Anyone Else Use Coconut Oil?

I had posted on another thread about using coconut oil. I'm just wondering if anyone else uses it with their cats, or even themselves for that matter. 

In addition to it being extremely healthy for them, IMO, it's also a great bonding experience for us. I give it two ways, I put a bit in their food (to make sure they get some of it each day) but I also rub some on my hands and let them lick it off, when they're done I rub my hands over them. I do this for my dogs as well. They all love it. 

Coconut oil is great for skin and coat, helps with hair balls, naturally repels fleas, aids in digestion, is an antiviral (great for kitties with cancer!), antifungal, antibacterial, boosts metabolism, can help reduce bad breath, may help prevent neurological problems, thyroid problems, cholesterol problems and is generally very well tolerated. I have read a few reports of it even helping with worms, although I haven't experienced that personally. 

It's very cheap, I pay less than $10 for 16oz (I use Omega Nutrition Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil). We replace about half of our butter with it for our own personal use, the pets get about a teaspoon a day each. 

You can read a bit about it here: http://www.cocotherapy.com/faq_cocotherapy.htm

Love the stuff, I buy organic raw fresh pressed virgin coconut oil, smells heavenly. I have used it for years on my face,hair & body. My cats coat gets a light coating  of the oil once or twice a week. I make popcorn using coconut oil yum scrumptious.

I like to cook with it on occasion - created a lowcarb recipe for coconut curry chicken that uses it.

It never occured to me to give it to my cats or use it on them.  Aside from me not liking the smell (nor that of broom which is similar) it's a plant oil, from a bit of the world where as far as I know there are no native cats.  It may be good for us, I can't see why it would be good for cats.

OrientalSlave said:

It never occured to me to give it to my cats or use it on them.  Aside from me not liking the smell (nor that of broom which is similar) it's a plant oil, from a bit of the world where as far as I know there are no native cats.  It may be good for us, I can't see why it would be good for cats.

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It's metabolized as energy instead of fat and is very easily digestable by all animals. The coconut oil I buy is not scented.

As far as it being from an area where cats aren't native, I really don't see the point you're trying to make there. There are tons of things that we give our pets, either food or medicinal, that are from areas where cats aren't a native species. I prefer to be proactive and natural with my pets' health, so giving them something that is natural, organic, proven to be easily digested and beneficial is what I choose to do. I feed them a lot of things that they wouldn't eat in the wild (beef, turkey, vension, moose, etc) so that doesn't really bother me.

If you can show me a study that shows that coconut oil specifically is hard for cats to digest then I may reconsider, but I've only read studies regarding unspecified plant matter and digestion. All studies with coconut oil have been extremely positive.

i put it on nasty cuts - mine and the cats. 

my ancestors did not come from a part of the world where coconuts grow, but I can eat 'em just fine btw.

Thailand is known for its cat breeds (siamese, burmese, tonkinese, khao manee) and coconuts so now you know that they exist in the same parts of the world.

A litte additional research pulls up...

The history of the domesticated cat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat#Ecology

"cats were probably domesticated in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent  around the time of the development of agriculture  and then they were brought to Cyprus and Egypt."

A map of global distribution of native coconut species:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coconut_distribution.png

Note the Red Sea coast of Egypt which overlaps with the fertile crescent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescent

I bet the very first domesticated cats like 10,000 yrs ago were getting some coconut table scraps.

My friend has a family coconut farm on Guam, they have been using the raw fresh pressed unrefined virgin form of this oil for many generations ( native to the island.) The oil has a ever so slight sent of coconut, my friends family has the most beautiful skin & hair. They feed the pets ( dogs,cats & birds )  the coconut meal after the pressing, nothing goes to waste. They have some very long lived dogs & cats, these cats roam about freely and are hunting so of course coconut is not the exclusive diet. For free roaming dogs & cats they sure do look good, not one of them has ever been brushed.

I heard coconut oil is the highest in saturated fat of all cooking oils. If that is true, I am staying away from it as a feeding supplement. What cats really need is a fish oil high in omgea-3 fatty acids, not what a cardiologist would tell you to stay away from.

EmilyMayWilcha said:

I heard coconut oil is the highest in saturated fat of all cooking oils. If that is true, I am staying away from it as a feeding supplement. What cats really need is a fish oil high in omgea-3 fatty acids, not what a cardiologist would tell you to stay away from.

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But not all doctors will tell you to stay away from saturated fats...try reading Dr. Peter Attia - http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/...-saturated-fat-and-cholesterol-are-bad-for-us
This is also an interesting link: http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/05-26/are-coconut-oil-saturated-fat-and-cholesterol-really-ok/   Good food for thought!

*disclaimer - I do not follow a paleo diet, though I like some aspects of it.  I do have a cardiac issue, so I take the topic seriously.

I don't believe that saturated fat is bad - I believe the empty carbs in processed foods are. My blood cholesterol levels support this belief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat_and_cardiovascular_disease_controversy

The problem with saturated fat is people eat too much of it. I assume many cats do too with so much junk food out there.

I've never given it to my cats (never occurred to me), but it works wonders as a skin moisturizer. My daughter has psoriasis and it really helps clear her up. The rest of us also use it in place of lotion, smells nice and makes skin really soft. When my kids were in diapers, it quickly cleared up diaper rash too. I know you can cook with it, but I don't care for coconut flavor, so never tried that one either.

How much is too much?

Fat doesn't go directly into you blood stream like sugar. Blood cholesterol is produced by the liver independent for the most part by ingestion. 

"cholesterol intake in food has little, if any, effect on total body cholesterol content or concentrations of cholesterol in the blood."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterol

Traditional Inuit populations ate a straight up diet of saturated fat/protein (think whale and seal blubber) - no heart disease. 

Look up the French Paradox as well.

Just offering a different point of view. Take it for what it's worth.

aeevr said:

I don't believe that saturated fat is bad - I believe the empty carbs in processed foods are. My blood cholesterol levels support this belief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat_and_cardiovascular_disease_controversy

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We think alike.  My stats improve *significantly* when I eat the way I now do, but I don't want to highjack the thread so won't go into how I eat here

EmilyMayWilcha said:

The problem with saturated fat is people eat too much of it. I assume many cats do too with so much junk food out there.

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Emily, I really hope you'll go read at least one of those two links, I find it very interesting stuff!  I no longer believe that saturated fat makes one fat or necessarily impacts cardiac health.

Pat said:

Emily, I really hope you'll go read at least one of those two links, I find it very interesting stuff!  I no longer believe that saturated fat makes one fat or necessarily impacts cardiac health.

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I never said saturated fat is outright bad all the time. I just always thought of the phrase "too much of a good thing." Of course, with cats, there is a different story: they need more of it than we do. I guess that is one reason heart disease is not a leading cause of death in cats.

Those two links will keep me busy for a long time.

Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid and these should not be given to cats. I found this out when I started using it for my cats for hair balls. When I told my very she became very concerned and gave me some information she printed from a vet only website, I think it was from UC Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine

I lost Tolly to a very fast growing carcinoma 6 weeks after starting (and two weeks after stopping) the coconut oil. It is unlikely there is any correlation, but still, the coincidence hurts.

I wasn't able to access the links, so took pictures of the material:

hmm...

contradictions....

http://winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com/2010/06/cats-and-dietary-medium-chain.html

aeevr said:

I don't believe that saturated fat is bad - I believe the empty carbs in processed foods are. My blood cholesterol levels support this belief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat_and_cardiovascular_disease_controversy

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One of the biggest influences on our blood cholesterol levels is our genetics, not our food.  And just how influential saturated fats are is, as the Wiki links makes clear, controversial e.g. not clearly proven one way or the other.

The other issue is that cats are not humans - they have different metabolic pathways and the sorts of fats they require are probably different.  If I wanted to know what the perfect fat composition for a cat is I'd look at the fats in a mouse since it's a typical prey animal.