Omega 3 Supplements

[Piper's mom]

Some good info here thanks everyone. Now, my girlfriend is a masters student in biochemistry and her supervisor has a PhD in the field and lipids are their primary study. I mention this because she informed me that any of the omega 3 oils like salmon, krill, etc. oxidize once they're changed from the original form, essentially rendering them useless in terms of actually providing omega 3. I'd rather give Henry a whole food source of omega 3 so I bought dried sardines and he'll eat them but he's not a huge fan. Is there a brand of canned sardines that are totally safe for dogs?

I actually went out today looking for frozen sardines but unfortunately they didn't have them. They did however have frozen Smelt which is another fish similar to sardines and also high in omega 3's. I gave them each a couple with their supper (they are quite small) and while they didn't care much for them they did eat them. I think I'll mix them in when I make their food and they won't even know they're there lol.

 

[RikyR]

Interesting question, I found this info online...
Canned sardines are cooked at high temperatures resulting in loss of nutritional benefits, and toxic contamination. Toxins in the can, including BPA in the lining leach into the food. Studies have shown that even short-term feeding of canned products increases the concentration of toxins in a dog (or cats) body. For these reasons raw-frozen sardines are preferred over canned, however if you select a canned sardine product with care, even canned sardines can improve a diet of dry highly processed pet food. If you must use canned sardines, avoid products that contain inorganic table salt / iodized salt. Avoid products that contain toxic oils such as (non-organic) unspecified ‘vegetable’ oil, canola oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, or cotton seed oil – these are all GMO oils contaminated with glyphosate (a carcinogen).

It also did state that most grocery stores carry frozen sardines...I'm going to check out my local grocery store and see if they carry them. Seems that frozen would be a much healthier alternative.

I feed Zulu Brunswick Sardines, packed in water, no added salt. They are packed in aluminum cans, no BPA. I have never looked for raw frozen sardines, but I will now. But I suspect that they will be very hard to find.

 

[Piper's mom]

I feed Zulu Brunswick Sardines, packed in water, no added salt. They are packed in aluminum cans, no BPA. I have never looked for raw frozen sardines, but I will now. But I suspect that they will be very hard to find.

That's why I grabbed the smelts, found them easily in my local grocery store (they tend to sell more ethnic fishes) but these are caught in the Great Lakes so somewhat local. They are just as good as the sardines (packed with omega 3's) and as long as they've been frozen for a week it kills any parasites.

 

[Roberta]

I buy a supplement at my vet - Derma-3 softgels. According to the label it contains fish oil, beef gelatin, and vitamins E, D3, and A supplements. They get one a day. I put a whole pill on top of their dry food and they eat it without a problem. My 13 and 10 year old shelties have arthritis and the vet said this would help with inflammation - plus be good for their coats. I've been using it about a year now. Its hard to say if it has helped with the arthritis because I don't know how bad it would be if I wasn't using it. I figure it can't hurt. I do think it has made their fur nice and shiny. I'm pretty sure Derma-3 is also available from Amazon.

p.s. - I can't imagine giving them sardines or other types of canned seafood. Their breath smells bad enough as it is - and I do brush their teeth!

 

[Henrythesheltie]

I buy a supplement at my vet - Derma-3 softgels. According to the label it contains fish oil, beef gelatin, and vitamins E, D3, and A supplements. They get one a day. I put a whole pill on top of their dry food and they eat it without a problem. My 13 and 10 year old shelties have arthritis and the vet said this would help with inflammation - plus be good for their coats. I've been using it about a year now. Its hard to say if it has helped with the arthritis because I don't know how bad it would be if I wasn't using it. I figure it can't hurt. I do think it has made their fur nice and shiny. I'm pretty sure Derma-3 is also available from Amazon.

p.s. - I can't imagine giving them sardines or other types of canned seafood. Their breath smells bad enough as it is - and I do brush their teeth!

How did they get arthritis if you don't mind me asking? Henry loves to run and I try to not let him go too much because he's still under a year old and I don't want his growth plates to be affected. Arthritis worries me.

 

[Roberta]

How did they get arthritis if you don't mind me asking? Henry loves to run and I try to not let him go too much because he's still under a year old and I don't want his growth plates to be affected. Arthritis worries me.

I really don't know how they got arthritis. My 10 year old was limping a little on one of his front paws so they did an x-ray and said he had arthritis in that joint. I don't remember him ever having an injury to that foot.

The 13year old doesn't limp but his walking and movement in general has slowed down. I don't have any physical evidence that the 13 year old has arthritis but I have heard that joint problems are not unusual in older dogs.

I have to take my 13 year old in soon for his annual exam and heartworm test so I'll ask my vet if too much activity as a puppy can cause arthritis. I have an 8 month old puppy myself so this is a concern for me too. I do try to limit her jumping but let her run around as much as she wants.

 

[Piper's mom]

I think its just like with us...as they get older there's a lot of wear and tear on the joints and as they age they tend to slow down a little bit. I give both my dogs Green Lipped Mussel (cold pressed) and its given my older dog (he's going to be 10) an incredible amount of energy.

 

[VallejoSheltie]

What is the supposed problem with using the Omega 3's sold for humans?

I didn't know if it would work or not, however when I lived in CA I used Costco's Kirkland and then Trader Joe's fish oil. Took about 1200-1400 mg's EPA/DHA daily, and definately noticed significant reduction in pain knees and back. This guy runs a pretty good site and has a review on fish oil: https://labdoor.com/rankings/fish-oil#projectedEfficacy
Note- he also goes into detail about oxidation levels. Yes there is always some, and some products are better than others, however for someone working on a PhD to make statements that fish oil is all oxidzed and therefore useless is both provably wrong, and doing a disservice to anyone listening to her.

My only comment is that a 400 unit jar for $10-12 from Costco is probably more than enough at 2x per day to give beneficial results at an affordable price.