Monday, February 1, 2010

Omega-3s

I am on the Nancy Kay, DVM (author of Speaking for Spot) e-mail list. Saturday there was an e-mail from her entitled: Fish Oil (Omega-3 Fatty Acids): a Proven Treatment for Canine Arthritis.

She blogs that in a recent Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association there were the findings of two studies on the effects of omega-3 fatty acids for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The studies showed that dogs on omega-3 fatty acids showed a significant improvement in their ability to rise from a resting position.

I commented and asked what fish oil supplement she recommends. I have been using Omega-3 Pet by Nordic Naturals since 3V HP Snip Tips went off the market. Within two hours she had e-mailed me personally. Apparently she also uses Nordic Naturals, she has heard good things about its bioavailability, so I feel a bit more secure in that choice. FWIW, Vitacost has a good price on the Nordic Naturals Omega-3 Pet 180 ct bottle.

For Bug especially, I feel an omega-3 supplement is important. Now if only I could get John back on one for his knee!

7 comments:

Sara said...

Thanks for the info and the link for the supplements. Misty doesn't show much signs of arthritis, but due to her age, I think supplements like this are really important. Good to know there is some science behind it!

Blue said...

Iris gets fish oil daily too. There was one study done on fish oil and epilepsy that had pretty positive results. I recently read that you should give vitamin E with the fish oil. Have you heard that before?

Jules said...

I know Vitamin E is recommended for dogs with DM and also HD (I think - due to the high levels of antioxidants), but haven't heard anything specific about Fish oil and Vit E together.
I'll have to do some googling!

Taryn said...

I have been giving my Cardis Kronch Wild Salmon Oil for months now. Not only is it good for their joints, it does wonders for their coats and skin! After seeing their improved coats, I tried capsules for myself and saw a HUGE improvement in my dry winter skin!
Fish oil really does make a difference! Hopefully my knees will benefit as well.

Jules said...

Oh...that is really interesting about the winter skin! Makes sense.

Blue said...

The vitamin E thing recently came up on a "natural health for Aussies" email list I'm on. It was the first time I'd heard it. The concern was that the body uses vit E to process fish oil, so high doses of fish oil could lead to a vit E deficiency. Maybe the dose we give our dogs isn't high enough to be a problem? I did find this link with a couple of studies cited at the bottom: http://www.oilofpisces.com/vitamine.html

Jules said...

Very cool. Thank you! I'll have to look into it further. I just joined a CanineHD list and they also recommend Vitamin E in conjunction with fish oil. I wonder if that is why.