What's the right fish oil dose for my 10lb dog's itchy skin?

Great question! Oakley can get 1,000 mg fish oil containing 300 mg of EPA/DHA combined for every 30 pounds of body weight. For her weight, I would give her 3,000mg. You can get her dog specific fish oil pills from a pet store, but human ones are fine as well. I hope this helps!

Yes, that is fine to give once a day. I recommend a maximum of 750 mg of fish oil per 10 lbs of body weight in a dog. That brand if fine to give. I highly recommend using an omega 3 supplement like this to reduce joint pain and inflammation, and it will help the skin and coat also. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Chloe.

Great question. Really the only way to tell if Marshall has dry skin or an allergy would be to treat him for allergies and see if it goes away -- but really he most likely does have allergies, because they are incredibly common in dogs. It could be mild enough that regular fish oils will make a big difference, so I would start with that and then take him to see his vet if the itching is getting worse, not improving, or if he gets any sores or hair loss. Also, if he's itching is severe enough that he interrupts normal daily activities to itch, get him to the vet right away. As far as dose, the type you have is fine and there's a large dose range, but I would say get as close to 2 capsules a day as he'll tolerate. Some dogs get diarrhea at high doses, so you may only be able to do 1 or 1.5. Start with just half a capsule and increase by half a capsule every 2 weeks. You can cut a small hole in the capsule and squirt it one his food or some dogs will eat it whole. My dog always would take it and hide somewhere with carpet and chew on it until it popped - not great. I hope this helps and Marshall's skin is back to normal soon!

There are no published studies to give doses of either of these supplements. However, 40-100mg/kg of body weight is commonly recommended for fish oils (combined DHA and EPA). So for your dogs, that would be 1500-3600mg EPA+DHA per day. The biggest side effect of fish oils is greasy or loose stools. It may also cause pancreatitis in dogs that are sensitive to excess fat. You can try 3-5mg of melatonin once per day. I would do it at night since it may make them sleeping. You will need to check the list of ingredients in the supplement you choose to make sure it does not contain xylitol.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Most bottles of omega3 vitamins for dogs will have instructions on how many tablets or capsules to give based on your dogs weight. I recommend not giving products labeled for humans as these will likely be too high of a dose. I hope this helps!

Fish oil does tend to make the coat shinier and nicer looking, which will likely be the most obvious benefit you get from supplementing. Fish oil does have antiinflamatory properties that may be helpful with the itching, but I wouldn't expect a drastic change. There has been a great deal of debate about ratios of Omega 6 vs 3, but honestly, the debate is not over, so the 4:1 ratio should be fine. I would just make sure that the omega 3 fatty acids do not get above 1mg per kg of body weight, or you could be giving above the safe upper limit. Probiotics are another supplement that are not bad to give, but is not necessary for a healthy animal. I usually only advise probiotic supplementation for intestinal conditions where there has been some good evidence for its use. Probiotics are also an unregulated product, so depending on the product, it may or may not be have what it claims; or may not have the bacteria that are known to be beneficial. For this reason, I only recommend getting probiotics as directed by your veterinarian. I hope that helps and all is well with Chloe.

I would not recommend using all three of these oils together, as you can cause problems with the liver and pancreas in some cases by "overloading" fats like this. Fish oil has been shown to be the most helpful with skin issues like this, so you could try a good fish oil supplement such as Welactin for dogs - just follow the instructions on the label for dosing, based on your dog's weight.