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Don't Use Cheap Calories from UNNATURAL Sources For Your Pets
Coconut Oil Is Not Good For Your Dog. The only time you would turn to coconut for a primary dietary source of fat or any fatty acids is if you were stranded on an Island and starving.
How desperate would you be to turn to liquid chicken fat, soybean oil or wheat germ oil to boost your calories? Would you, for a second, believe these would be healthy choices? I hope not. So, WHY IN the HELL IS ANYONE FEEDING THEM TO THEIR DOGS?
Eating tablespoons of straight fat or oil to boost calories or to add fatty acids and omegas makes no sense. The use of coconut oil or similar products as healthy & effective choices to add calories to our pet’s diets is a BAD CHOICE & unhealthy solution.
There are appropriate & digestible sources for the nutritional requirements that our pets need that can be found in REAL food sources. These food choices are appropriate for pets & provide functional, active nutrients.
Coconut Oil Facts
OVER HALF THE FATS in coconut oil are Medium Chain Triglycerides or MCT’s. MCT’s are saturated fats. These are the 3 fatty acids found in coconut oil that are being positioned as good for our pets.
- Linoleic Acid
- Caprylic acid
- Capric acid
SPECIES APPROPRIATE sources of these Fatty Acids exist and include:
- Goat's Milk
- Cow's Milk
- Cheese
- Yogurt
- Olive Oil
- Eggs
There aren’t established recommended dosages for any of these 3 acids. It’s also important to say again that these fatty acids are all medium-chain triglycerides (saturated fats). Source: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1465/caprylic-aci
MCTs are not digested by dogs or cats and result in fatty liver. Research also shows reduced performance in dogs and cats when they are fed coconut oil. This is important and speaks to numbers #2 and #3 below of the mistakes being made in providing the right nutrition for our pets.
“In human medicine, saturated fats cause atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high cholesterol, and heart disease. The research found that experimental dogs fed a diet containing coconut oil for a year all developed high cholesterol, significant atherosclerosis, and a fatty liver. In another study, detection dogs tired sooner and were less successful on a diet containing coconut oil.” Source: https://littlebigcat.com/coconut-oil-and-cats/
Other studies have been performed to understand the effects of a diet high in saturated fats on working scent dogs. The dogs in the study fed the diet with coconut oil showed a decrease in their ability to detect the odor. Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12893164/
These MISTAKES Are Being Made By Dog Owners and Also By Pet Industry “Experts & Celebrities”
BAD FAITH: The TRIFECTA OF MISINFORMATION PERPETUATION
Learning to spot misinformation or poorly researched information, is important when working to feed your pets the best products available on the market. Watch for the 3 concepts below and use information sources that you believe in!
- Turning to concentrated oils/ingredients separated from the complete whole food format, and then extrapolating that eating it will lead to the same outcome is a mistake.
- Looking at one species that is able to eat something and assuming that it is good for another species is another huge mistake. EXAMPLE: Study outcomes in rats don’t always translate to human outcomes.
- The third and final mistake is looking at mechanisms of action: measuring one point and ignoring the data, or lack of data on long-term use, or effects on the systems biology of the animal's total health and/or performance.
“BUT…Historical Populations That Ate a Lot of Coconut Were Healthy”
Let’s address, "the healthy human populations that had coconut in their diet argument." Sure, it already violates all three of the bad faith assumptions called out above, but what the heck?
“The Tokelauans, for example, got more than 50% of their calories from coconuts and were the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world. The Kitavans ate up to 17% of calories as saturated fat, mostly from coconuts. However, these indigenous people followed healthy lifestyles overall, ate a lot of seafood and fruit, and consumed virtually no processed foods.
It is interesting to note that they relied on coconuts, coconut flesh, and coconut cream — not the processed coconut oil you buy in supermarkets today.”
Source: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-is-coconut-oil-good-for-you#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6
SO… Do you still think coconut oil makes sense? Do you disagree with the 3 ASSUMPTIONS we are calling out? I guess we should ask, can you, without a doubt, substantiate any claim you are making when recommending/selling/using coconut oil or cheap processed oils as a calorie source for an animal? Does your argument require you to ignore any of the points called out as mistakes above? IF SO, how long before people stop trusting you as a credible source of information?
Why are experts recommending it, why are stores selling it, and why are pet owners feeding it?
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