grants the highest level of evidence, 1A, and strength of the recommendation, A, to this product.[7]"

I am happy to use it and have (human) friends who claim to suffer worse (from their arthritis) if they forget to take it.