Olive Oil in food for dry skin?

I don't have any experience using olive oil, but maybe someone else will come along with some good info.

When Tonka had problems with dry, flaky skin, we added fish oils to his food, and it made a big difference.  We've also seen great improvements in Ruby's skin since adopting her (she had dry skin and a somewhat thin coat).  We use Animal Essentials Fish Oil Plus.  I order it from Amazon, but our local pet shop carries it, too.

 Olive oil, salmon oil, cod liver oil, any of those will help.  Put in a tablespoon daily.

I wouldn't add a whole tablespoon for a cav.  In fact, I'm minimal with extra fat but I *do* give everyone sardines daily.  Either it's in the food I make them or I add a fish or two (the bigger ones, not the spendy ones).  You can use the cheaper Spanish ones in tomato sauce  -- you can open a can and then portion it out and freeze.  The Vit C in the tomato sauce is just an extra (and they DO love it).  As a result I don't have to add anything further. 

The only reason I mention it is you don't want to risk pancreatitits with an addition like that.  A high quality Omega 3/fish oil -- I'd use maybe 1/4 - 1/2 teas. 

I'm generally pretty minimal with fat -- lI keep my meat to 15% or under (and that's JUST the meat percentage, not the percentage of the fat in the whole diet.).  I'm not saying "fat free" -- they **must** have fat.  Just be judicious

 He's on the smaller side for a cavalier, usually right around 14.5 lbs. I could do a sardine, though I think I would be more likely to remember a capsule or adding actual olive oil to his food.

Looking quickly on dog.com, their fish oil capsules say 1 capsule per 30-60lbs of weight. So,that's too much for him. Maybe one of the local shops will have something for him. 

griffinej5

Looking quickly on dog.com, their fish oil capsules say 1 capsule per 30-60lbs of weight. So,that's too much for him. Maybe one of the local shops will have something for him. 

In honesty use human stuff NOT dog stuff.  It's too easy for dog stuff to be rancid because there is less quality control.  You can also use like 1/4 tsp of ground flax seed -- flax oil can sometimes be well tolerated by dogs and sometimes not (depends on the dog) but you can grind your own flax seed or get the capsules and open them if you want.

With oils generally you just want to make sure it's one that is well tolerated.  Cod liver oil is an organ oil not a fish body oil and usually you'll do better getting a fish body oil. 

Among veggie or nut oils safflower and olive oils tend to be the best tolerated and digested.  And flax, as in ground flax, can be really nice too.

Jen was he scratch alot?  If so did the fish oil help?