Coconut oil is the latest health care fad for humans that’s purported to provide numerous benefits for those who take it, including weight loss and an improved immune system. Recently, some dog owners have jumped on the bandwagon and started using coconut oil for their furry friends.
But is coconut oil safe and appropriate to use for your dog?
In this article, we examine the use of coconut oil for dogs and discuss the benefits and risks.
What Is Coconut Oil?
Coconut oil is an edible oil that’s derived from the milk, meat, and wick of the coconut palm fruit. Despite its name, coconut oil is actually a solid white fat that melts at room temperatures above 77o. In warmer weather, the substance becomes a thin, clear liquid oil.
Coconut oil contains 100% fat, between 80% and 90% of which is saturated fat. The predominant type of fatty acid contained in coconut oil is lauric acid, at almost 50%. Myristic and palmitic acids, which are known to elevate potentially harmful LDL cholesterol levels, are present in smaller quantities. Coconut oil also contains trace amounts of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
Coconut oil doesn’t contain any fiber or cholesterol and has only tiny traces of minerals, vitamins, and plant sterols. Plant sterols can block the absorption of cholesterol. However, coconut oil contains such small amounts of plant sterols that it’s not considered to produce a beneficial effect.
How Does Coconut Oil Benefit Your Dog?
According to veterinary professionals, including Dr. Colleen Smith, DVM, CVA, CVCP of the Chattanooga Holistic Animal Institute, coconut oil can provide many health benefits for dogs. When buying coconut oil to give to your dog, Dr. Smith recommends using virgin, organic, cold-pressed oil, as that’s the purest and best quality.
Some of the benefits of using coconut oil for dogs include:
- Wound healing
- Treating dry skin
- Easing atopic dermatitis
- Treating inflammatory bowel disease
- Helping to ease lymphangiectasia or poor bowel absorption
- Treating canine dementia or cognitive dysfunction
- External parasite prevention
There is some veterinary evidence to show that coconut oil does provide these benefits, recommending the oil to improve coat and skin condition, improve digestion, boost energy levels, improve oral health, and reduce skin allergy damage.
In addition, some of the fatty acids contained in coconut oil can help to slow down the progression of cognitive dysfunction in dogs. Also, some of those fatty acids are absorbed directly into the dog’s gastrointestinal tract, where the liver metabolizes them into energy.
Coconut oil is included in dog shampoos and conditioning products and is also used to coat some tablets to make them more palatable and easier to swallow.
Let’s take a look at some of those benefits in more detail.
Canine Pest Control
There is some evidence to show that the antimicrobial effects of coconut oil might go some way to protecting your dog from attack by external parasites, including mange mites, fleas, and ticks. The oil can also help to get rid of these pests in dogs that are already infected and promotes efficient wound healing in dogs that have been bitten.
In test tube studies, research has also shown that the lauric acid contained in coconut oil provides excellent antibacterial and antifungal properties, helping to kill off viruses, fungi, and bacteria.
Senior Dogs
As dogs age, they can experience digestive problems and become less tolerant to some foods. Canine dementia can also be a problem that affects older pups.
Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides that help aid digestion, improve brain energy and function in senior dogs.
Some older dogs develop a constant cough that’s associated with self-grooming and hairballs, and it’s thought that feeding your dog coconut oil can help to prevent that, even eliminating hairballs.
Skin Treatment
When used as a topical treatment, coconut oil can help accelerate the healing process of bites, skin wounds, stings, itchy or dry skin, and hot spots.
The use of dog shampoo containing organic coconut oil can reduce skin allergies. You can even make a paw balm with coconut oil that soothes rough, sore pads.
Coat Improvement
Using coconut oil topically and as a food additive can improve the condition and look of your dog’s coat, making the fur sleek and glossy and helping to eliminate problem tangles and mats.
Some owners even claim that the pleasant coconut scent helps to eliminate or control doggy odor.
How To Give Your Dog Coconut Oil
Coconut oil can be given to your dog as a topical preparation or with meals.
With Food
You should start giving your dog coconut oil gradually, or you risk causing digestive upsets. For example, any new food for Goldendoodles should be introduced very slowly over the course of a week or ten days, as these dogs can have very sensitive digestion, and the introduction of new foods and supplements can cause bouts of diarrhea.
Once established, you can give your dog coconut oil once or twice a day with meals. The dosage rate depends on the size of your dog. However, most vets recommend a starting dose of ¼ teaspoon of coconut oil every day for small dogs, increasing to 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon for large dogs.
That said, if your dog is very overweight or obese, you shouldn’t give your dog coconut oil more than once a day. Remember that coconut oil is packed with fat and can be used to encourage weight gain in dogs!
If you make homemade treats for your dog, you might like to try combining Vitamin D, turmeric, and coconut oil for the ultimate healthy treat! Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, and the sunshine Vitamin D is fat-soluble. However, don’t overdo the Vitamin D, as that can cause kidney problems if you feed your dog too much.
Topical Application
The most common use of coconut oil for dogs is as a supplemental treatment for atopical skin allergies, crusty pads and noses, and itchy, dry, irritated skin.
The oil acts as a moisturizer that many owners use to ease their pet’s dry, flaking skin and freshen up the coat. In fact, some owners claim that their dog’s skin problems disappeared after just a few weeks of treatment with coconut oil.
For topical application, simply rub a tiny amount of coconut oil onto your hands and then gently pat your dog’s fur. Rake your fingers gently through the coat, massaging some of the oil down onto the dog’s skin. As coconut oil is quite safe for your dog to ingest, don’t panic if your dog decides to lick the oil off his fur or skin following application.
What Coconut Oil Doesn’t Do
There have been some claims that coconut oil can help to treat various other conditions, including:
- Canine periodontal disease
- Cancer
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Weight loss
However, to date, there is no clinical evidence to prove that coconut oil offers any of those benefits to dogs.
Risks Of Using Coconut Oil for Dogs
Unfortunately, using coconut oil for dogs does come with a few risks.
- As previously mentioned, coconut oil has a high-fat content. So, regularly feeding coconut oil to your dog can increase the fat content in your pet’s diet. That’s not going to be good news for dogs that are already overweight and can cause problems for those with sensitive digestion.
- If your dog is already prone to bouts of diarrhea and tummy upsets, feeding him coconut oil could make the problem worse due to the high-fat content.
- Feeding coconut oil can also aggravate conditions, such as hyperlipidemia (elevated amounts of fats or lipids in the dog’s blood) and pancreatitis. Although coconut oil can be used to treat canine dementia and inflammatory bowel disease, the oil can cause problems for the reasons stated above.
- Dogs that are prone to pancreatitis or abnormal fat metabolism should not be fed coconut oil unless under veterinary supervision. Again, that’s due to the oil’s very high-fat content.
- Although it’s not common, some dogs are actually allergic to coconut oil and can suffer from skin reactions.
- One study by a trusted source, concludes that a diet high in saturated fat can adversely affect a dog’s scenting abilities. Clearly, that’s not a great result if you own a scenthound that’s used as a working dog for hunting.
So, not everyone is convinced that feeding coconut oil is beneficial for dogs. In addition to the above possible drawbacks, some vets think that coconut oil might even raise levels of “bad cholesterol” in dogs, adding 120 calories in each tablespoon while providing no nutritional value.
What Alternatives Are There to Coconut Oil for Dogs?
Not every dog experiences any benefits from having coconut oil included in its diet, and some pups are allergic to the oil.
So, what alternatives can you consider using for your furry friend?
Many dog owners who use coconut oil as a skin or coat treatment find that replacing it with coldwater fish oil or flax seed oil has similar benefits. Fish oil has the additional advantage of providing the dog with Omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for brain function.
Final Thoughts
Coconut oil is said to have many benefits for dogs, especially for pups with skin allergies, dermatitis, dry skin, and poor coat condition. Some owners use coconut oil to treat cognitive dysfunction and bowel disease in their dogs.
However, it’s thought that using coconut oil for your dog might cause high cholesterol, weight gain, and hardening of the arteries in some canines.
We stress that using any form of dietary or topical supplement for your pet is not a cure-all or magic bullet. Before giving any supplements to your pup, we strongly recommend that you have a chat with your vet since coconut oil is not the best choice for every dog.
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