Too Much?

dturm wrote:
I have many clients/patients that take one fish oil capsule and give one to the dog at the same time. Every preparation is a little different, different proportion of DHA or EPA plus many have additives like other vitamins, etc. Every preparation I have seen is appropriate for dogs in reasonable proportions.

We give Jill an OTC brand I got at Sam's Club rather than the dog preparation (we're on the road and getting a refill from my vet source isn't easy). She's just a little heavier than your Lab and is getting Nature Made 1200 (EPA 300 mg, DHA 300 mg).

This drug is almost impossible to overdose to a point of serious problems, you just get GI signs with too much oil.

Thanks so much. I'll check Costco and get some for Jed.

I have many clients/patients that take one fish oil capsule and give one to the dog at the same time. Every preparation is a little different, different proportion of DHA or EPA plus many have additives like other vitamins, etc. Every preparation I have seen is appropriate for dogs in reasonable proportions.

We give Jill an OTC brand I got at Sam's Club rather than the dog preparation (we're on the road and getting a refill from my vet source isn't easy). She's just a little heavier than your Lab and is getting Nature Made 1200 (EPA 300 mg, DHA 300 mg).

This drug is almost impossible to overdose to a point of serious problems, you just get GI signs with too much oil.

I buy fish oil capsules at the drug store or WalMart. The same ones that humans would take. I trust the quality of those more than I do products made for dogs. Some dogs will swallow the capsules. I prefer to poke them with a pin and squirt the fish oil over their food. The back of the label should list the amount of EPA and DHA in each capsule (sometimes it will be the amount in two capsules). Those are the really beneficial fatty acids in fish oil.

If I were going to give a product made for pets I'd probably use Grizzly Salmon Oil or Nordic Naturals. Grizzly has been around for years and gets really good reviews, and Nordic has a very good reputation for the quality of their human fish oil supplements.

And your vet may have something to recommend.

Does it matter what type of fish oil to give? I never knew that it was an option. I'd love to give it to my 65# Lab to help with arthritis. I looked at the "clicky" chart, but don't know about the Derma 3 ...

Could I have a little help with this?

Thanks!

dturm wrote:

This is one medication that we do give in higher doses for some therapeutic reasons, but at higher levels you can get loose stools and diarrhea. If you get to that point, back off :B

BTW, there are some pretty potent benefits besides hair and skin. The omega oils tend to be anti-inflammatory and are antioxidents or potentiate antioxidents.

My older dog gets a very large amount of fish oil to help with his allergies and arthritis. I made a note of your recommended dosage because I've given him such a large amount for so long I'd forgotten what a non-therapeutic amount was!

Pawz4me wrote:
I'm not Dr. Doug, but I did make note of the "dosage" he's given for fish oil in the past, which is 22 to 40 mg. per kilogram of body weight per day. A 10 pound dog is about 4.5 kilograms, so that would be about 99 to 180 mg. per day.

Note that is for the combined amount of EPA and DHA, which should be listed on the label. It's not the same thing as the total milligrams in the capsule.

What I would do is use a pin to poke a hole in the capsule and squirt the contents over both dogs' food every other day. Splitting the contents of one capsule should give them roughly the same amount they're used to getting.

This is one medication that we do give in higher doses for some therapeutic reasons, but at higher levels you can get loose stools and diarrhea. If you get to that point, back off :B

BTW, there are some pretty potent benefits besides hair and skin. The omega oils tend to be anti-inflammatory and are antioxidents or potentiate antioxidents.

Doug, DVM

I'm not Dr. Doug, but I did make note of the "dosage" he's given for fish oil in the past, which is 22 to 40 mg. per kilogram of body weight per day. A 10 pound dog is about 4.5 kilograms, so that would be about 99 to 180 mg. per day.

Note that is for the combined amount of EPA and DHA, which should be listed on the label. It's not the same thing as the total milligrams in the capsule.

What I would do is use a pin to poke a hole in the capsule and squirt the contents over both dogs' food every other day. Splitting the contents of one capsule should give them roughly the same amount they're used to getting.

Our Vet suggested giving Fish Oil to our dogs to help with dry skin and itching. Not sure if it help a lot with the itching but the dogs love it on there food.

Clicky link to chart

I'm not Dr Doug, and would defer to his knowledge....
but here's a chart to give you a rough idea meanwhile. And it looks like the dosage they recommend is for osteoarthritis. If that is not an issue, and you are just giving it for skin and coat, the dosage may be less.