Most commercially available pet foods are balanced for all stages of life for pets and do not require supplementation, at least not for survival. Premium pet foods are often even more than balanced. Make sure that you know what is in the food you feed before you add anything more. For more on this see 6 Questions You Need To Ask About Your Dog’s Food. Too much of a good thing can be worse than not enough.
There is so much press on “natural” things that it is very hard to decide what is real and what’s hype. Here is my take on what may benefit your dog.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2010, arthritic dogs were able to be treated more effectively with lower doses of prescription anti-inflammatories when they received concurrent dosing with dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids. Especially if you have an active large breed dog or a dog who has suffered orthopedic injury or surgery, you should consider Fatty Acid supplements. Fatty acids have also shown promise in allergic skin disease management and other inflammatory processes.
Coconut Oil
There seems to be some press about coconut oil. We know about the dangers of saturated fats and in the past have been advised to minimize coconut in our diets. Coconut does indeed have fats, but most of them are medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) whose properties and metabolism are different from the more dangerous fats of animal origin. Medium chain fatty acids appear to have beneficial effects rather than deleterious ones. ¹
A study in mice suggested that MCFA reduced the physiologic signs of stress and lowered stress hormones.² For humans, coconut oil has been suggested to improve cardiovascular health in humans as measured by serum lipid levels. Cardiovascular disease is as prevalent for dogs as for humans, but good effects can be from anti-inflammatory actions of the compound. ³
Glucosamine and other joint supplements
Chondroitin , glucosamine, collagen, avocado-soya bean products, curcumin, fatty acids and other compounds have been studied as joint supplements. Ask your vet which he/she prefers. It is easy to spend money on products containing these novels and scientific sounding additives, but only your veterinary team knows what really works. Some diets already contain these ingredients and others must be supplemented. There are studies that prove that there is benefit from many of these compounds.
Beware, supplements made for humans may not be beneficial for pets. Supplements or “neutroceuticals” are not regulated by the FDA and are an area where consumers are frequently taken advantage of. Supplementation has been linked to a number of adverse effects including altered blood clotting, vomiting/diarrhea, delayed wound healing, and drug interactions, so ask your vet which type of supplement would be best and where to shop for it. Your veterinary professionals can warn you of potential fraud and interactions with your personal pet.
If you read the web sites that sell supplements, you will see a long list of things that they will “treat”. Beware! No supplement is designed to “treat” a disease process. In fact, only prescription medications (prescribed by a licensed veterinarian) have been proven and labeled to TREAT a disorder. As always, if something sounds like a miracle, be very skeptical, especially if the person touting the benefits has something to sell.
I believe there is merit in some of the claims, but also advise caution. As always, make sure you and your vet can function as a team with your dog’s (and your) best interest at heart.
- Ceylon Med J. 2006 Jun;51(2):47-51; Coconut fats. Amarasiri WA, Dissanayake AS.
- Exp Ther Med. 2015 Jan;9(1):39-42. Epub 2014 Nov 3.Antistress and antioxidant effects of virgin coconut oil in vivo. Yeap SK, Beh BK, Ali NM, Yusof HM, Ho WY, Koh SP, Alitheen NB, Long K.
- Postgrad Med. 2014 Nov;126(7):76-83. doi: 10.3810/pgm.2014.11.2835.Virgin coconut oil and its potential cardioprotective effects. Babu AS, Veluswamy SK, Arena R, Guazzi M, Lavie CJ.
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J Vet Pharmacol Ther. 2015 Jul 23. doi: 10.1111/jvp.12251. [Epub ahead of print]Review of dietary supplements for the management of osteoarthritis in dogs in studies from 2004 to 2014.Comblain F, Serisier S, Barthelemy N, Balligand M, Henrotin Y.
