Dose for healthy dogs and cats
- 20-40 pounds – 1000mg per day
- 40-60 pounds – 2000mg per day
- More than 60 Pounds – 3000mg per day
we may increase these numbers if the dog has chronic inflammatory conditions until we see improvement and can test maintenance.
You may be advised to significantly increase the amount of Omega 3 in your dog’s diet if they are facing inflammatory conditions. Be sure to review this chart
Read the post I made on FB today below – because labeling is hella confusing!
The other day I asked about knowing how much Omega 3 your dogs is getting through the supplements. I only got a couple of replies, but those paired with a little researched proved to me –
it’s hard to tell!
Some labels show you that a dose is a % of the daily recommendation of Omega 3 others don’t include that and just give you a dosing amount.
I’ve plundered some websites and they make it a little tricky sometimes.
But let’s take a look at an example
This supplement says that 1 tsp contains 4600 mg. But that’s not 4600 mg of Omega 3.
Omega 3 = 1426 mg per teaspoon Of that 414 mg of DHA and 690mg of EPA.
Do you know where else you might be getting Omega 3 in the diet? How Much?
If you are feeding darker fishes, fishes with skins, regularly you may need less supplementation than if you are making a home prepared recipe without fish or other Omega 3 sources!
If you’re throwing chicken in the bowl everyday (high in Omega 6) you need and Omega 3 supplement to offset and try to achieve a ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 of 4:1. It might be better to add fish sometimes! Kibble diets are suggested to be as high as 30:1 (way out of balance) which means you may need even more Omega 3.
If the recommended dose for your Brand of Omega 3 is 20-55mg per kg (of body) weight – do you know how much Omega 3 to give you dog each day?
A 20 pound dog is 44kg – so 20mg * 44kg = 882mg while 50mg * 44kg = 2200mg
A 39 pound dog is 85kg – so 20mg * 85kg is 1700mg while 50mg * 85kg = 4250mg
What a range! This may be while you’re not seeing results!!!
You may also be spending more money on lesser concentrations.
Holistic and Function Medicine Approaches suggest that we target 100mg per kg per day for the average healthy dogs and cats
20-40 pounds – 1000mg per day
40-60 pounds – 2000mg - 3000mg per day
More than 60 Pounds – 3000mg per day
If your dog is inflamed with arthritis or elevated liver enzymes you may need 150mg per kg of Omega 3 to see therapeutic results. Cancer patients will 300mg/kg (that’s 3x the average amounts!)
Once you get the inflammation under control, you may be able to drop the 2nd dose or tweak things and still have a good maintenance level.
yes, there becomes a potential upper limit where supplementation is just too much and your dog starts to not like it, and feel funky, so start slow on your effort to increase.
Now – can you tell from your label and your diet – how much you need to give? Chances are you need to do some math not just follow the label and really consider if you’re supplementing the diet baseline or trying to get inflammation under control too.
Don’t freak out – just think it through or ask for help!
If you’re at zero Omega 3 supplementation today, begin a slow ramp to your desired dose
See Ramping Omega 3 Post