# Fish Oil & Vitamin C for Joints -- What dosage?



## Jax's Mom (Oct 16, 2009)

My vet had me give my Jax 1000 mg a day of Vitamin C when he was diagnosed with pano. He had no bad effects from it, except for a bad tummy. I would suggest giving 500 mg for a couple of days and then up it to 1000mg. His pano did improve, but he was also on salmon oil and prevacox. My vet told me that they found pano to help with inflamation, but that it has not been proven. We were ready to try anything to help his limping, so we did. I did not read anything negative about it, so we decided it wouldnt hurt to try.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Not sure what you read negative about Vit. C. It's a water soluble vitamin so excess will be eliminated by the body in the urine. The worst it could do would be to cause loose stool and that can be avoided by working up to the recommended level. 1000mg sounds fine for golden sized dog. I would probably split that into two doses personally (it doesn't really last all that long in the body).

For fish oil, you want about 300mg of combined EPA/DHA per 10 pounds of body weight. That's the anti-inflammatory dose. With my fish oil pills that means approximately one 1000mg per 10 pounds. I'd work my way up fairly slowly with that one too. I also give 400IU of vitamin E to help with absorption, etc. of the oil.

If your dog is having pain from the hip, I'd suggest Dasuquin instead of Cosequin. It is Cosequin plus avocado seed extract which actually helps with pain in addition to the glucosamine/chondroitin affects.


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## 2Retrievers222 (Sep 5, 2007)

I stand by Cod iver Oil, seen it work on my old dog

for dogs 1 table spoon a day

http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/benefitscodliv_slav.htm

c/p

Cod liver oil, however, may relieve both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, slowing or even reversing the progression of the disease. It is thought cod liver oil could delay the need for joint replacement surgery for many arthritis sufferers


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

You have to be careful giving large doses of cod liver oil. It contains high levels of fat soluble vitamins and can cause over doses. Fish body oils (like salmon oil or the fish oils in most capsules) do not contain these excessive amounts of vitamins.


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## mikhal (Nov 24, 2007)

Thanks, everyone for your input.
Sara gets one tablet of Cosequin in the morning,
and then one Vitamin C and Fish Oil tablet in the evening.

We will see if this does anything for her.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Please read Sarah's thread here. Lots of good info http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=81336 One tablet of fish oil is not enough to be of therapeutic benefit. As she states, and also what Dallas Gold and I learned at a seminar given by one of the sports medicine vets at her clinic, you need to give 300 mg of combined EPA/DHA per 10 lbs of body weight. Personally, I use the same fish oil DH and I use ( Carlson's finest fish oil) as it the easiest way for us to get that amount.


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## Bogey's Mom (Dec 23, 2008)

My puppy gets both, but I worked up to the full dose of Vitamin C over the course of 10 days. My dogs absolutely love the fish oil. I freeze them and all three of us take our vitamins at the same time every morning. The only reason I don't give Bogey Vitamin C is because of his super sensitive tummy. It makes him ill. That's the only negative thing I've heard about it.

If you want to check out a variety of options for Vitamin C look at Nature's Farmacy online.


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