Marinelle Adams
As you care for your pets, you will hear about people that give their animals various supplements and vitamins. Some people will give their animals fish oil as a supplement to promote health and other benefits. This way, they can prevent those issues, or help any animals that face common health problems.
If you want to know what fish oil offers, and if you should give some to your pet, then you should check out this article. You can also visit The Pampered Pup for their buying guide and a rundown of best-loved fish oil products for dogs available right now.
What Is Fish Oil?
Fish oil is an oil that contains various acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil comes from various types of fish, including tuna, salmon, mackerel, and others, as explained in the link above. In short, if you give your pet these types of fish, he or she will also ingest some fish oil.
While you can feed your pet these fishes for fish oil, you can also purchase fish oil supplements. This works well if you don’t want to fill your pet with fish, or if you need to meet his or her dietary needs through other food. Due to this, you will need to consider giving your pet different fish as food or using fish oil supplements.
The Benefits of Fish Oil
Since people will give their pets fish oil, you may wonder about the potential benefits they could receive. After all, supplements exist to help with problems and promote good health. While fish oil offers multiple benefits, we want to talk about three common ones. This way, you can understand what fish oil could offer to your pet.
It Helps With Health Problems
Pets can face a variety of health problems, so fish oil can help your pet maintain his or her health. For example, it can help the heart, kidneys, and joints. The link above explains that fish oil helps with irregular heartbeats, which can lead to other heart problems.
It also helps with kidney failure, which many cats struggle with, as the link explains. Fish oil can also help pets that struggle with arthritis. If your pet tends to have any of these problems, or you own a breed that develops these issues, then you should look into fish oil. Doing so can help you to protect your pet before any of these symptoms arise.
It Improves Coat Quality
Depending on your pet, you may want to improve his or her coat quality. Some pet coats will become rough if they don’t secrete enough oil, which can lead to dry and itchy skin. Not only that, but the coat won’t look as good as your pet suffers from uncomfortable skin.
Since some pets struggle with itchy and dry skin, fish oil can help them to have healthier skin and coats. It will also make the coat shine and look nicer while meeting your pet’s skin and coat needs. This makes fish oil ideal for any pet that has various skin or coat issues.
It Reduces Inflammation
As an added point, your pet may suffer from different types of inflammation, such as arthritis. With this in mind, you can use fish oil to reduce inflammation if your pet faces consistent pain. If you don’t know whether your pet has inflammation, you should pay attention to the way he or she moves.
For example, if your pet suffers from arthritis, he or she will limp or avoid putting pressure on a specific leg. However, inflammation can happen in other areas, especially if your pet gets an infection or catches a disease. Since inflammation can happen from different sources, fish oil can help you cover these various issues.
Animals That Can Have Fish Oil
Since fish oil can provide animals with various benefits, you may wonder which pets should take them. After all, if fish oil won’t benefit your pet that much, then it might not be worth the money or time. We want to share three common animals people will give fish oil supplements to.
Dogs
Some people like to raise show dogs, so they will want their furry friends to have a shiny and beautiful coats. Also, many dog breeds, such as corgis or large dogs, struggle with arthritis. This means fish oil could work as an excellent preventative measure for these issues based on what the struggles those breeds usually face.
Cats
On the other hand, many cats struggle with arthritis since they can easily gain weight. They can also face heart problems or other health issues, especially as they get older. Not only this, but cats love to jump around and remain mobile, so you need to make sure you care for your cat’s physical health to keep him or her happy.
Horses
These issues stick out even further for horses. If a horse doesn’t have a shiny coat, it sticks out and looks bad. On top of this, horses with arthritis really struggle since their lives are based around moving and standing. Due to this, people will give fish oil to their horses to prevent arthritis or fight against it.
What About Other Animals?
Depending on the situation, you could give fish oil to other animals. However, this will depend on the pet, so you need to make sure it will benefit your pet before you give him or her any fish oil. Otherwise, you could cause further problems if you give some fish oil to an animal that doesn’t need it.
Should Your Pet Take Fish Oil?
This will depend on your own decision, though you can use the points above to determine if your pet should take fish oil. For example, based on the points above, we can assume that animals without skin problems or arthritis issues don’t need to take fish oil since it won’t benefit them as much.
Either way, if you don’t know whether your pet should have fish oil, you can always talk with a veterinarian. While many people associate vets with dogs, you need to remember that they care for various animals. Even if you have an exotic pet, you can still talk with your vet to find out if you should give your pet any fish oil.
Pets will have various needs you must meet, so providing certain animals fish oil could help them out. Since some pets can take fish oil, you will need to research the subject further and use your best judgment to determine if your pet should have some. This will help you keep your pet happy and healthy as you provide for his or her needs.