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Coconut Oil

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Coconut Oil

Postby Pajarita » Sun Oct 09, 2016 12:46 pm

This is an article about coconut oil and whether one can trust all the hype about it. Personally, I will not feed fats to my birds - the 'oil' in coconut oil is a misnomer used as a marketing tool because anything that is solid at room temperature is considered a fat and not an oil. I don't think it's healthy for them to consume anything that is not really natural and although coconut oil sounds as something that is just squeezed out of the coconut flesh, it actually requires processing which can go from using solvents to using electricity. I also do not like to follow diet fads. I much rather wait a couple of years and see what happens after the first enthusiasm goes away...

Article about coconut oil:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutriti ... li=BBnb2gg

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil
Pajarita
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Rmoses » Sun Oct 23, 2016 9:36 pm

The coconut oil at my house is at room temperature and it is liquid, not solid. So room temperature varies. No I don't have the heater on, the doors and windows are open. Also I think if you look up the definition of oils and fats, the only difference is the state which they are in, either solid or liquid, everything else is equal. Now I haven't read the links you posted so I will defer to your opinion about feeding it to my bird. Not sure how wild parrots would get to the meat inside a coconut. Since this is on diet, what kind of seeds can I mix for my amazon. Where I live there are no pet stores with all the choices, I will have to try to find all the seed separately and mix them together.
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby EllenD » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:47 pm

Coconut oil can be very, very healthy for humans, birds, dogs, etc. but it has to be the correct type of coconut oil, and it has to be used either as a substitute for other oils to cook food in, or if using it as a supplement and actually just giving it to your bird or dog, it must be in a very small quantity.

As stated above not all coconut oil is solid at room temperature. Most of the containers of coconut oil you see in stores are solid at room temperature because they are unhealthy coconut oils that are processed in a way that makes them unhealthy. There are a few things that you need to read on the label for coconut oil to be beneficial. First of all, it must be UNREFINED. If coconut oil is "refined", this is just another way of saying it has been changed from it's natural form. Next, coconut oil must be EXTRA VIRGIN, just like you want olive oil to be. Honestly, EXTRA VIRGIN is just another way of saying UNREFINED, but in my experience the really good coconut oils say both UNREFINED and EXTRA VIRGIN on their labels. Lastly, and this one is the characteristic that typically raises the price tag, coconut oil must be COLD PRESSED instead of "Expeller Pressed". If coconut oil is "Expeller Pressed" it is exposed to extremely high heat while being processed, which changes it's molecular structure. COLD PRESSED processing keeps the heat very low during processing, to the point where the oil is almost RAW. Coconut oils that are liquid at room temperature are COLD PRESSED or even better DIRECT MICRO EXPELLED (hard to find yet) and these two processing methods keep the coconut oil in it's most natural, unchanged, raw state. DIRECT MICRO EXPELLED coconut oil is basically processed out in nature instead of in a factory, but it is difficult to find coconut oil that is processed this way as of yet. Most coconut oil you'll see in stores is Expeller Pressed, in fact I ran out of my usual coconut oil and Trader Joe's was out of it, so I went to 3 different stores-Walmart, Wegmans, and Weis- and none of the 3 had a single coconut oil that was COLD PRESSED...I was a little surprised. Also, you never, ever want to buy a coconut oil that says it is "Hydrogenated" or "Fractionalized", which are just more ways of refining oil after it has already been refined. Also, you need to make a choice about whether to buy Organic coconut oil or not, but this has little if no impact on the health benefits or hindrances of the oil. I have found that the healthiest, rawest coconut oils are typically organic, so by default I buy organic. Pesticides aren't really a big factor with coconut farming, but there may be an impact from the fertilizer used. By the way, HEALTHY COCONUT OIL SHOULD LIGHTLY SMELL AND TASTE LIKE COCONUT! UNHEALTHY, OVERPROCESSED COCONUT OIL HAS ABSOLUTELY NO COCONUT TASTE OR AROMA!

So in short, there are coconut oils out there that are not at all harmful to birds, animals, or people if ingested in small quantities, and in fact these types of coconut oils are beneficial to people, other animals, and birds, albeit again in small quantities. You want to buy a coconut oil that is liquid or almost liquid at room temperature, and that lightly tastes and smells like fresh coconut, rather than having no aroma or taste, or having a dirty or burnt kind of smell or taste. You want the label on the coconut oil to say EXTRA VIRGIN and/or UNREFINED, as well as COLD PRESSED or DIRECT MICRO EXPELLED. Most raw/healthy coconut oils that possess these qualities are also ORGANIC by default. If the label says anything other than what I just stated it should say, like "Hydrogenated", "Fractionalized", "Expeller Pressed", or most notably "Refined", do not buy it.

Also as an FYI, if you're going to use coconut oil externally on your skin or hair, or on your bird's feet or beak (which my certified avian vet highly recommended to me for my Quaker whose feet are always very dry and chapped), it's better to used an oil with these same healthy, raw qualities because the coconut oil that is refined and solid at room temperature (for the most part) can actually cause skin issues by clogging pores and infecting hair follicles.

Just so everyone knows, I have a bachelor's degree in Health Science/Pre-Med with a minor in Animal Health Science, and did my classroom year for my master's in Physician Assistant studies. I decided I did not want to become a PA, Doctor, or Veterinarian, but would rather do research. I have always been an exercise/sports nut, and honestly even though I don't necessarily eat as healthy as I should, I do work out 3-4 times a week, I rarely if ever eat red meat or any pork products and only eat poultry and fish/seafood as proteins. I eat absolutely NO fast food as in McDonald's, Burger King, etc. and I never drink soda. Sticking to this plan has kept my weight steady, my cholesterol and lipid panels perfect, and I still enjoy ice cream, potato chips, and some candy and other sweets. I SWITCHED OVER COMPLETELY FROM EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL TO COCONUT OIL about a year or so ago. I pretty much only use it to cook with and sometimes on pasta, salads, etc. I do use it on my hair as a hydration treatment once monthly, and as directed by my avian vet I use it on my bird's dry, chapped feet, and it works great! I've seen many people use coconut oil on their bird's feet and beaks, and I have a friend that swears by it on the feet of his Moluccan Cockatoo who is 12 years old and has a pretty serious problem with his feet cracking and badly bleeding. The coconut oil works wonders for his feet, and he also gets a teaspoon a day to eat for his feathers.
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Navre » Mon Oct 24, 2016 2:08 pm

One of the vets was recommending RED coconut oil. I haven't tried it yet.
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Pajarita » Mon Oct 24, 2016 3:18 pm

I am one of those people that does not believe in using anything that has not been proven to be good and for which the scientific community's consensus is that it is, indeed, good - and that is NOT the case with coconut oil. There is a lot of people that swear by it but, apparently, not all doctors are sold on it and they do recommend caution and, to me, caution means doubt and one of my mottos with the birds is: when in doubt, don't do it! It has served me well for many years and I am not planning on changing it. Mind you, this does not mean that I will not use it in the future, it just means that, as of today and according to the scientific community, we need a lot more research on it. Now, I realize that there are a lot of people much more adventurous than me but, when it comes to my animals, I am a 100% 'play it safe' and a 'go by nature' kind of person. My birds do get supplements but, with the exception of a once or twice a week multivitamin/mineral supplement, not dietary ones (I also do not use red palm oil) as I try to emulate what they would eat in nature and, obviously, coconut oil is not something that any animal would have access to as it doesn't exist in nature. Just as an FYI, my birds get unsweetened coconut either flaked or grated once a week and, about once a month, they get fresh coconut.

See these about coconut oil:

http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/is-liq ... conut-oil/

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplemen ... ONUT%20OIL

https://www.pritikin.com/your-health/he ... r-you.html

http://www.coconutdiet.com/what_is_virg ... ut_oil.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/2 ... 67057.html
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Navre » Wed Oct 26, 2016 4:43 pm

Red palm oil. That's what I was thinking of.
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Pajarita » Thu Oct 27, 2016 12:32 pm

Yes, I thought you either meant Red Palm Oil or RBD coconut oil but I don't use either. My birds have never had a vit A deficiency so I really do not think the RPO is necessary if you feed them well. My birds get betacarotene-rich food on a daily basis: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots and tomato paste in the gloop.
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Bird woman » Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:59 am

I too use first cold pressed coconut oil on mybirds feet , my mollucan sexy Riki came to us years ago with thick white patches on her toes almost resembling frost bite . The vet in calif where she was checked out before coming to Oregon had no explanation for it and my DR. Up here treated as a fungal infection and it just got rock hard and never went away. So I started putting very good coconut oil on her feet and they stay soft and supple , and if she puts her toes in he's mouth it's not toxic. BW
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby Pajarita » Fri Oct 28, 2016 1:07 pm

I have no problem with topical use of coconut oil, that has been widely tested and found to be very beneficial. What I am not so sure about is using it as a dietary supplement regularly...
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
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Re: Coconut Oil

Postby EllenD » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:14 pm

I've heard good things about red palm oil, though I haven't tried it yet. My vet suggested it if the unrefined, cold pressed coconut oil didn't help my Quaker's dry feet (he chews on his feet if they get really dry, like he chews the dry skin off of them). The coconut oil works very well, but I might try the red palm oil as it's a bit less expensive.
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