EFFECT OF AN OMEGA-3 OMEGA-6 FATTY ACID-CONTAINING COMMERCIAL LAMB AND RICE DIET ON PRURITUS IN ATOPIC DOGS - RESULTS OF A SINGLE-BLINDED STUDY/

A commercial, lamb and rice, dog food with an omega-6:omega-3 fatty ac id ratio of 5.5:1 was fed in a single-blinded, self-controlled clinica l trial to 18 atopic dogs, The pruritus in 8 of these dogs (44.4%) was satisfactorily controlled within 7 to 21 d, returned within 3 to 14 d after the diet was withdrawn, and was again controlled when the diet was reinstated, Plasma and skin levels of examined fatty acids changed in all 18 dogs when their diet was switched to the test diet. Dogs re sponding to the test diet had a different pattern of fatty acid change as compared to the dogs which failed to respond to the diet, suggesti ng that there are subsets of atopic dogs with different fatty acid met abolism capabilities.