Coconut Oil - for a dog, do give with food

gettingready

I remember someone was telling me on here about rubbing coconut oil onto dog's skin some time ago.

With the amount of fur Zara got.. would be a diseaster and a very greesy dog to have around.

My friend gives her dogs coconut oil with their food and she says they love it. Apparently it got no smell whatsoever.

Problem - she lives on the other side of London so I am not going to go there to get it.. she only pays £1.99 for hers....hmmmmm

Anyone giving coconut oil to their dog? Which one? Has to be odourless or Zara won't have it..... Where do you get it from? How much do you give?

Efavet we have now done for several weeks , skin is nice no dandruff but can not sustain £30 per month on tablets with my budget and a bottle of 100 tablets did not even last a month as you need to give 1 tablet per 10kg and Zara is 40kg so a bottle at £26 was only for 20 days.

Got 17 days left and looking for that miracle co!!!! oil...

Any pointers?

Thanks a lot

EDIT: Was giving her before salmon oil and other oils but made no difference to her whatsoever so want to try that coconut oil..

vicx

Is it organic virgin pressed coconut oil? I have never heard of giving coconut oil to dogs but I did try it myself as a hair conditioner not so long ago and ended up with very greasy hair which I had to wash numerous times

I paid around £10 for 460g so £1.99 seems very cheap. Can you not ask your friend to post it to you? It will cost £2.20 (for up to 750g) second class via RM and I doubt you will find it cheaper than £4 delivered online.

gettingready

She gets it in some Indian shop - I doubt it is a good idea to post a big bottle... it is liquid apparently.

Thanks but - is anyone actually giving it to their own dog (lots on info on the net re benefits) and can advise where to get it from? which one etc?

Thanks a lot.

whitewing

There is odourless, fractionated coconut oil on ebay for £1.99 but does say not to be eaten. I wonder if she is getting a version of that that is consumable from her indian shop.

gettingready

Thanks - must be consumable as the shop owner says he cooks with it/fries with it.. and he is very much alive LOL

Fire_Fox

Coconut oil supplies completely different fatty acids to the oils in Efavet, the fatty acid composition of fractionated coconut oil (liquid at room temp year round) is different to whole coconut oil (solid at room temperature much of the year).

Fatty acids taken internally behave differently in the body to fatty acids applied topically. You could make a generic version of Efavet with cheap triple strength fish body oils and borage oil.

krlyr

I'd be inclined to agree with FF. If the Efavet is working, try to make a cheaper version with the ingredients used.

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/p-148-efavet-capsules-100.aspx breaks down the ingredients, 4 tablets would equal about 550mg Linoleic Acid and 60mg GLA - so I'd say given that Zara is just under the 40kg mark if I remember correctly, I'd go with one of these a day
http://www.healthspan.co.uk/evening-primrose-oil/evening-primrose-oil-500mg/productdetail-p263-c140.aspx

There's only a small amount of fish oils in Efevet so EPA in 4 tablets would be 20mg and DHA about 13mg - I can't find a capsule on Healthspan that goes that low but if you didn't mind the faff of a liquid
http://www.healthspan.co.uk/omega-3/omega-3-liquid/productdetail-p3196675-c151.aspx
I'd be wondering if you could give a higher dose though. Generally it tends to half of the recommended human dose for large dogs so maybe one of these a day
http://www.healthspan.co.uk/omega-3/omega-3-500mg/productdetail-p362-c151.aspx
With one capsule a month, even buying the smaller packs EPO works out at £1 a month and the omega 3 capsules even less than that, about 90p, so much cheaper than the Efavet. At that price, it's worth a trial to see if it helps. Just my opinion, might be worth discussing with your vet if they're happy to (mine never minded chatting about alternative options for treatments that didn't involve buying products from them!)

elliesmemory1

A cheaper alternative to efavet is flora, spread a spoonful on food twice a day does the same job.

This is on a veterinary dermatologists advice so I know its right!

Cheap and easy to get so dont know why you would want to use coconut oil etc, Ive never heard of giving it to dogs and I work with them!
I would be wary of it to be honest.

gettingready

Thanks everyone - there is a lot of info on the net about the benefits of coconut oil do dogs so I wonder....

paddypaws101

You can buy food grade coconut oil in any of the Asian shops locally around here GR, the price your friend pays is nothing special. Obviously it is not the purest, organic grade which would cost a fair bit more but it should do the trick. The oil has a very mild taste, although it is not flavourless....TBH, the less processing and mucking about with these things the better!
Get your trolley and get down Walthamstow Mkt girl!

snozberry

coconut oil is very moisturising -great for your skin and hair (but remember to but shampoo on your hair before water when washing it out!)

Never used it with a dog though. You can buy it quite cheaply on the ethnic aisle in supermarkets or in ethnic shops.