Just wondering is it ok to give fish body oil capsules along with evening primrose oil or should you just stick to one or the other or perhaps give the epo & feed say tinned sardines etc a couple of times a week. Does one offer more benefits than the other?
Thank you

Well EPO provides omega6 which is pro-inflammatory and usually found in abundance in most commercial foods,and FBO is omega3 which all dogs need and usually dont get enough of.

I give fish oil everyday and EPO 2 times a week,but i'm thinking of switching from EPO to Borage oil which provides a non-inflammatory version of Omega6,which would obviously be of much better help for inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and skin problems.

>Does one offer more benefits than the other?<

Fish oil definately offers more benefits.

My dogs have fish oil in the morning and EPO with evening meal.  At one stage I stopped the EPO for one of my dogs, and next thing I knew he had quite a lot of dandruff in his black coat.  After starting EPO again, we've not seen the dandruff since.

Many thanks,
How much of either would you feed & do you get dog specific ones or will human ones do just as well?
Thank you

I've never given my dogs any of these supplements, but personally I take Starflower oil and Flax seed oil for extra omega 3 & 6 as the EPO makes me feel nauseous and fish oils repeat :)

Is there any advantage to giving these supplements to young, growing dogs or better at older age ?

My Border terriers get 1000mg fish oil,plus 250iu E per day(Apparently the fish oil depletes vitamin e in the body and you'll have a deficiency if you don't replace it.).

1000 mg per 30 pounds of healthy dog.

1000 mg per 20 pounds of flaky or itchy dog.

1000 mg per 10 pounds of chronically ill dog.

>Is there any advantage to giving these supplements to young, growing dogs or better at older age ?<

I start my dogs on their supplements when young,prevention is better than cure and all that ;) I start fish oil et al from around 6mths.

I start things like gluc&chon and MSM when they are around 2 years to help prevent arthritis and joint problems(fish oil also helps with this,along with skin problems etc),i am truly convinced this regime helps prevent arthritis as i havnt had a dog come down with it yet...touch wood...! Ofcourse a natural diet,plenty of excercise,especially into old age helps too i suppose :)

I use Omega-aid from Quistel (that's the fish oil), a teaspoon each a day on the food, and I get the EPO capsules (for animals) from Dorwest herbs - it's 1 capsule per 10 kg of bodyweight.  My dogs weigh 27 kg, so they should have 3 a day, but I find 2 a day is fine.  As far as I know, you can use the human ones, they're probably cheaper!

I give both FBO and EPO to my dogs.

If you looking at quantities, you have to differentiate between weight (I give circa 1000mg) and actualy quantity and quality of EPA/DHA for FBO and similar for EPO.  You could give starflower/borage oil instead, there is little difference.  Flaxseed oil can give some dogs the itchies and many do not have the capability to convert Flaxseed oil into something they can metabolise, this is the snag about giving cereal based oils.

>You could give starflower/borage oil instead, there is little difference. <

Yes they are both Omega 6 and both plant sourced,but starflower oil has  much higher GLA than EPO.Most SF products have around 220mg,where as EPO ranges around the 100mg mark.And i think SF oils anti-inflammatory claims edge out EPO,which is why,personally i'm switching :D

>Flaxseed oil can give some dogs the itchies and many do not have the capability to convert Flaxseed oil into something they can metabolise<

This is exactly why i dont give flax anymore.Fish oil is a much more effective substitute.