Olive oil?

[groovemongrel]

A guy at work here said that adding a teaspoon of olive oil to my dogs kibble (Nutro Max Natural) will help with her bad dandruff. I've also heard of putting a raw egg in her food to help with that problem. She's a Rott/Lab mix we adopted from the local county shelter. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

[abbiesdogs]

I used to give my dobies vitapet which was cod liver oil, just a teaspoon or so on their food and their coats looked great but our rottie girl doesn't like it.she does like scrambled egg though.

[Ayoka]

You could try the olive oil but I wonder if the food, which has wheat and corn gluten may be the culprit....dogs tend not to tolerate these things well and my guy gets stinky and itchy when he eats foods with these ingredients.

[Carol Burke]

My dogs get olive oil every day and raw eggs (shell & all) once or twice a week.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by groovemongrel

A guy at work here said that adding a teaspoon of olive oil to my dogs kibble (Nutro Max Natural) will help with her bad dandruff. I've also heard of putting a raw egg in her food to help with that problem. She's a Rott/Lab mix we adopted from the local county shelter. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

Instead of adding extra stuff to the food...change the food. Nutro Max has the poorest ingredients in the Nutro line. It's a grain based food, and heavy in the corn and wheat.
Giving an egg or adding oil is fine....but an improvement in food would be the best bet.

Gina

[moz205]

I feed Innova and a few times a week give Buddy olive oil, about 1 tablespoon in his kibble.

[cally01]

I too would improve the food being fed. I like all the Natura line, Nature's Variety, Canidae etc. Even better feed home prepared.

For oils I would add either sardines or salmon to the dogs food or molecularly distilled fish body oils. This will provide necessary omega 3 fatty acids for coat/skin health. If you are feeding kibble/canned steer clear of cod liver oil or any of the fish liver oils. Cod liver oil contains high amounts of vitamin A which there are also high amounts of vitamin A in commercial foods...you run the risk of vitamin A toxicity.

With olive oil I feed this to my dogs occasionally with their home prepared meals. I feed only extra virgin as this comes from the first gentle pressing of the fruits. I also make sure it's organic. I choose extra virgin organic to minimize consumption of oxidized fat and trans-fatty acids.

Also the main disadvantage of olive oil is that it provides almost none of the essential fatty acids, no LNA and hardly any LA, but that just means that if you make olive oil the principal dietary fat you should insure you are giving adequate amounts of omega 3's from other sources.

[poohbearsmom]

I actually prefer animal based oils (Salmon, cod liver, etc...) over plant based oils (olive, flaxseed, etc...), as I've learned that the animal based oils are more easily absorbed by the dogs.

As with the others, I concur that you might look into various other foods in which forms of meat are the first ingredient or two or three. I won't feed my dogs any kibble with wheat or corn on the ingredient list. Brown rice, oatmeal and barley are better carbs/fillers.

[Leige]

Sardines are a good source of Omega 3. My Zeke loves them and I give him about 3 cans a week.....Great looking coat he has and has no flaking...