I often get asked whether dogs can benefit from fish oil supplements or not as there are many people supplementing their dogs diet with fish oils these days. Omega 3 fish oils are the most popular essential fatty acids (EFA’s) and they are called ‘essential’ as it is essential that the body derives them from the diet (or supplements) as it cannot produce these fatty acids itself. EFA’s are really important as they have a large range of benefits for your dog’s health - and scientists are recognizing new benefits all the time. Some of the benefits we already know about include increasing cardiovascular health, optimum eye health, helping itchy and inflamed skin and arthritis, due to their great anti-inflammatory actions. EFA’s are also needed for optimum neurological health and can help with cognitive ability - in fact, they are absolutely essential for normal brain development in puppies. EFA’s can also help in the treatment of obesity, along with the correct diet. There is another major benefit that many people are not aware of about EFA’s - certain forms have been shown to inhibit tumour development more effectively than the conventional drugs they were compared with in scientific studies. As a research scientist, I came across these clinical trials last year when I was researching natural anti-inflammatory herbal medicines and nutrients for companion animals and I found clinical trials that provided substantial evidence of tumour growth suppression (i.e. Able to stop tumour growth and shrink the tumours). I also found a number of scientific trials on plant medicines that had been equally effective at stopping tumour growth in animals but more about that in another post. Suffice to say that there is now a lot of cutting-edge, scientific research that provides substantial evidence of significant benefits of the use of certain herbal medicines and nutrient therapies in the treatment of cancer.
A Warning About Giving Your Dog EFA’s in Supplement Form:
Many of the EFA capsules and liquids being sold around the world for human and animal use are nothing more than toxic time bombs! Unless the supplements you purchase state otherwise, you can be almost guaranteed they will be contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury, aluminium, lead, cadmium, and other nasties. Cheap sources of fish which are used to manufacture ‘cheap’ supplements are usually laden with these potentially harmful substances and do not usually undergo the strict filtering processes of higher quality supplements, so be careful what you are purchasing. You are really better off avoiding EFA supplements if you can’t afford to purchase the brands that ‘guarantee’ their fish oil products to be 99% heavy metal free. Unfortunately, when it comes to supplements of any kind, there are a lot of inferior products out there - produced by companies that are just trying to ‘cash in’ on the nutrient supplement revolution. It’s true that most of us do require added nutrients to supplement our diets these days and equally true that our pets do too - but only if we are relying on high-quality, natural supplements and not inferior, synthetic supplements that may contain harmful additives and contaminants such as lead and mercury.
Feeding Fish To Your Dog
When feeding your dog fish (or yourself), try to avoid large fish such as tuna, as these are more likely to contain significant amounts of toxic heavy metals. Instead, try to purchase smaller fish such as sardines as these usually have much smaller amounts of heavy metals in them. When sardines are mashed and fed with their bones, they also provide a great deal of calcium to your dog too.
Sara Rooney BHSc., ND., DC., DASc., GDSc. (Zoology), MATMS. www.animalnaturopath.com.au