Halo VitaGlo Dream Coat is an easy to administer feeding supplement, simply added to your pet’s food at mealtime, that is marketed to promote a healthy, shiny, & soft coat. The VitaGlo formula contains Organic Soybean Oil, Safflower Oil, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Germ Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Anise Oil, Garlic Oil, & Vitamin E Supplement. In my browse of the net, I found some people had concerns a few years ago about a formula change but I couldn’t find the comparison. (If you find it, please link in comments and I’d be happy to update.)
The current formula’s guaranteed analysis lists Omega 6 at 42% & Omega 3’s at 4%. As well as VitA 55 IU, VitD 22 IU & VitE 5 IU. Oleic Acid is sitting at a guarantee of 4% minimum. These numbers raised some concerns so I went searching, especially since I wasn’t familiar with Oleic and Omega 3s seem to be more suggested than Omega 6s.
Oleic Acid
Upon some light searching I found that Oleic Acid has been found to promote acute lung edema (‘Mechanisms involved in acute lung edema induced in dogs by oleic acid‘, By Motohiro A, Furukawa T, Yasumoto K, Inokuchi K). Of course, the study was done by injecting, intravenously, the Oleic Acid (0.04 ml/kg) still made me wonder what the absorption of this acid would do. This Oleic Acid is considered a non-essential Omega 9. Since it is non-essential the dog (& even us humans) can make the Omega 9s within their bodies from other unsaturated fats as long as on a healthy, balanced diet. With this finding, I feel like the Oleic Acid doesn’t add anything to the diet of the dog and feel like it could be harmful yet I’ve not been able to find anything specifically linking with ingestion.
Omega 6
Onto the Omega 6s, high doses of this acid can promote inflammation which is not a good thing. Too much of this Omega acid can cause joint issues & allergies. The analysis of the Dream Coat formula shows Omega 6 at 42% where Omega 3s are at a low 4%. I do not feel this is a good balance from what I’m finding in my research, Omega 3s are an essential acid that should be added to both canine and human diets since we don’t come across them as readily as others in our everyday diet.
Omega 3
Omega 3s we hear a lot being promoted through fish oils. Usually within the fish oil supplement the 3s out weight the 6s. With the larger dose of proper Omega 3s, they can aid in the lessening of inflammation helping decrease allergies such as flea bites, contact allergy & even food allergies. This fatty acid can also aid in helping with dry skin and dander, great for these winter months where the inside air becomes dry from our heat sources.
Remember, it takes roughly 3-4 months of consistent use to see a true difference an ingested product can do on a coat & skin since the supplement is working from the inside out. I do not feel that, overall, a month is long enough to evaluate this type of product. However, with my findings above I do believe I’ll stick to my fish oils at this time.