# Probiotics and Fish Oil



## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

I use Prozyme and must admit I have not used the fish oil with Sunny. He is on premade frozen raw and also a dehydrated raw so he gets plenty of supps with it. I keep a kibble down for him which he occasionally raids at 2:00 a.m. and leaves kibble nuggets all over the hallway.... Wellness Simple which has minimal ingredients.


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## cdnchick (Jan 1, 2012)

I don't use a probiotic with Finley (yet). Her food is supplemented with some and if I find she's more prone to various bacterial infections, I might want to look at adjusting her gut flora then. 

Fish-oil wise, I use a professional line human one (DHA+) by Ascenta that's higher in DHA (than EPA) and dose her at half the human dose and will gradually increase it as she gets larger.

Reason for the higher DHA? It'll help with brain function and development as she's still just a puppy right now. 

As she gets older, I'll switch her over to a fish oil that has a higher ratio of EPA as a preventive anti-inflammatory supplement.

Ascenta's actually a really good human fish oil brand that also has a canine/feline line. 

Just be sure that any fish oil you get (need to be more aware of this with the human kinds) don't have any added Vitamin D in them. A lot of companies these days are adding Vitamin D for human consumption but dogs don't require the additional D.

Quick note: Ascenta is a Canadian company... just noticed that the OP is from Georgia. I don't know how readily available their products are south of the border.

Another note: Dosing-wise, look for a balanced fish oil that has about a 2:1 ratio of EPAHA (or reversed if you have a puppy).


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## meghf (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks for the recommendations! 

Cdnchick- to clarify, you're not currently using the fish oiled for dogs from Ascenta? Are you using the citrus flavored one? That seems to be the option with the higher dha unless I missed one. How does your dog do with the flavor? It looks like I can get Ascenta here and I like the company. My little guy is 9 weeks old so I like the idea of higher DHA, just unsure which one to buy. What age will you switch to higher EPA? Thanks for all the advice!


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## cdnchick (Jan 1, 2012)

I am using the citrus-flavoured DHA one. 

Funny story with the flavour, I think the citrus threw her off a bit the first day I put it on her food (her morning meal... I figured she'd be hungriest then and the least picky about what she was eating) and she tried to eat around where I had dribbled it on. 

She didn't end up eating all of her food as a result but I took her bowl away anyway after about 15 minutes. After that, she figured out real quick that she wasn't getting any more food for that feeding time so her subsequent morning meals have been wolfed down without any issues. 

I've had her on the fish oil for a few weeks now (She's 11 weeks today!). Typically, I recommend switching from a high DHA ratio to a high EPA ratio in human children (I'm a licensed naturopathic doctor) at around 10-12 years of age. In dog years, that would make it about 1-1.5 years that I'll probably switch Finley over to a higher EPA ratio fish oil (at which point, I'll probably switch to the canine formulation from Ascenta, or continue with the human equivalent... she's already used to the citrus flavouring in her morning meal!).

All that being said, I'm basing my recommendations and observations loosely on what I would recommend for my human patients and adjusting the dose for Finley. 

If anyone else has comments or suggestions, I'm more than open to hearing them!


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