An un-commissioned randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind study to test the effect of deep sea fish oil as a pain reliever for dogs suffering from canine OA

Hielm-Björkman A, Roine J, Elo K, Lappalainen A, Junnila J, Laitinen-Vapaavuori O · BMC Veterinary Research

The counterweight, and its authors flag in the title that nobody commissioned it. On the main outcomes — force-plate peak vertical force and impulse, the validated Helsinki Chronic Pain Index, and rescue NSAID use — there was no significant difference between groups at 16 weeks. Within the fish oil group, change from baseline was significant on several of those measures; within placebo, only on the pain index. Owners of fish-oil dogs were happier with treatment (65.7% against 38.9%) and significantly better at guessing which group they were in (60.6% of fish-oil owners guessed treatment, against 31.4% of placebo owners).

Population

77 client-owned dogs with osteoarthritis

Intervention

Deep sea fish oil added to food for 16 weeks

Comparator

Corn oil placebo

Limitations

Dogs, n=77, 16 weeks. Owners could guess their allocation, and within-group improvement was reported in an arm that had effectively unblinded itself. Funded by a Finnish foundation, with the oil and other contributions from its maker, Nutraceuticoils, and one author at a contract statistics firm; 71 of the 77 dogs were analysed.