# Cod Liver Oil Question



## cprcheetah

My hubby's Dr had him get some Cod Liver Oil to use and he couldn't gag it down so we have a brand new bottle of Cod Liver Oil that's only got like 1 thing out of it. The ingredients are: Cod Liver Oil & Natural Mint Flavor, would this be okay to give to my dogs, so it doesn't go to waste? 
It has per teaspoon:
462 IU Vit D
EPA 554mg
DHA 369mg

Or does it have too much Vitamin D in it?


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## whiteleo

I believe there was a thread on this awhile back, something about too much something in cod liver oil!


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## Unosmom

Yes, you want to be careful with cod liver because of high doses of vit A and D which can be toxic, depending on dogs size.


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## Artisanal pet

*Cod liver oil*

A little does go a long way. Cod liver oil is a great oil for dogs. A teaspoon 2 to 3 days a week is perfect.


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## bdb5853

Artisanal pet said:


> A little does go a long way. Cod liver oil is a great oil for dogs. A teaspoon 2 to 3 days a week is perfect.


A teaspoon for what size of dog?? A 5 pound dog? A 50 pound dog? Where do you get your information?


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## RawFedDogs

Fish body Oil or Salmon Oil are superior to CLO, BUT if you have some CLO you want to get rid of, give it to your doggies a little at a time.


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## BrownieM

I have some Cod Liver Oil that I have been giving my dogs recently. It says 25-55 lbs. give 1/2 teaspoon daily. I have been giving them about 1/2 teaspoon a few days a week. I probably won't do the Cod Liver Oil forever, I just had a bottle and though, "hey, why not!". This may be something I rotate in as a supplement every now and then. 

I also give fish oil and will continue to do that, at least until I start introducing fish into the diet.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5

i dont know if this is the same with humans, but vitamin d toxicity is highly overated in humans...surte itsa threat but for reference...itake 10- 15,000 units of vitamin d EACH DAY.


i know dogs age faster and all the jargon so idk if 400 is the equivalent to 15000 for me

vitamin d isnt the miracle drug its amde outt o be though. i used to have a vitamin d level of 19 which is really deficient and now its like 58...but my bone pain slightly improved nothing much else...trying to get to 85 for myself


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## Artisanal pet

*Cod liver oil.*

Dogs 0-10 pounds 1 teaspoon a week
Dogs 10-20 pounds 1.5 a week
Dogs 20-40 pounds 2 a week
Dogs 40 and above 2 to 3 a week.
Of course this all depends on what you are feeding your dog.
This mainly applys to home feeding.
Most kibble has to much vitamin and minerals sprayed on the kibble.

I have been studying pet nutrition for 4 years.


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## GermanSheperdlover

Keep in mind fish IS NOT a natural food for dogs. So you would want to feed any fish including kibble to a small amount, until you are sure your dog has no issues with fish. My dog can not tolerate salmon/salmon oil, nor can he tolerate fish only kibble in large amounts. It shows up in many different forms, running stools and hot-spots are the biggest issues in my dogs case.


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## RawFedDogs

GermanSheperdlover said:


> Keep in mind fish IS NOT a natural food for dogs.


I used to think that also until I saw several pictures, obviously taken at different times in different locations of wild wolves gorging on salmon beside rivers PROBABLY in Canada and/or Alaska.


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## cprcheetah

GermanSheperdlover said:


> Keep in mind fish IS NOT a natural food for dogs. So you would want to feed any fish including kibble to a small amount, until you are sure your dog has no issues with fish. My dog can not tolerate salmon/salmon oil, nor can he tolerate fish only kibble in large amounts. It shows up in many different forms, running stools and hot-spots are the biggest issues in my dogs case.


My dogs love fish, they eat raw, and have no problem with salmon oil. Here is a dog who is 'defying' nature:
Dog Catches Salmon Swimming Across A Road | WJBF?TV


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## schtuffy

cprcheetah said:


> Here is a dog who is 'defying' nature:
> Dog Catches Salmon Swimming Across A Road | WJBF?TV


*gasp* Fresh salmon from the Pacific Northwest! :frown::biggrin: hehehe...


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## Artisanal pet

*Feeding dogs raw fish.*

I always feed my dogs fish. If using raw fish you must be extremly careful because of parasites. Stick to sushi or sashimi grade seafood. Also never feed raw farm raised fish to dogs or cats.


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## RawFedDogs

Artisanal pet said:


> I always feed my dogs fish. If using raw fish you must be extremly careful because of parasites. Stick to sushi or sashimi grade seafood. Also never feed raw farm raised fish to dogs or cats.


I think thats being a little overprotective. I know lots and lots of people who feed raw fish of all kinds to their dogs with no problem. If you are concerned about parasites (I'm not), then you can freeze the fish for a couple of weeks to kill any that might be there. Personally I just don't worry about them.


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## Artisanal pet

*Parisites*



RawFedDogs said:


> I think thats being a little overprotective. I know lots and lots of people who feed raw fish of all kinds to their dogs with no problem. If you are concerned about parasites (I'm not), then you can freeze the fish for a couple of weeks to kill any that might be there. Personally I just don't worry about them.


Some parasites, even frozen, can survive in a stasis, the larva and excrement will remain alive. Ive learned this as a classicly trained chef. Also im H.A.C.C.P certified. Im also an Executive Chef for a large Hospital group in Boston. 
That being said im glad you have not had an issue with raw fish. I also know alot of people who have tried feeding there dogs raw fish and raw meat. Most have been able to thrive on raw meat. But I have seen, heard, and studied about dogs that have become ill because of raw fish and meat.
Again im glad you are having great success. Im not here to advocate for or against any particular type of diet.
I just ask everyone to be careful, and become as educated as possible about the type of diet you are feeding your pet.


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## RawFedDogs

Artisanal pet said:


> Some parasites, even frozen, can survive in a stasis, the larva and excrement will remain alive. Ive learned this as a classicly trained chef. Also im H.A.C.C.P certified. Im also an Executive Chef for a large Hospital group in Boston.


It seems you are a chef for human food. Dogs have such a high aciditidy level in their stomach juices that almost no living creature can survive the transisition through the dogs stomach and gut. I don't worry about ANYTHING ingested through the dog's mouth.



> That being said im glad you have not had an issue with raw fish. I also know alot of people who have tried feeding there dogs raw fish and raw meat. Most have been able to thrive on raw meat. But I have seen, heard, and studied about dogs that have become ill because of raw fish and meat.


I'd like to see some information on that. I have been in the raw feeding world for 9 years and am and have been a member of numerous discussion boards and have read literally 100's of thousands of posts on the subject of raw feeding. I don't remember EVER seing a post of anyone's dog having parasite problems from eating raw fish.

The one exception to this is salmon type fish from the Pacific NorthWest. These fish CAN (not necessarily do) carry a dangerous parasite to dogs. The greatest majority of parasites are not dangerous and easily taken care of. Nothing to worry about. _*ETA:* I don't remember ever seeing a post from anyone whose dog got this parasite._



> I just ask everyone to be careful, and become as educated as possible about the type of diet you are feeding your pet.


One can be overly careful and "Overly Educated" if the education comes strictly from the internet. If you look long and hard enough you can find claims to most any condition. The long time raw feeders here have enough experience to seperate the truth from myth. One should know the source of information they are reading on the internet and know which are reliable sources and which aren't. Learn the biases of the sources you use.

Here is a reliable source on this subject.
Myths About Raw: Will my dog aquire parasites from raw meat?


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## Artisanal pet

RawFedDogs said:


> It seems you are a chef for human food. Dogs have such a high aciditidy level in their stomach juices that almost no living creature can survive the transisition through the dogs stomach and gut. I don't worry about ANYTHING ingested through the dog's mouth.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to see some information on that. I have been in the raw feeding world for 9 years and am and have been a member of numerous discussion boards and have read literally 100's of thousands of posts on the subject of raw feeding. I don't remember EVER seing a post of anyone's dog having parasite problems from eating raw fish.
> 
> The one exception to this is salmon type fish from the Pacific NorthWest. These fish CAN (not necessarily do) carry a dangerous parasite to dogs. The greatest majority of parasites are not dangerous and easily taken care of. Nothing to worry about. _*ETA:* I don't remember ever seeing a post from anyone whose dog got this parasite._
> 
> 
> 
> One can be overly careful and "Overly Educated" if the education comes strictly from the internet. If you look long and hard enough you can find claims to most any condition. The long time raw feeders here have enough experience to seperate the truth from myth. One should know the source of information they are reading on the internet and know which are reliable sources and which aren't. Learn the biases of the sources you use.
> 
> Here is a reliable source on this subject.
> Myths About Raw: Will my dog aquire parasites from raw meat?


You are correct I am FIRST a human chef in the medical field and its my job to understand parasites and other pathogens in food. 
Over the last four years I have been working with veterinarians and animal nutritionists in the New England and New York area.
If you wonder where I get my information from, its from the animal medical field and not from google or the books you read.


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## RawFedDogs

Artisanal pet said:


> You are correct I am FIRST a human chef in the medical field and its my job to understand parasites and other pathogens in food.


Cool, I'm sure you have forgotten more about feeding humans than I will ever know. I bow to your expertese in that area. However, canines have a much different digestive system than humans that is designed to eat a different diet. Dog's whole body from the tip of the snout to the end of the anus is designed to eat and digest raw meat, bones and organs. As such, they are capable of handling piddling little parasites and bacteria. Canines are so well designed to eat this that they can eat meat that has been rotting for days. I have fed my dogs rotten meat several times over the years with no ill effect.

After all, dogs even eat poop and lick their own and other dog's butts. Parasites? A piece of cake. :smile:



> Over the last four years I have been working with veterinarians and animal nutritionists in the New England and New York area.


How many of them have fed their dogs a diet of nothing but raw meat, bones, and organs for a period of at least a year, preferably much longer? I'm guessing none. So their knowledge of dogs ingesting parasiates and bacteria is purely theoretical.

I would guess that there are 10 or 15, maybe more, regular users here that each one has more pracitcal knowledge of this subject than all the vets and nutritionists you have consulted combines. :smile: 

Until you have fed multiple dogs a prey model raw diet for at least a year and have fed rotting meat and other meat that you know is infested with salmonella and/or e-coli and observed the results, your education is limited.



> If you wonder where I get my information from, its from the animal medical field and not from google or the books you read.


I get mine from feeding multiple dogs and cats a prey model raw diet for over 8 years and observing the results. From consulting with leaders in the field, asking questions and getting anwers. From studying and observing nature and consulting wolf experts who have spent 30+ years observing wolf diets and their effects.

Again, I don't think parasites or bacteria ingested through the mouth are a problem to dogs. Even the parasites ingested through other means generally are not a real problem to healthy dogs.


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## Artisanal pet

RawFedDogs said:


> Cool, I'm sure you have forgotten more about feeding humans than I will ever know. I bow to your expertese in that area. However, canines have a much different digestive system than humans that is designed to eat a different diet. Dog's whole body from the tip of the snout to the end of the anus is designed to eat and digest raw meat, bones and organs. As such, they are capable of handling piddling little parasites and bacteria. Canines are so well designed to eat this that they can eat meat that has been rotting for days. I have fed my dogs rotten meat several times over the years with no ill effect.
> 
> After all, dogs even eat poop and lick their own and other dog's butts. Parasites? A piece of cake. :smile:
> 
> 
> 
> How many of them have fed their dogs a diet of nothing but raw meat, bones, and organs for a period of at least a year, preferably much longer? I'm guessing none. So their knowledge of dogs ingesting parasiates and bacteria is purely theoretical.
> 
> I would guess that there are 10 or 15, maybe more, regular users here that each one has more pracitcal knowledge of this subject than all the vets and nutritionists you have consulted combines. :smile:
> 
> Until you have fed multiple dogs a prey model raw diet for at least a year and have fed rotting meat and other meat that you know is infested with salmonella and/or e-coli and observed the results, your education is limited.
> 
> 
> 
> I get mine from feeding multiple dogs and cats a prey model raw diet for over 8 years and observing the results. From consulting with leaders in the field, asking questions and getting anwers. From studying and observing nature and consulting wolf experts who have spent 30+ years observing wolf diets and their effects.
> 
> Again, I don't think parasites or bacteria ingested through the mouth are a problem to dogs. Even the parasites ingested through other means generally are not a real problem to healthy dogs.


Before we go any futher I do want to say I am enjoying our little discussion very much. You have proven to be both knowledgeable and experienced in this field. I would love to have the opportunity to discuss your trials and errors in raw feeding even futher.

Now everything you have posted is correct. Just remember a few things. Dogs are no longer wolfs. Not all dogs contain the same powerful enzymes required to fight off all food born bacteria. I know this all to well because the reason why I have entered this field was to cure my girlfriends dog 4 years ago. He had eaten food contaminated with salmonella. Not from raw food or home cooking, but from kibble. 
I am happy to say he is now 14 years old and doing well.
I can go into more details later about the research ive done the last 4 years.

Again in a perfect world I would be feeding my dogs raw food. But after making food for clients dogs that have been recommended to me. I can tell you with absolute certainty that dogs are ceptable to food born illnesses.


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## RawFedDogs

Artisanal pet said:


> Now everything you have posted is correct. Just remember a few things. Dogs are no longer wolfs. Not all dogs contain the same powerful enzymes required to fight off all food born bacteria.


Yes, dogs are wolves. Dogs fed a proper diet DO have the means to fight off food borne bacteria. Mine have been for years. You should smell some of the food they have eaten with no negative effects. You see, dogs fed artificial highly processed foods do lack the stomach and gut acidity. The acidity level of humans vary with what we eat. Lots of carbs = lower acidity levels. Lots of protein and fats, higher acidity. Dogs that eat nothing but meat, bones and organs just as wolves do, have the same chemical make up in their stomach. Kibble contains lots of carbs and keeps the acidity level down somewhat.

This is why you must be careful when switching a kibble fed dog over to a raw diet. These stomach juices must adjust to digest real food. It takes a couple of months for the dog to go through this process. But once the adjustment process is completed, they can eat pretty much anything they want without worry about food borne anything. I assume most of the research, testing, and experimenting has been done on kibble fed dogs which is an entirely different creature regarding the GI tract.



> I know this all to well because the reason why I have entered this field was to cure my girlfriends dog 4 years ago. He had eaten food contaminated with salmonella. Not from raw food or home cooking, but from kibble.


Yes but my dogs eat salmonella laden food pretty often and have no problem. The tests I'm aware of say that 30% of kibble fed dogs and 70% of raw fed dogs shed salmonella in their feces. However they don't get sick. Neither do the humans that live with them. Don't know why your GF's dog got sick from salmonella but most dogs don't. Were tests actually run and salmonella bacteria found in running rampant in the gut? Or did the vet do like most vets do ... anytime a dog has an unexplained stomach upset, its attributed to salmonella automatically without tests?



> I am happy to say he is now 14 years old and doing well.
> I can go into more details later about the research ive done the last 4 years.


Cool



> Again in a perfect world I would be feeding my dogs raw food. But after making food for clients dogs that have been recommended to me. I can tell you with absolute certainty that dogs are ceptable to food born illnesses.


Switch both your and your clients dogs to a prey model raw diet and in a few short months you will be singing a different song. :smile: I can promise you they won't be suseptable to food borne diseases. I can't tell you how many posts I've seen over the years saying "my dog had (colitis, pancreatitis, sensititive tummy, and other digestive diseases) and after a month on PMR diet, those problems went away." There are many people on this board that will tell you stories like that. Find the thread "success stories" and you should see plenty of them.

Bedtime for me ... see you tomorrow. :smile:


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## RachelsaurusRexU

One of the main reasons that dogs are not affected by salmonella from consuming raw meat is the rate in which their bodies are able to process it. From what I understand, that isn't so with kibble. Kibble, being as unnatural and processed as it is, has to hang out in a dog's system for much longer in order to be broken down enough for nutrients to be extracted, and digested. That creates a huge problem when dealing with salmonella contaminated kibble because the bacteria has an opportunity to take hold and multiply. With raw, it goes down the hatch and shortly thereafter out the other end without much lollygagging around in between. 

I also believe that there's a huge difference in the general health of properly raw fed dogs and probably most kibble fed dogs. Let's face it, most of the kibbles out there are nothing more than junk food. If you eat nothing but junk, your general health will likely suffer. If your health is poor, you'll be more prone to infection from bacteria, parasites, etc. 

Just my two cents.


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## SerenityFL

Gonna have to agree with Rachel and RawFedDogs on this one. Before I switched to raw, I did a whole lot of research and it wasn't just raw feeding forums and groups. I actually researched the dog's anatomy as compared to the wolf's anatomy.

We can change their temperament, we can change their outward appearance, but we have not changed their insides. As RawFedDogs said, yes, they are wolves. They've been domesticated, they've been bred to look different ways, but we sure didn't change their intestinal tracts.

What fascinates me about vets who attribute everything to salmonella and raw meat is that they seem to forget that kibble has not been around that long. People used to feed their dogs raw food all the time, before kibble came around in around the 60s. 

I don't recall hearing about massive dog allergies from back then as I am now. (Same with humans, for that matter. The more processed garbage we eat, the unhealthier we seem to be, overall.)

I once worked for a vet at an exotic pet and bird clinic and he was the first to tell you, all that kibble, all that crap you buy at the pet store for your dogs, cats, birds, rodents, etc was complete and utter garbage. He said, "It's like feeding your child candy every night for dinner. Eventually you're going to have problems."

Birds that should have lived 75 years were dying at 20 years. But no one wanted to listen to the vet for those 20 years because, hey, the bird was alive all this time! The food must be ok. (as an example)

I've heard more problems with dogs health because of kibble than I've heard from raw feeding. (And these would be the PNW salmon, perhaps it could happen, or the bone was too small or they didn't chomp the bone and I guess some years back, pork was a bit of an issue.)

It was mentioned earlier that dogs will eat other dogs poo. My idiot hoodlums do this every single time we go out on walks. My neighbors do not clean up after their dogs and we walk the poo gauntlet every night. When I let them off leash, eventually they will find a pile and start chowing down despite my attempts to inform them just how disgusting that is. Some of these piles are enormous, look terribly unhealthy, yet there they are, grazing at the "snack bar". It has not affected them in the slightest. It's waste. One would think a dog would have a bad reaction to waste but they do not. It gets broken down in the stomach and doesn't spend enough time in the digestive tract to do anything.

In humans, it takes about 24 hours for us to rid ourselves of whatever we ate. This gives salmonella plenty of time to take hold and make us sick. In dogs, it's pretty much, "something goes in, something comes out" in a very short period of time. Salmonella doesn't have a chance to stay inside. It gets thrown out to sit in a pile, cold and alone to eventually die.

You are an expert with human food, something I wish I knew more about and I think what you know is fantastic. I'd love to pick your brain sometime. But what goes for humans does not necessarily go for other animals. We are different, we react to things differently. What some animals can handle, a human could die from. So it is different and cannot be compared.


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## Artisanal pet

Again I agree with everything that has been posted. I think we are getting off the subject slighty. I am for the raw diet. When I talk about bacteria and parasites, I am pertaining to dogs who are on a kibble based diet, not raw. None of my clients have there dogs on a raw diet. Once the sick dogs are healthy, I see no issue in trying the raw diet. 
I am in complete agreement that a kibble based diet is wrong.


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## RawFedDogs

Artisanal pet said:


> None of my clients have there dogs on a raw diet. Once the sick dogs are healthy, I see no issue in trying the raw diet.


2 reasons:

1. To keep them healthy seeing that kibble was the cause of the problem to begin with.

2. Because a raw diet is many times healthier than kibble any day by any measurement.



> I am in complete agreement that a kibble based diet is wrong.


Then it doesn't make sense to keep recommending it, does it? :smile:


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## Artisanal pet

RawFedDogs said:


> 2 reasons:
> 
> 1. To keep them healthy seeing that kibble was the cause of the problem to begin with.
> 
> 2. Because a raw diet is many times healthier than kibble any day by any measurement.
> 
> 
> Then it doesn't make sense to keep recommending it, does it? :smile:


I dont recommend kibble. I never said I did. I do home cooking for my dogs and clients.


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## _Trish

Reading through this discussion made me think of something when I tried putting my dogs on a raw diet. All of them responded really well to it, except for one. He started regurgitating his food, and vomiting bile, and foamy white stuff (I know, how technical). So this was because his body was used to digesting kibble, and his stomach was producing more acid to digest the raw meat? He also had HORRIBLE breath, I mean absolutely rotten. He would burp and it would smell like there was a rotting carcass laying in front of me. Even if he would just yawn in your face or try to give you a kiss his breath was just absolutely putrid, and this was not the case when he was on kibble. For what it's worth, he eats a grain-free and what I would consider to be a high quality kibble. He's on Acana, and I rotate between the Prairie, Grasslands, and Pacifica. I started feeding him raw for his AM meal, and kibble for the PM meal and that seemed to help with the regurgitating and vomiting problems, but did not stop them completely, so I ended up going back to kibble, and he immediately quit with the regurgitating and vomiting, and his breath returned back to normal and he no longer had the rancid burps.


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## Kofismom

This has been a fascinating read! Thanks for all those well informed posts!

I need lots of help on human nutrition, since my Kofi eats like the little queen that she is, while I have my salted, buttered pop corn and a martini....well shaken.


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