coconut oil

What it is

Coconut oil is the pressed oil of coconut meat, unusual for being mostly medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) — fats absorbed and burned differently from long-chain ones. It carries essentially no omega-3s; its story is energy metabolism, not fatty-acid balance.

Why it's in pet food

MCTs are studied as an alternate energy source — including for cognitive support in senior dogs — and coconut oil is palatable and stable. The internet assigns it more magic than the literature does; in a recipe it is a reasonable specialty fat, not a cure for anything.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Coconut oil is on the engine's whole-foods bonus list: 2 points on the ingredient-quality pillar when it appears in the top twelve ingredients, class capped at 8 points per label. The bonus prices a recognizable whole-food fat source — health claims beyond that are the label's to prove, not ours to score.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list coconut oil

Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.

• Hill's Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight Large Breed Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe93
• Hill's Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight Small & Mini Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe93
• Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe93
• Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix93
• Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains93
• Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe93
• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Dry Cat Food93
• Open Farm Wild Caught Salmon Recipe92

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food
• NRC Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006)

Related ingredients

• canola oil
• chia seed
• chicken fat
• corn oil
• duck fat
• fish oil

Further reading

• Calories on the label: kcal, ME and fair comparisons
• Storing pet food so it stays the food you bought