Flaxseed Oil Question

I"m not sure about the conversion but really the only thing you are worrying about with these EFA supplements is overdooing the exposure to oil.  Remember you are giving her the equilvalent of about a third of a teaspoon of oil with each pill.  That should be fine, really.

Fish and flax seed are not equivalent.  Fish oil would be a lot better.  Dogs just process it better.  But, if the flax is all they will eat, that's fine.

When my guys wouldn't eat them, before, or for my cat who thinks they are the spawn of Beelzebub, I puncture the capsule and just squirt it on the food.  Or, you can get the salmon oil in convenient pump bottles.

I tried squirting it on their food and they turned their noses up at it. I know most dogs love super stinky stuff, but I guess the smell is just too much for them :( I will try wrapping the fish oil in liverwurst and maybe they will take it.

What kind of fish oil caps are you using?  Unfortunately a lot of dog companies tend to sell stuff that is actually rancid -- and it's a smart dog who won't take it.

I always get a really good human brand.  Either that or I use sardines or jack mackerel.

I gave them the same oil that I purchased for myself. I'm resting now from a steroid injection in my spine yesterday, so I can't go check the brand name, but I got it at CVS. I don't think there is anything wrong w/it and I store it in the fridge. They will eat sardines and I give them smoked oysters, I don't know if those are good in terms of oil, but they do like them and they stink to high heaven!!!!!

sardines and that kind of stuff are fine.  I'd only give one of the capsules (esp if it's like 1000 mg) only once every 2-3 days.  That's what I do with my small ones.

Shot in the back - ouch!  But I hope it helps the pain - it should!  Someone at church just got that done, too - he'd put it off forever and then when he had it done, he said he wished he'd done it ages ago.  When you are allowed to move again I highly recommend pilates - I've had a weak back my whole life and my car accident finished me - but now it's like someone installed a new spine back there.

On fish as a nutritional supplement:  they'd have to get most of their calories in fish to get the same bennies as the isolated fish oil  supplement.  That's why we don't just feed fish, since it's cheaper (and safer in some ways).  Even humans have to eat fish up to three times a week just to reach our minimum requirement and we easily metabolize n-3s from other sources (plant oils).

You want to aim at somewhere around 100 mg daily of combined EFA and DHA for a ten pound dog.  But if you are doing it for some reason, like as an anti-inflammatory or to improve coat and skin health, you'll want to jack that up a bit - you can supplement up to four times that amount before you throw anything off (like the n-3:n-6:n-9 ratio). 

Check the label for EPA and DHA, then add those two together.  Make sure you are looking at per capsule amounts and not "per serving" - sometimes they'll throw you a curve ball and give values for two or three capsules at once!  

The other thing you want to watch out for is whether they include soy, or synthetic vitamin E.  There's nothing actually wrong with these, but I look for natural E and no added oils as signs of a higher quality product.  Natural E is called d-alpha tocopherol, while the synthetic stuff is called dl-alpha tocopherol. 

Ben' fish oil is Nature's Bounty (this time anyway) - I think you can get that at CVS since I think that's where I got this (lol).  The serving size is TWO capsules so I have to watch out when I read the label.  There's nothing but capsule, and an enteric coating (we share this supplement), and anchovy and sardines.  These are relatively free of heavy metals because they are small fish and not farmed. 

Ben's a 19.9 kg dog, and older, and doesn't metabolize fatty acids well, so I aim for around 2000 combined EPA/DHA and use this concentrated formula to achieve that.  The typical formula doesn't supply nearly these amounts.  There's 360 mg of EPA and 240 mg of DHA, so three capsules is plenty.  But I go ahead and give him four because his diet is high in n-6s and that gets him pretty close to the correct ratio.

Good luck with your back!

 

Thanks Brookcove for all the info and good wishes. I've always wanted to try pilates and was actually just getting ready to rejoin the gym when this happened, so it will give me something to look forward to! I will look at the label on the bottle. I did give them another one tonight. They just gobble it up with the liverwurst!!! I wonder if you can dehydrate liverwurst for treats???? I may try it. I do give them an oil supplement mixed into their plain organic yogurt each morning it's Pro-Pet Skin & Coat Formula and it has Soybean Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Wheat Germ Oil, Vitamin A supplement, Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin E, Zinc Stearate and a bunch of other stuff........ Does this sound okay??? I do give that every day (1 TBSP each), but if the fish or flaxseed oil would be better, I would eliminate this and give them the other. I don't want to overdo it on the oils.

i tried that- the liverwurst just crumbles into dust. You can put it in a little container and let them lap at it for second or two as a portable high-value treat.

Good luck on your recovery.  People either love pilates or hate it, I've found in talking to people.  I know it sure has been wonderful for me.   

Yes, the fish oil or even flax would be fine and much cheaper, I suspect (lol).  If you feed a good food or have a balanced diet plan, you don't need to supplement most of the stuff you list (A, D, zinc).  However, you'll want to supplement E at the rate of 200 mg for every 1000 mg of oil you give.  So you'd give a 100 mg capsule maybe once a week or so, probably.