Coconut Oil

It has been reported that cats eat food high in medium-chain fats less willingly.

Coconut oil is a plant fat made mostly of saturated fats, many of them medium-chain fats that the body absorbs and burns quickly. It contains no arachidonic acid. In a 1984 study, cats fed a diet with hydrogenated coconut oil developed fatty livers despite high linoleic acid, which the researchers linked to its medium-chain triglycerides. Talk with your veterinarian before changing the food of a cat with a medical condition.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coconut oil is added as a fat source. Its medium-chain fats are a quick source of energy. Pettings notes that claims about coconut oil improving coat or immunity have not been shown in cats. Because it supplies little linoleic acid and no arachidonic acid, coconut oil sits next to an animal fat in a recipe rather than standing in for one.

Medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs, are fats built from shorter fatty acid chains than most animal fats and vegetable oils. The body absorbs them more directly and uses them for energy faster. Coconut oil is one of the main natural sources. A study in cats examined how diets high in MCTs affected blood lipids and food aversion, so their use in cat food has been researched directly.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Yes. Coconut oil is mostly saturated fat, which is why it turns solid at cool room temperature. A large share of that fat is lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid. Most other plant oils used in cat food, such as sunflower or canola oil, are mostly unsaturated. In cat food, coconut oil is used in small amounts alongside other fats.

Pettings gives coconut oil 2 out of 5 and lists it as a vegetable oil. It appears on 13 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. That score rates the ingredient by itself, and each food's page shows how the full recipe scores overall.