Friday, 10 February 2012

product review - Yumega oil supplement

Yumega Essential Omega Oil for Your Dog's Coat and Skin

Available In:  250 ml bottle

Price:  £10.69 plus delivery.
You can find it slightly cheaper online but best value is to buy 6 bottles for £59.25 or get a deal at a large dog show like Crufts.

Ingredients:   Golden flax oil, starflower oil, vitamin E

Manufacturer:  Lintbells

Website:  http://www.lintbells.com

What it Claims:

From Lintbells website:
"YUMEGA Dog is a unique blend of natural Omega 3 & 6 oils from coldpressed golden flax and starflower, proven to generally improve dog health, coats and skin.

YUMEGA is proven to:
  • Reduce excessive dog moulting
  • Improve dry, flaky skin
  • Develop the perfect coat
Trusted and recommended by thousands of breeders and vets, Yumega Dog is easy to use and will improve your dog's skin and coat condition in as little as 3-6 weeks."

How it Works:

Flax seeds and starflower (borage) oil are the best known sources of Omega-6, an essential fatty acid which has proven benefits for skin and hair, amongst other health benefits.  The primary source of Omega-3 is oily fish, but it is also found in flax seeds.

What I Did:

On the advice of a friend who had great success with Yumega, I bought 6 bottles to use on my 3 dogs.  It is administered in their food and introduced slowly at the rate of half a normal dose for the first week.  In the end I didn't give any to our Akita, Annie, as she was already on various oil supplements for her joints, so I used 2-and-a-bit bottles in total on 2 dogs over a period of a few weeks after they had finished moulting.    For a medium-sized dog, the dosage is 5 - 7.5 ml per day, so one bottle approximately equals a month's supply for one Finnish Lapphund.

Did It Work?

I didn't actually see an enormous difference after using Yumega.  Their coats were slightly more shiny, but there was no change in Neka's itchy skin condition.  As my dogs get a varied diet rich in fish oil, anyway, it's possible they were already getting much of the benefit that Yumega offers.  There are certainly other Lapphund owners who swear by the product for maintaining their dogs' coats.  The reviews found online are a similarly mixed bag.  The benefits seen probably depend on how much Omega-3 & 6 your dog gets otherwise. 

I stopped using the product and gave the remaining bottles away to very grateful friends and raffles.

Summary
Pros - easy to adminster
Cons - a bit pricey at more than £10 per month per dog

Woof Rating:  3 out of 5


1 comment:

Mary Starling said...

Mackeral, herring and tinned pilchards do it for me. Supplements are no substitute for an inferior diet ;-)