Fish Oil is a favorite supplement for many pets as it seems to improve and help a lot of different problems.
"Fish oil is one of my favorite supplements for a variety of problems in both dogs and cats. As you mentioned, even normal pets can benefit from improved haircoats when supplemented with fatty acids such as fish oil. In pets, fish oil is useful for reducing inflammation in pets with allergic skin disease and kidney failure. It possibly also helps pets with heart disease and osteoarthritis. Studies show that pets fed high doses of fish oil also have better control of cancer. Extra vitamin E is needed when giving fish oil on a regular basis as fish oil supplemented for many months can lower vitamin E levels (most fish oil supplements contain additional vitamin E for this reason.) Side effects are very rare using fish oil. In my practice, a very few number of dogs develop a fishy smell. Fish oil may decrease platelet aggregation and prolong bleeding time. Pets taking high doses (3-4 times the label dose or greater) should be monitored for bleeding disorders, although I have not seen this even with these larger doses. There is concern about environmental contamination of fish oil with toxins. Studies have shown that fish meat (not oil) may be contaminated with methylmercury."
Dr. Shawn Messonnier
author of the award-winning *The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats
*available in our Dog Wize Book Store
"A diet supplemented with fish oil and the amino acid arginine appears to increase survival time in dogs with lymphoma, a cancer that affects white blood cells. Dogs with this kind of cancer, similar to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans, are easily treated, but as with humans, their cancer tends to return.
Half of the dogs received a special chow with the two supplements in it, and the other half ate chow with soybean oil added. The two chows were identical in nutritional value, and formulated to be equally tasty to the dogs. All the dogs were being treated with the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin every three weeks, and were living at home with their owners.
Previous research has shown that some polyunsaturated fatty acids, like those found in fish oil, may help prevent the growth and spread of cancer tumors, and may help prevent cachexia -- the devastating weight loss and muscle wasting seen in some cancer patients despite adequate nutrition. Likewise, arginine supplements have been reported to improve immune responses, and might help the body fight cancer.
The dogs were fed one of the chows twice a day during and after their cancer treatment. The researchers report that compared to the control dogs, those who ate the supplemented chow showed higher blood levels of two fatty acids called C20:5 and C22:6 that seem particularly effective in fighting cancer. Dogs with more of these fatty acids in their blood also tended to have more normal levels of lactic acid, which tends to accumulate in the blood when metabolism is disrupted in cancer patients.
The dogs with higher levels of these two fatty acids survived longer than those with lower levels, and had longer remissions, periods of time before their disease came back."
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