Jack Russel Terrier Skin Allergies

Question
Good Morning! I recently read a post that recommended Omega3 fatty acids or dark chicken meat to supplement a JRTs requirement for a higher fat diet.

We have a 6.5 month old broken coat JRT, 15.5 lbs, that has exhibited severe skin allergies and has been chewing on his feet; losing hair from his feet; very itchy for 3.5 months.

Would you kindly provide specific recommendations on Omega3 fatty acid supplement products and an appropriate/portion size dose for a young, adolescent, and adult JRT?

In a previous answer, you advised to 'start with a small amount', but I don't have a frame of reference to identify a small amount.

Also, kindly advise on portion sizes for dark chicken meat.

Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi,
Any kind of wire coated dog has less oil in the hair than a long haired or short haired dog.  Plus terriers have  an abundance of energy.  Once they use up the normal allotment of energy (from the fat) in their dog food, their bodies take it out of the skin and hair.  The dog food today is made to appeal to human minds. Minds of today are all on low fat diets. Terriers and wiry coated dogs need high fat, which is NOT SUPPLIED in todays dog food, so what happens?  The fat is taken out of the skin because there is not enough in the diet.  As a sufferer from dry skin, I can tell you it can be agonizing.  It feels like someone is sticking pins in you all over your body and you want to scratch and scratch.  Well so does your dog, however he has no point of reference to stop him from chewing so he just keeps at the itch.
So all this leads to putting more fat in his diet.  I would give him the fattiest hamburger meat you can find..  Give him the size of a small Swedish meatball, about an inch in diameter.  Or give him a small chicken leg with the fat NO BONE.  I also pour the grease in from the pan (of baked chicken) on the food.  My dogs have always lived to ripe old ages of 13 to 15, with a couple of exceptions, we are talking maybe 30 dogs over my life time.
Now here is the catch.   If you have been feeding a low fat diet for always, your dog can get sick on the unexpected influx of fat.  So start off with a pure form of fat, which is fish oil,  or open a capsule of Omega three fatty acids and pour that on his food.  Mix it in well.  Another option is tuna  IN OIL.  And I also feed proplan sensitive food and skin, which has salmon in it.   These have worked well for me for 43 years.  I only once had a case of pancreas problems, but it was because my dog got into the garbage and got Mexican food which was too spicy.
I have seen hundreds of dogs improve from this and I am famous at work for curing the rashes of these poor wired coated dogs.  So please use the fatty acids as a start and gradually you go to real meat if you want or just stay on the pill.  Both work great.  Now it takes about 2 months for his coat to return, but you should see an improvement and a lessoning of redness in about two weeks
nancy