Answer: No! Vitamin E is not required for absorption of fats. It's use in fish oil is primarily as a preservative.
In cats, a certain amount of vitamin E along with any oil is needed to prevent a painful disease called steatitis (inflammation of fat). This used to occur in cats that were fed a lot of plain canned tuna, so it was technically a fish oil issue. Since most cats today eat commercial pet food, it is much less common now. I've only seen one case of steatitis, and sadly, for her, it was too late to reverse. It's also thought by some that excessive intake of fish oil may deplete the body of vitamin E, though there's not much evidence to back up the claim; in any case, adding it to the fish oil is an easy preventative.
Check out or great selection of fish oils - click here.
Jean Hofve, DVM Denver, CO
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