Coconut oil - miracle cure or snake charm?

elsien

Gitdog doesn't generally get allergies but has occasional bouts of getting very dandruffy. No obvious reason as neither his food or the environment have changed.

Bull terriers are prone to skin problems and on a group I use there are lots of recommendations to put coconut oil in food to help with this. Wondered if anyone had any knowledge on any science behind this or whether all the evidence is purely anecdotal?

imho

Look up Golden Paste on Google.If your on Facebook look for Turmeric users group.

rising_from_the_ashes

On a dog forum I'm on, loads of people swear by it!

There are several people with Westies (also prone to skin issues) who say it's made a massive difference

I give it to Maisie during the summer months as really - it doesn't do her any harm and anything that might help with allergies is worth a shot!

If you do get some, make sure it's the cold pressed stuff - I get this and it's great value http://www.realfoodstore.co.uk/sri-lankan-coconut-oil/ - they are on ebay too so it's worth checking them out on there in case there's offers on (they often have bidding starting at low prices for the coconut oil)

codemonkey

Its not that expensive and if it doesn't work you can use it as a moisturiser or hair conditioner or to cook with. Plus, he'll smell like a bounty

MallyGirl

I give coconut or salmon oil most days - especially when they are blowing their coats as they can get a bit 'dandruffy' then. I also blast them to get rid of dead coat/skin. I can't say I have seen any great difference in either dog since I switched to raw and I gave salmon oil with the kibble before but I feel better about what I am giving them.
Some raw people give so many extras - apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, turmeric, kefir, brewers yeast, kelp, aloe vera, you name it. I try and strike a sensible balance.
My longer haired boy sometimes gets an extra massage with coconut oil on my hands if his skin is a bit dry.

Fosterdog

I alternate between coconut oil and salmon oil each day for my boy, it really helps with his joints and dry skin.

I also use the coconut oil myself, I use it for almost all of my cooking, as a moisturiser and and a deep conditioner for my hair (my hair and skin love me for it). I've made a lovely lip scrub with it.

I have started looking into the golden paste for my boy but haven't used it yet.

elsien

codemonkey wrote: »

Plus, he'll smell like a bounty

That has to be a serious improvement on his current eau de sweaty socks. He honks.

idea

How much coconut oil do you give and do you put it in with food?

We already use it for cooking, but I'd never thought of giving it to our four legged monster. He gets dry and itchy skin in the summer months and I was thinking this might help?

Idea xx

Pollycat

I found out about coconut oil from a human health website.

I also found this:

http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/

Doesn't mention conditioning dogs coats but I can't see it doing any harm.

I bought a 300ml tub of Tesco virgin coconut oil made from cold pressed coconuts, I think it was £5.

It's a solid oil that becomes liquid when heated.

Johnny_Dangerously

It's one of those things that sits in the category of little scientific evidence, and lots of anecdotal evidence from owners. If a company were marketing it and it was expensive i'd avoid. But as it's cheap then you've got nothing to lose.

Pollycat

Johnny_Dangerously wrote: »

It's one of those things that sits in the category of little scientific evidence, and lots of anecdotal evidence from owners. If a company were marketing it and it was expensive i'd avoid. But as it's cheap then you've got nothing to lose.

I think it's probably something similar to Avon Skin-so-Soft dry oil body spray that seems to have an urban myth about it as having mosquito repellent properties.

Avon S-S-S does not have any proven mosquito repellent properties and Avon do not claim it does.

They DID - very briefly, many years ago - advertise it as a mosquito repellent but that only lasted for a couple of brochures.

When we first went to Sri Lanka in 1996, Thomson sent us a book which states:
"An excellent mosquito repellent (believe it or not) is Avon's skin-so-soft bath oil spray. It's highly effective. Even sand flies will keep their distance."

It was, at that time, very oily and they've changed it since then into the dry oil spray.

I mentioned this to my Avon rep at the time and she said it does all sorts of things - e.g. removing tar from car paintwork after driving on a newly surfaced road - that Avon would not really like customers knowing about.

Elsien - you might find this thread about Avon S-S-S interesting, particularly from #72 onwards and especially #77:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=37119588&postcount=7