Camelina for Companion Animals: Canine and Equine Oil Supplements
University of Guelph researchers Kate Shoveller and Wendy Pearson are working with Smart Earth Camelina Corporation to study the addition of camelina oil to the diets of dogs and horses.
Deb Puttick, the Special Projects Lead at Smart Earth Camelina, says, “This activity includes feeding trials for both dogs and horses, and comparing camelina oil to canola and flax oils, with the emphasis on safety and efficacy.”
Shoveller, a comparative nutritionist, and Pearson, an equine physiologist, are looking at the fatty acids that the oil delivers and how those fatty acids are metabolized. The research is being done under the Diverse Field Crops Cluster program.
Thirty client-owned dogs are enrolled in the canine study, including Pearson and Shoveller’s own pets, Dudley and Heart. Both Pearson and Shoveller are blinded of the treatments and only the veterinarian on the project knows which oil trial the dogs belong to.
Adding oils into animal diets helps to support skin and coat health. To measure this, the researchers use objective and subjective markers to assess how camelina oil affects the animal’s coat.
“We’re looking at how much the dogs shed, how shiny the coat is, and we are giving them a dander score,” Shoveller says. “The more objective outcome is looking at how much water they lose from their skin as a measure of barrier function.”
Pearson looks at the underlying mechanisms in the animal’s body like the inflammation processes. Food is digested and the components of oil and fatty acids are incorporated into the animal’s body. This influences how the body reacts to environmental stimuli.
“I’m interested in how management strategies can influence the inflammatory responses to their environment and diet is an ideal way to do that,” Pearson says.
The idea that introducing oil into a diet can reduce inflammation is not new. The incorporation of fats into cell membranes is a dynamic process; they are continuously being added and released. The fat that gets recycled out of cell membranes can add to inflammatory processes within the body.
If fats with less inflammatory end-products are incorporated, then theoretically, there should be less systemic inflammation in the animals.
The fats in camelina oil are “good fats” that can assist in decreasing inflammatory processes; but these types of fats tend to be less stable than their pro-inflammatory counterparts. Pearson says the trick is to find a balance between the less inflammatory, less stable fats and the more stable, more inflammatory fats.
“If camelina can bring the best of both worlds – to produce a very stable product that can sit at room temperature without going rancid and can still promote this less inflammatory situation within the animal – then that’s a very beneficial thing.” Pearson says.
She says horse owners love to spoil their horses with supplements and feeds, but the industry doesn’t have a lot of products with proven efficacy.
“It excites me that companies out there are really stepping up and investing in product development and really getting a handle on the potential benefits,” Pearson says. “This has the potential to lead the industry in a new direction.”
Written by Erin Matthews
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This DFCC activity is led by Smart Earth with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership program and Smart Earth Camelina Corporation (Smart Earth).
The Diverse Field Crops Cluster (DFCC) is a unique alliance of industry partners: Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, Smart Earth Camelina Corporation, Manitoba Crop Alliance, Mustard 21 Canada Inc, and Northern Quinoa Production Corporation. DFCC aligns industry and research stakeholders to seize market opportunities and accelerate the acreage and market returns of special crops. Ag-West Bio leads this five-year research cluster which is funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership program and industry partners.