Effect of n-3 fatty acid ratio and dose on clinical manifestations, plasma fatty acids and inflammatory mediators in dogs with pruritus.

Abstract

The use of n-3 fatty acids is often recommended to manage pruritus. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of various doses of n-3 fatty acids at different n-6:n-3 ratios on plasma fatty acids, clinical response and inflammatory mediators in pruritic dogs. After baseline assessment, dogs were randomly assigned to receive diets varying in both total n-3 and n-6 fatty acid dose and n-6:n-3 ratio. The total clinical score decreased significantly in all four diet groups after 8 weeks with no difference between groups. Plasma fatty acid changes generally mirrored the fatty acid content of the test diets, although alterations appeared to depend on both the dose of n-3 fatty acids and the n-6:n-3 ratio. In this clinical trial, which controlled dietary intake of fatty acids, n-3 fatty acid supplementation did not appear to have an added benefit on clinical signs over thorough clinical management.