At the time you notice a simple word ‘Salmon’, the first thing that pops up in your mind must be about ‘fish’, or maybe your brain immediately correlates it to ‘a tasty dish’. Aside from how tasty it is, many of you may also acknowledge numerous benefits of consuming salmon for health, as it can be read in Benefits of Salmon.
Even when you just taste the external part of that kind of fish species – which is skin; an abundance of essential benefits can surprisingly amaze you. Not only does the meat or skin can give advantage to well-being but also the oil extracted from the salmon itself.
Most importantly, the benefit of salmon oil is not excluded for other mammals besides human. In fact, it also provides a large number of benefits each time you feed salmon oil to your beloved dog.
You have already known that coconut oil gives so many benefits for dogs in many ways, as elaborated in Benefits of Coconut Oil. Not only that, based on Benefits of Carrot, that fresh vegetable also serves advantages for the dogs’ health. Similar to coconut oil and carrot, adding salmon oil as a dog diet is undoubtedly wise decision since it is highly beneficial for the four-legged animal.
If you are dog lovers and having a dog or more to take care of, giving salmon oil is one of the best choices you will ever made. The benefits of salmon oil for dogs are able to keep your dog in a good shape naturally. You might agree that there is no reason for not to feed salmon oil to your dog.
See also other diets that are good for your dogs:
Nutrient Value of Salmon Oil
Although at first many of you might mistakenly assume salmon oil and fish oil are the exact same stuff, it is a total mistake. Fish oil is made of variety marine fish species which are: tuna, sardines, anchovy, and any other. In addition, fish oil is produced by boiling.
On the other hand, pressing salmon is done at relatively low temperatures to get the salmon oil. The process of getting salmon oil is considered as less damaging the acid and not causing free radicals to its substance.
Moreover, salmon oil is a bit indifferent to any other kind of fish species in serving its nutrient value. By different, it means it is better in a good way. Oil extracted from salmon contains a lot more omega 3 fatty acids compared to fish oils. It is source of two omega-3 essential fatty acids, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). To be more reliable about the nutritional value, according to Live Strong, a tablespoon of salmon oil provides 1.8 grams of EPA. The DHA includes larger amount which is 2.5 grams.
So, here is a list of benefits of salmon oil for dogs:
- Supports immune system
Immunity is an essential for living things, including dogs. A study suggests that omega-3 DHA improves activity of white blood cells (B cell) which is highly crucial for immune response. Serving an adequate intake of salmon oil as your dog’s diet is more likely to help fighting diseases.
- Soothes skin allergies
Many dogs experience a variety of allergies. It can be allergic to specific kind of foods or bathing products. These allergies might result the dogs’ skin into redness, itchiness, and leads them to scratch oftentimes. You can solve this problem by giving salmon oil for your pet to soothe the allergy.
- Maintain shinier and softer coat
As the skin is protected from the allergy or another skin problem, it becomes healthier. Salmon oil gives the benefit to moisturize the dog’s skin. As a result, the coat of dog appears to be shinier and softer.Â
- Reduces the heart risk
Omega-3 fatty acids can make your dog stay healthy and away from stoke or other heart problems by balancing the blood pressure. Another way is to raise the level of good cholesterol in body. Lastly, the fatty acids in salmon oil are also able to lower a chance of irregular heartbeats.
- Improves cognitive function
Since cognitive skill relates to brain functioning, the intake of salmon oil gives positive results to canine. An example of result that can be gain by consuming salmon oil is the dog able to recognize the owner and the member of the family. As for puppies, they will experience brain development in which giving them the ability to learn and memorize well.
- Helps weight loss for overweight dogs
Salmon oil boosts the metabolism and that way, it can burn fat in body. For obese dogs, this is a solution to get them in ideal shape. However, remember that exercise your dog indoor or outdoor is counted as important as well. Do regular exercise and consume salmon oil as supplement could give the best result for dog to lose weight.
- Produces more collagen
Collagen is protein in which helps the joints, ligaments, and skin to stay elastic and healthy. As the dog grows older, the ability to produce collagen decreases. The supply of salmon oil for dog can help more collagen produced in the body. Besides, it helps strengthen the dog’s hair, teeth, and bones.Â
Caution of Salmon Oil
Although salmon oil has a large number of benefits for dogs, you have to pay attention to its side effects. Apparently, you can not consider all dogs as equals in terms of their different conditions and maybe, genetics. For some dogs that are allergic to salmon, of course it is not suitable to take salmon oil as diet. Therefore, you, as the dog owner also have to pay attention when your pet shows the symptoms of allergic.
Furthermore, you need to keep in mind not to give your dog salmon oil in excessive amount. Though the benefits of salmon oil for dogs are plentiful, the proper intake of this supplement consumption needs to be taken into account as well.
The consequences of serving too much salmon oil for dogs is weight gain since it contains high calories. Besides, the effect of dizziness, diarrhea, nausea and fishy smell of the dog’s breath can appear if you do not reckon the appropriate dosage of feeding your precious dog with salmon oil.
Recommendation Intake of Salmon Oil
After knowing the side effect of salmon oil, here is the recommendation intake of this healthy supplement for dogs. The most essential thing to bear in mind is, make sure you know the weight of your pet since the intake relates to the heft. If the purpose of feeding the dog with salmon oil is solely as supplement, then based on Certapet, this is the dog’s weight along with its optimal dosage:
- 0-26lbs : 4ml
- 27-53lbs : 8ml
- 54-106lbs : 12ml
- 107lbs + : 16ml
The best way to make the dog adapt to salmon oil is by lowering the dosage. If it goes well, you can follow the dosage above. Also consult with your veterinarian or nutritional experts for a way more better advice and guidance.