6 ms·

Dogs know. This applies to humans too, there is research showing a low omega-3 level is equivalent to smoking for health outcomes. Omega-3s are very important i

Dogs know. This applies to humans too, there is research showing a low omega-3 level is equivalent to smoking for health outcomes. Omega-3s are very important immunomodulators.

AlbertCory 4y ago
You're right, and I think that, other than avoiding known toxic foods (chocolate, obviously; lists can be found all over the Web), you're better off not obsessing about everything the dog eats. No dog food is going to give him 100% of his needs. If he picks up something on the street and gobbles it down, it's probably a craving from some biological need we don't know about. At worst, he throws up later. It's not the end of the world. You can't stop them all anyway, so save the "DROP IT!" commands for things that are really dangerous.
- pdpi 4y ago
  You do need to be careful and know your dog well. One of my parents’ dogs simply couldn’t be trusted with having any sort of common sense with what she ate. At one point she nearly killed herself by lapping up all the rendered fat from a joint of roast meat. Another of their dogs absolutely loved bread, and went crazy for runner beans for some reason. He was mostly ok with not eating anything terrible (except the one time he ate a pair of stockings and needed to have some intestine removed…)
  - throwaway742 4y ago
    I feel like feeding your dog beans is asking for trouble.
  - treeman79 4y ago
    My current dog forced me to get mint flavored tums. He goes crazy trying to get the fruit flavor ones.
- ericbarrett 4y ago
  Our dog (a 15 pound/7kg Pomeranian) got pancreatitis and almost died from being fed a bite of cheese every few days—less than the size of an almond.
  - markdown 4y ago
    How do you know the cheese caused it?
  - sph 4y ago
    Are you sure it's the cheese? My golden retriever mutt used to eat cheese rinds almost daily and lived 15 years.
    - ericbarrett 4y ago
      This was the vet's diagnosis. Not just any vet, he was a (now-retired) top surgeon and organ care specialist in the West Village. Actually stayed with our dog overnight to manage his IV drip; hell of a guy. I asked him about this because I've also known and loved "garbage disposal" retrievers and it can be breed- or even individual-specific, just like some people can drink all their lives and live to their 90s while others are facing organ failure in their 40s.
      - AlbertCory 4y ago
        I've never heard of cheese being a Bad Thing. My dog's a Lab, which is pretty much "garbage disposal." My rule with stuff he finds on the ground is "not too much of that!" But he'll refuse any fruits or veggies. A neighbor carries dried apple treats for her two Goldens, and he'll just spit them out.
- paganel 4y ago
  As a dog owner I agree with you, with the very big caveat that it helps if you live in an area where people don’t leave poisonous stuff on the ground, some of it left there to actually kill dogs (yes, some people are evil). About a year ago our dog started throwing blood out of its mouth, with no prior symptoms whatsoever. We got to the vet in a matter of minutes, and, thankfully, he’s fine now, but it could have been much, much worse. Me and my SO concluded (with the help of the vet) that most probably it had all been caused by rat poison left around the park grounds, which poison only has an effect after five or so days. The dog doesn’t even have to ingest it, sniffing it will do. Since then we’ve been a little paranoid when it comes to whatever gets close to our dog’s mouth and nose.
tomohawk 4y ago
The omega 3s are really important. Also reducing omega 6s so that the ratio of the 2 is better is important. At least in the US, people get way too much omega 6s and not nearly enough omega 3s. We had one dog who had all kinds of problems. Hair falling out. Skin inflamed. Digestive problems. General inflamation. Vets had no clue. So, we added fish oil based on some research, and all of those problems just went away. This is the dog where we made that discovery (for ourselves). We've also boosted omega 3s and reduced omega 6s in our own diets, and that has had remarkable impact on health.
dundarious 4y ago
For humans, good sources are milled flax seeds and walnuts.
- lambdaba 4y ago
  Not at all. Flax has alpha linoleic acid which needs conversion dependent on specific genetics, and is generally low when not outright insufficient (for some common genetics). Walnuts are full of omega-6 too and as pointed out elsewhere here it's also the o6:o3 ratio that matters.
  - dundarious 4y ago
    They contain better ratios. I don’t think there are any foods with exclusively 3 or exclusively 6. I’m skeptical about the genetic component of your comment, because genetic factors are often touted inappropriately in this domain, but if you reply with information, I’ll gladly read it. Fish oil has been shown in meta analyses to be ineffective at improving the outcomes people care about when they talk about the ratio: ischemic heart disease, etc. In fact, the original “science” promoting fish oil was based on extremely flawed research on Inuit populations — populations who actually have high rates of fat buildup in arteries, heart disease, etc. For many, contact with the Standard American Diet actually improved their diet in that regard (quite a rarity!).
    - lambdaba 4y ago
      I learned a lot here, but I'm not able to restitute it accurately now: [Dr. Bill Harris on the Omega-3 Index: Increasing Omega-3 to Promote Longevity & Transform Health ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f-CFQxaUY4&t=3438s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f-CFQxaUY4&t=3438s). From this and other sources, I can summarize an answer as this: omega-3s in large enough doses, doses rarely used in studies, and especially EPA, is extremely good at reducing inflammation (see "resolvins" and EPA), is a good natural blood thinner and improves blood lipids. The doctor interviewed above thinks that the reduction of inflammation is the main benefit. This finding stuck with me: smokers with a good level of omega-3s had the same risk of death in a 10 year period than non-smokers with low omega-3s. Re: ratios and food sources; of course there are. Seafood often has almost exclusively omega-3s as far as I'm aware, though I'm sure this doesn't apply to farm-raised salmon, for instance. Re: conversion rate from ALA, I couldn't find good references initially, but I've found someone citing a "0.5-20%" range for conversion of ALA to EPA/DHA (and I think the conversion to DHA is even lower, or there was some additional caveat). So that's the point, there is a wide variance.

Dogs know. This applies to humans too, there is research showing a low omega-3 level is equivalent to smoking for health outcomes. Omega-3s are very important immunomodulators.

AlbertCory 4y ago

You're right, and I think that, other than avoiding known toxic foods (chocolate, obviously; lists can be found all over the Web), you're better off not obsessing about everything the dog eats. No dog food is going to give him 100% of his needs. If he picks up something on the street and gobbles it down, it's probably a craving from some biological need we don't know about. At worst, he throws up later. It's not the end of the world. You can't stop them all anyway, so save the "DROP IT!" commands for things that are really dangerous.

pdpi 4y ago
You do need to be careful and know your dog well. One of my parents’ dogs simply couldn’t be trusted with having any sort of common sense with what she ate. At one point she nearly killed herself by lapping up all the rendered fat from a joint of roast meat. Another of their dogs absolutely loved bread, and went crazy for runner beans for some reason. He was mostly ok with not eating anything terrible (except the one time he ate a pair of stockings and needed to have some intestine removed…)
- throwaway742 4y ago
  I feel like feeding your dog beans is asking for trouble.
- treeman79 4y ago
  My current dog forced me to get mint flavored tums. He goes crazy trying to get the fruit flavor ones.
ericbarrett 4y ago
Our dog (a 15 pound/7kg Pomeranian) got pancreatitis and almost died from being fed a bite of cheese every few days—less than the size of an almond.
- markdown 4y ago
  How do you know the cheese caused it?
- sph 4y ago
  Are you sure it's the cheese? My golden retriever mutt used to eat cheese rinds almost daily and lived 15 years.
  - ericbarrett 4y ago
    This was the vet's diagnosis. Not just any vet, he was a (now-retired) top surgeon and organ care specialist in the West Village. Actually stayed with our dog overnight to manage his IV drip; hell of a guy. I asked him about this because I've also known and loved "garbage disposal" retrievers and it can be breed- or even individual-specific, just like some people can drink all their lives and live to their 90s while others are facing organ failure in their 40s.
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      I've never heard of cheese being a Bad Thing. My dog's a Lab, which is pretty much "garbage disposal." My rule with stuff he finds on the ground is "not too much of that!" But he'll refuse any fruits or veggies. A neighbor carries dried apple treats for her two Goldens, and he'll just spit them out.
paganel 4y ago
As a dog owner I agree with you, with the very big caveat that it helps if you live in an area where people don’t leave poisonous stuff on the ground, some of it left there to actually kill dogs (yes, some people are evil). About a year ago our dog started throwing blood out of its mouth, with no prior symptoms whatsoever. We got to the vet in a matter of minutes, and, thankfully, he’s fine now, but it could have been much, much worse. Me and my SO concluded (with the help of the vet) that most probably it had all been caused by rat poison left around the park grounds, which poison only has an effect after five or so days. The dog doesn’t even have to ingest it, sniffing it will do. Since then we’ve been a little paranoid when it comes to whatever gets close to our dog’s mouth and nose.

tomohawk 4y ago

The omega 3s are really important. Also reducing omega 6s so that the ratio of the 2 is better is important. At least in the US, people get way too much omega 6s and not nearly enough omega 3s. We had one dog who had all kinds of problems. Hair falling out. Skin inflamed. Digestive problems. General inflamation. Vets had no clue. So, we added fish oil based on some research, and all of those problems just went away. This is the dog where we made that discovery (for ourselves). We've also boosted omega 3s and reduced omega 6s in our own diets, and that has had remarkable impact on health.

dundarious 4y ago

For humans, good sources are milled flax seeds and walnuts.

lambdaba 4y ago
Not at all. Flax has alpha linoleic acid which needs conversion dependent on specific genetics, and is generally low when not outright insufficient (for some common genetics). Walnuts are full of omega-6 too and as pointed out elsewhere here it's also the o6:o3 ratio that matters.
- dundarious 4y ago
  They contain better ratios. I don’t think there are any foods with exclusively 3 or exclusively 6. I’m skeptical about the genetic component of your comment, because genetic factors are often touted inappropriately in this domain, but if you reply with information, I’ll gladly read it. Fish oil has been shown in meta analyses to be ineffective at improving the outcomes people care about when they talk about the ratio: ischemic heart disease, etc. In fact, the original “science” promoting fish oil was based on extremely flawed research on Inuit populations — populations who actually have high rates of fat buildup in arteries, heart disease, etc. For many, contact with the Standard American Diet actually improved their diet in that regard (quite a rarity!).
  - lambdaba 4y ago
    I learned a lot here, but I'm not able to restitute it accurately now: [Dr. Bill Harris on the Omega-3 Index: Increasing Omega-3 to Promote Longevity & Transform Health ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f-CFQxaUY4&t=3438s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f-CFQxaUY4&t=3438s). From this and other sources, I can summarize an answer as this: omega-3s in large enough doses, doses rarely used in studies, and especially EPA, is extremely good at reducing inflammation (see "resolvins" and EPA), is a good natural blood thinner and improves blood lipids. The doctor interviewed above thinks that the reduction of inflammation is the main benefit. This finding stuck with me: smokers with a good level of omega-3s had the same risk of death in a 10 year period than non-smokers with low omega-3s. Re: ratios and food sources; of course there are. Seafood often has almost exclusively omega-3s as far as I'm aware, though I'm sure this doesn't apply to farm-raised salmon, for instance. Re: conversion rate from ALA, I couldn't find good references initially, but I've found someone citing a "0.5-20%" range for conversion of ALA to EPA/DHA (and I think the conversion to DHA is even lower, or there was some additional caveat). So that's the point, there is a wide variance.