Coconut Oil

Hiyas!

I'd contacted 'Only Natural Pet Store' to inquire about why they don't carry Blue Buffalo... they weren't able to give me any nutritional reason for that, but they did make several suggestions for what to feed a diabetic cat. Among the suggestions, much to my surprise, was coconut oil.

Anyone feed this to their diabetic cats? have you noticed a difference? Do you think it's a good idea? I have a giant bottle of it, just waiting to be applied to kitty's diet! I'm afraid of making yet another change to his diet tho...

 

coconut oil is a new trend in human health (and is very good for us) but I've not seen a thing about cats and I see no reason to feed it unless you can find some real info on it...some people seem to think that we can apply what is good for us, to our cats, but its not always applicable. Perhaps do some googling?

Jen

 

google is not my friend tonight. Everything I"m finding is ad-related. lol. Maybe I'll try another time. Thanks
Sarah.

 

I don't see much point in feeding a plant-based oil to an obligate carnivore.

You won't find any studies in cats to help you out but I still don't see the upside and I see plenty of downside...ie....putting the cat off of its food.

 

I agree that I'm not likely to find studies to support the idea that coconut oil is good for animals... just like I wasn't able to find studies that support the idea that HC food is a safer way to elevate low bg levels.

What I have found is lots of anecdotal evidence for both, the latter of course here in this forum.

Definitely will be investigating further before taking any action.

Thanks for your input :smile:

 

I'm not sure how coconut oil would help with diabetes. Its a medium chain fat, a saturated fat but very helpful for humans. They gave it to cows years ago and the cows didn't fatten up, they got lean and strong lol! How this helps diabetes I'm not sure, but I'd suggest not spending too much time on it. Would it hurt? likely not in very small amounts but ?

 

yeah, I just thought I'd post it in the general health in case anyone else had gone this road before me.
Thanks Jen :smile:

 

let us know what you discover eh? I'm giving my cat evening primrose oil for his skin allergies - hope that's ok even though it's plant based. I am meant to get omega 6 into him. His numbers have gone quite high recently so might stop it and see if it's the EPO that's caused the spike.

 

I googled and found a little info.. it was something I found in passing, I haven't tried it... speaking of passing, I think I smell freshness from the LB! woot!

 

Then you didn't look hard enough! :>)

I understand what you are saying and I agree with the premise that just because there are no 'studies' to support something....this does not mean it can't be true or helpful but I would not have chosen your analogy above since there are several good studies documenting the effect of dietary carb content on the BG levels of cats. That subject is certainly not all anecdotal.

In fact, I am sure that the pet food manufactures- and any vet supporting them - cringed when the studies showed that their profit margin-driven carb loads in their foods were being proven to not be such a good idea for cats.

 

Cats on meat-based diets get plenty of O 6s...which are considered to be pro-inflammatory. Are you sure you don't mean omega 3s?

 

I thought evening primrose oil was an omega 6 but actually have no idea. Vet was very specific about giving Little Boy evening primrose oil. (dermatologist vet) Do you know what oils help kitties with food allergies? Symptoms are licking and biting off fur (eosinophilic granuloma)? I know it's not unusual for humans to take EPO for skin problems. I just don't know what it is in EPO that is desirable.

With regards coconut oil. The South Pacific islanders have a growing problem with diabetes, but presumably that is since opulence associated with westernisation? Before white people came I imagine they were very healthy eating coconuts etc? It's the simple carbs that cause the most damage isn't it? For cats and people!

 

anyname, what does your cat eat? any grains? fish? Do you have any flea issues?

regarding south pacific islanders, yes, I would imagine that the increasing diabetes is less to do with their decreased use of coconut oil and more to do with the crap that they've added in

 

Hi Lisa, What I wasn't able to find was studies indicating that giving HC food is a safer way to elevate BG levels in diabetic cats whose levels are falling low due to insulin. I agree: There are lots of studies to showthat carbs affect BG levels.

If you have any studies at hand documenting the use of HC food to safely elevate BG levels in cats falling low due to insulin (as apposed to using corn syrup) I'm sure my vet would love to see them so please do pass them on! She scoffed at the studies I showed her indicating the findings you were speaking to (specifically the effect of carbs on BG levels in cats).

Best,
Sarah.

 

Sarah

You don't need studies, or at least, you shouldn't.

Ask your vet to consider it in human terms. Sugar has a short term spike but then quickly wears off. Less simple sugars with protein will take longer to raise blood glucose levels but will also provide a more sustained increase. Simple nutrition I'd think.....

edited to add:

she scoffed at the idea that carbs raise bg levels in cats? Does she not sell MD or DM food in her practise? Has she not read any literature?

 

yeah, she wouldn't listen. To be clear: She understands that carbs affects BG levels. What she's asking for is studies that support the anecdotal evidence that HC food is a safer way to raise BG levels for diabetic cats whose levels have gotten low due to insulin. Neither she nor I have read studies that are indicative of this.

 

for it to be a study, hypoglycemia would have to be induced, and I sure as heck wouldn't want to read about the cats that didn't make it

Personally? If I was still giving Squeak insulin and he showed symptoms of hypo (not just a number) I would be giving syrup and then food that has some carbs in it.

 

This is getting off topic, but I only reserved corn syrup for "danger" numbers (below 50, which only happened once) because it raised Bandit's BG too high. Sometimes Bandit would be below 70 before I went to bed, and I would feel nervous about going to sleep with his bg borderline low like that. At first, I would give him one of Gabby's Greenie hard treats, and I found that raised his bg slower and not as much as the syrup, but then stayed in his system a long time. The perfect thing I found to use for that tiny boost? Plain yogurt. It had just a little sugar in it and he loved it. Raised his BG by about 10-20 points and wore off in a few hours by the time he was going up again on his own.