In the world of dog food and influencer marketing, the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is often used as a quick, supposedly scientific measure of how “healthy” a food is—especially when it comes to managing inflammation, skin health, or joint support. But here’s the truth: this ratio is not the full story—and in many cases, it’s downright misleading.

If you’re choosing dog food or supplements based partly on omega-6:3 ratios, you might be missing out on what your dog actually needs for optimal health, longevity, and vitality.

Let’s dive into two examples to illustrate why.

Fatty Acid Comparison: Two Complete and Balanced Dog Foods

These are both complete and balanced diets, measured per 1000 kcal:

If you judge these diets by the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio alone, Diet 1 appears superior with a tidy 2.84:1 ratio. But here’s the kicker: Diet 2 provides nearly 4x more EPA and DHA—**the omega-3s that truly matter for your dog’s body.

Why EPA and DHA Matter More Than Ratios

• EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid) and DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) are long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that deliver powerful, research-backed benefits to your dog’s health:

• Joint Support: EPA helps reduce inflammation in the joints, aiding mobility and comfort—especially in aging or active dogs.

• Brain Health & Cognitive Function: DHA is a structural fat in the brain, supporting memory, learning, and neurological function.

• Heart Health: These omega-3s support cardiovascular integrity by modulating triglycerides and promoting healthy circulation.

• Immune & Skin Health: EPA and DHA help balance immune responses and reduce allergic inflammation, making them key for skin, coat, and overall vitality.

• Vision Development & Maintenance: DHA plays a vital role in the development and function of retinal tissue.

But here’s the thing:

Dogs—and even humans—are extremely inefficient at converting ALA (plant-based omega-3s) into EPA and DHA.

ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid), found in flaxseed, chia, hemp, and canola, is an omega-3 that must be enzymatically converted in the body to become EPA and DHA. This conversion process is both limited and inefficient:

• In humans, the conversion rate is typically less than 5% for EPA and under 1% for DHA.

• In dogs, the conversion is equally poor, too low to support therapeutic needs.

So even if your dog (or you) consumes a food with a “great” omega-6:3 ratio by adding ALA, very little of that actually gets converted into the anti-inflammatory, brain-supporting omega-3s your dog truly needs.

Why ALA is Considered Essential—But EPA & DHA Are Not (Technically) Essential for Adult Dogs

You may be wondering: If EPA and DHA are so beneficial, why aren’t they classified as essential nutrients for dogs?

The answer lies in how essentiality is defined in nutritional science.

Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA) is classified as an essential fatty acid because:

• Dogs (and humans) cannot synthesize ALA on their own.

• It must be obtained from the diet to prevent deficiency symptoms.

• ALA is required as a precursor to longer-chain omega-3 fatty acids, like EPA and DHA.

In contrast, EPA and DHA are not technically considered essential nutrients for dogs because:

• It is assumed that dogs can synthesize EPA and DHA from ALA, at least enough to prevent overt deficiency.

• Therefore, nutrient profiles (like AAFCO and NRC) do not require minimum levels of preformed EPA and DHA in adult dog diets.

However, this is a technicality—not a reflection of best nutritional practice.

In reality, research shows that dogs’ ability to convert ALA into EPA and DHA is extremely limited and insufficient to achieve therapeutic or optimal health levels, especially for anti-inflammatory, joint, heart, skin, and cognitive benefits.

So while your dog may not develop deficiency symptoms without EPA and DHA, they are unlikely to achieve optimal wellness, longevity, or therapeutic outcomes without getting these fatty acids in their preformed, bioavailable form—through marine-sourced oils like krill, fish, or algae.

In summary:

• ALA is essential because dogs can’t make it themselves.

• EPA and DHA are conditionally essential—they’re not required to prevent deficiency, but they are absolutely necessary to promote health, resolve inflammation, and support aging dogs or those with clinical conditions.

Conversion & Calorie Comparison

Key Takeaways:

• To get 1 gram of usable EPA from ALA, you'd have to feed up to 300 kcal worth of plant oils—which is a quarter to a third of a small dog’s daily intake.

• Even Ahi Flower (SDA), while more efficient, still costs 3–6x more calories per gram of EPA than direct marine sources.

• Preformed EPA delivers full potency with just 9 calories per gram—far more efficient and therapeutic.

• Neither ALA nor SDA meaningfully convert to DHA. Preformed DHA (from krill, algae, or fish oil) is the only efficient and realistic way to provide therapeutic levels of this essential omega-3.

Therapeutic Dosing of EPA

• *Includes atopy and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Why ALA and SDA Can’t Meet Therapeutic Needs

• As the table above shows, therapeutic levels of EPA and DHA can exceed 3,000 mg per day for medium to large dogs—especially in conditions like osteoarthritis. Reaching those levels with plant-based omega-3s like ALA or SDA is virtually impossible without overfeeding fat and calories.

• That means trying to use ALA or SDA to achieve therapeutic omega-3 dosing would not only be wildly inefficient, but would unbalance the diet and risk overfeeding—all while failing to deliver critical DHA for neurological, eye, and cognitive support.

• Only preformed EPA and DHA from marine sources like krill oil, fish oil, or algae oil can meet these therapeutic levels realistically and safely, without tipping the calorie scale or nutritional balance.

What’s Wrong with Focusing on the Omega-6:3 Ratio?

Let’s break it down:

1. It lumps fats together without regard for their individual function.
   Not all omega-6s and omega-3s behave the same in the body.
   For example, Linoleic Acid (LA)—the primary dietary omega-6—has long been labeled “inflammatory.” However, this is an oversimplification. While LA can serve as a substrate for inflammatory eicosanoids, some of its downstream metabolites are actually anti-inflammatory and play important roles in skin barrier function, immune health, and cellular integrity. The body’s inflammatory response is a tightly regulated balance, and LA is part of that balance—not inherently “bad.”

2. It ignores actual nutrient amounts.
   You could have a “perfect” ratio (like Diet 1), but still deliver very little functional omega-3 benefit. Ratios can be manipulated by lowering omega-6 content without meaningfully increasing omega-3 intake.

3. It’s easy to manipulate.
   Brands can and do lower their omega-6:3 ratio by adding cheaper omega-3s like ALA (from flax or chia), or SDA (from Ahi Flower), which do not translate into meaningful EPA and DHA levels for your dog.

4. It fails to capture the complexity of fatty acid metabolism.
   Fatty acids do not act in isolation—their function depends on the overall dietary pattern, the dog’s life stage, health status, and their capacity to convert precursor fats like ALA into bioactive forms.

What matters most is the presence of the omega-3s EPA and DHA—not the ratio itself.

What to Look for Instead

When evaluating dog food or supplements, don’t just ask, “What’s the omega-6:3 ratio?” Ask this instead:

• How much EPA and DHA does it provide per 1000 kcals?

• Are the omega-3s coming from high-quality sources like fish oil, krill, or algae—not just flax hemp or canola?

• Is the product designed to support inflammation, cognition, skin, joints, and longevity with functional fats—not just a pretty label?

Conclusions

The omega-6:3 ratio is an outdated and overly simplistic metric. It looks good on paper—but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

TL;DR – What You Really Need to Know

The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is often used to assess the quality of dog food, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. While it may look balanced on paper, it fails to reflect the actual levels of omega-3s—specifically EPA and DHA—which are critical for supporting your dog’s joints, brain, heart, immune system, and overall vitality.

• ALA (and more recently SDA), common in plant oils, convert poorly (or not at all) to EPA and DHA in dogs.

• A food with a “worse” omega ratio can actually deliver far more bioactive omega-3s than one with a better-looking label.

• Achieving therapeutic levels (3,000+ mg/day for medium/large dogs) through ALA or SDA is calorically impractical and nutritionally inefficient.

• Only preformed EPA and DHA from marine sources like krill, fish, or algae oil can meet your dog’s real needs—without excess calories.

Bottom line: Don’t choose food based on ratios—choose it based on the important omega-3 fatty acids EPA & DHA.