# Canola Oil



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Its everywhere. Is it good is it bad? I guess I started this here after a doing some research after a post by Carmen. I should add then after Grim went off of TOTW which has canola, his neuro symptoms disappeared but it is hard to isolate as they were improving due to acupuncture and rest etc. Too many variables to pin on any one thing to much user subjectivity to know for sure. Could also be thyroid issues

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"My main issue with canola is that the vast majority is GMO so that it can be sprayed with roundup and that is a philosophical issue with me, no to metion possible uptake of roundup by the plant. By some twist the EU which bans GMOs allows Genetically Engineered Canola Oil claiming the oil is not impacted. But many of the chemicals in roundup ARE fat soluble. So I cleared canola from my own shelves and eat precious few baked goods containing it.

The main omega 3 is ALA, which I gather does not do much for dogs but does pump up the omega 3 "numbers", and then there are the questions about vitamin E depletion -- and then all kinds other negatrive claims which, I agree, are questionable but unanswered in my mind. 

But, I still remember folks laughing at my old college biochemisty professor in the mid 70s who told us margarine was "death" due to the trans fats and we would be better off eating butter...... we just don't know what we don't know"

Here is Carmens post that got me researching
http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...-how-did-she-get-how-get-rid.html#post2283625

Here is another on the Truth About Pet Food site
Canola Oil in Pet Foods; Is it Healthy?

Here is one from Snopes
snopes.com: Canola Oil and Rape Seed

Here is a reply on the Acana thread with more links
http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...acana-formulas-champion-site.html#post2509380


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I'm not a fan of genetically engineered industrial oils.

I like how the snopes article states that in 1974 rapeseeds that were nontoxic "were introduced." Why were they introduced? Because somebody franken-fooded them in a laboratory. Kinda like trans-fats. They decided saturated fat was bad, so they made trans fats in a lab and 30 years later we realized they were worse. Just eat and feed natural food.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

*Thanks so much for starting this thread Nancy!*  I think this will be really educational for those who do not know about Canola.
Here is my original post:
I agree with you about Canola. Although the data is a little old, I wouldn't use it for us or the dogs after reading this: The Great Con-ola - Weston A Price Foundation The Weston A. Price Foundation article quotes numerous studies of the effects of Canola oil in animals; “These studies all point in the same direction--that canola oil is definitely not healthy for the cardiovascular system. Like rapeseed oil, its predecessor, canola oil is associated with fibrotic lesions of the heart. It also causes vitamin E deficiency, undesirable changes in the blood platelets and shortened life-span in stroke-prone rats when it was the only oil in the animals' diet. Furthermore, it seems to retard growth, which is why the FDA does not allow the use of canola oil in infant formula.” Journalist David Lawrence Dewey quotes research from the University of Florida that “determined that as much as 4.6% of all the fatty acids in unrefined canola are ‘trans’ isomers (which are somewhat like plastic) due to the refining process.” http://www.dldewey.com/columns/canola.htm


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I think it is used in dog food because it is a cheap oil, quite stable from rancidity, and it drives up the Omega 3 numbers. 

Now that Omega 3 is ALA and there are questions about the efficacy of this ALA compared to the DHA and EPA in dogs. They apparently can convert ALA to DHA and EPA but not very efficiently. THAT could be a whole 'nother topic as well.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

I really can't speak for the positives and negatives because I really don't know the facts. I know there's been a lot of hearsay, but not enough proof to make me want to avoid it completely. 

Personally, I use it as an alternative to chicken fat. I actually look for it in a kibble these days. You seem to find it a lot in beef and lamb formulas. 

For the last year or so, Lucy has had issues tolerating chicken, so it's been completely eliminated from here diet... any form of it. She's done great on the canola oil kibbles.


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## Psychedelic Shepherd (Jun 11, 2012)

Emoore said:


> I'm not a fan of genetically engineered industrial oils.
> 
> I like how the snopes article states that in 1974 rapeseeds that were nontoxic "were introduced." Why were they introduced? Because somebody franken-fooded them in a laboratory. Kinda like trans-fats. They decided saturated fat was bad, so they made trans fats in a lab and 30 years later we realized they were worse. Just eat and feed natural food.


Amen!


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I am so depressed now. I thought I was doing something positive for my dog by switching to Acana from TOTW. Gosh the hunt for something truly healthy never ends.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

robk said:


> I am so depressed now. I thought I was doing something positive for my dog by switching to Acana from TOTW. Gosh the hunt for something truly healthy never ends.


Only ONE of the new Acana formulas, The fish one, has Canola oil added to it. Of all things to add Canola to! The others may not be as good as they WERE but still look viable.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

robk said:


> I am so depressed now. I thought I was doing something positive for my dog by switching to Acana from TOTW. Gosh the hunt for something truly healthy never ends.


There's a lot of positives about canola oil too. A simple google search of "Is canola oil healthy" will bring up a ton of results and different views on the subject for us novices on the subject. It's a pretty hot topic for humans too.

There really isn't much you will find everything positive about. Corn, grains, legumes, potatoes, different proteins, whatever. You'll always find something wrong with everything. You'll also find plenty of positives about everything too depending on the source.

Good luck finding that perfect food that has nothing controversial in it. I highly doubt it exists. Maybe organic raw would be your best bet.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

jocoyn said:


> Only ONE of the new Acana formulas, The fish one, has Canola oil added to it. Of all things to add Canola to! The others may not be as good as they WERE but still look viable.


The Pacifica is what I feed. I love the idea of a fish based dog food.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Lucy Dog said:


> There's a lot of positives about canola oil too. A simple google search of "Is canola oil healthy" will bring up a ton of results and different views on the subject for us novices on the subject. It's a pretty hot topic for humans too.
> 
> There really isn't much you will find everything positive about. Corn, grains, legumes, potatoes, different proteins, whatever. You'll always find something wrong with everything. You'll also find plenty of positives about everything too depending on the source.
> 
> Good luck finding that perfect food that has nothing controversial in it. I highly doubt it exists. Maybe organic raw would be your best bet.


While this is true, most companies that tout feeding that "wolf" in your backyard add flax and add canola, neither of which is the kind of food I would expect wild wolves to be eating . 

Fruits and veggies sure they do eat them ..... Honestly, I do like fish sometimes but don't think of it as a natural food for canids in any type of quantity. I do give fish oil because grain fed livestock is deficient in Omega 3s, wheras grassfed is not.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

The whole "feeding the wolf" thing is just for advertising. It provided a catchy name, looks good on a bag, and it moves product. It makes the buyer feel good because they think they're feeding a natural or wolf-like diet. Wolves hunt for brown rice, pea fiber, etc. just as much as they do canola and salmon oil. It's basically a fairytale.

Plus, i've seen plenty of wolves in documentaries that look horrible. They're skinny, mangy, sickly, and just don't look healthy at all. They go days without meals at times. They have to fight and hunt for every meal. They don't eat every morning at 7 am like most of our pampered dogs do. 

It's really not the same... even with the raw diets that are perfectly balanced. They're not the same "animal" per say.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I agree with you there, but canola oil is a relatively new "invention" in its current form.


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## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

robk said:


> I am so depressed now. I thought I was doing something positive for my dog by switching to Acana from TOTW. Gosh the hunt for something truly healthy never ends.


Have you ever looked at Nature's Variety Instinct (I think only one of their formulas has canola oil)? When I fed kibble, I found this food to be excellent- ingredients, analysis, and results, and the company trustworthy.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO said:


> Have you ever looked at Nature's Variety Instinct (I think only one of their formulas has canola oil)? When I fed kibble, I found this food to be excellent- ingredients, analysis, and results, and the company trustworthy.


In the salmon variety canola oil is the number 4 ingredient. Maybe the trick is to rotate the variety every few months to keep any one thing from having to much long term influence. Just a thought.:shrug:


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Honestly most EVO formulas do not have canola oil OR flaxseed. They do tend to be higher in calcium and in ash but it looks like they have a senior turkey and chicken that has dropped those and it was only the turkey and chicken that were high. I worried about the high protein but maybe I shouldn't . 

This is an established company and the one that started the whole grain free thing, at least the first one I remember...I am going to run the math on their products becuase they are considerably higher in calories per cup which offsets the other numbers. and they are competitively priced.


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## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

robk said:


> In the salmon variety canola oil is the number 4 ingredient. Maybe the trick is to rotate the variety every few months to keep any one thing from having to much long term influence. Just a thought.:shrug:


Oh, do you need a fish-based kibble? If not, they have other varieties that don't have canola oil in it.

Years ago, I fed Timberwolf Organics, they have a grain-free fish variety.

The owner of Timberwolf hates canola oil. He talks about how the FDA banned rapeseed oil years ago due to potential health problems.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

jocoyn said:


> Honestly most EVO formulas do not have canola oil OR flaxseed. They do tend to be higher in calcium and in ash but it looks like they have a senior turkey and chicken that has dropped those and it was only the turkey and chicken that were high. I worried about the high protein but maybe I shouldn't .
> 
> This is an established company and the one that started the whole grain free thing, at least the first one I remember...I am going to run the math on their products becuase they are considerably higher in calories per cup which offsets the other numbers. and they are competitively priced.


this was funny because while you were posting this I was on the EVO website looking at thier stuff. I was wondering if anyone here at any experience with this brand.


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

EVO is very good food, but unfortunately all of their formulas seem to be too high in calcium for a growing GSD puppy. It is a food I would definitely consider at some point when Jasmine is done growing.

Our cats and ferrets have been fed on EVO Turkey and Chicken cat food for quite some time and I couldn't be happier with the results.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

robk said:


> this was funny because while you were posting this I was on the EVO website looking at thier stuff. I was wondering if anyone here at any experience with this brand.


Same with Innova red meat, but less protein and there's grains. They use sunflower oil. I've had good results with it.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Yes I am wondering at what age you can move over to a higher calcium. Beau has been on the Fromm LBPG all his life (he is 11 months) but Acana only publishes MINIMUM calcium and no ash numbers, unlike Orijen which has a range which is still pretty high. I am still waiting for an answer on those numbers.

He is starting to need a more nutrient dense food I think. Grim (9 years) is the one who I think has flaxseed issues. I want to see if I can get everything back to where it should be then add some flax and see if it throws him off again, because being open to flax brings in a lot more options.

I may have jumped the gun back when I took Grim off of Evo several years ago. HE seemed fine but his bloodwork was "too high" in protein, but maybe it was not really too high.....though the Turkey and CHicken is VERY high in ash! But as long as the phosphorus is not out of whack I don't think it would be too hard on the kidneys.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Where's sable when you need him? He'd probably have a bunch of info on this subject.


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## 3ToesTonyismydog (Dec 27, 2009)

I was under the impression that canola oil had taken a big step forward in how they processed it and that the quality was much higher these days. I sure see a lot more going out the door at Costco these days.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I am not sure it changes the core components or addresses the concerns. I did notice that Innova products use Sunflower oil ...... no canola as far as I can see. The California Natural Line has some products with flax and some without. (Flax does not matter for most) ...


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Either way, someone who would sit around a debate the merits of feeding canola oil to their dog, is someone whose dog is already eating better than 99% of the dogs out there.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Canola is not stable from rancidity. We accidentally used a rancid bottle in some friendship bread we were making and it was horrible, we threw it out and went to olive oil or coconut oil and will never ever use canola again.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Emoore, True, but if you have an older dog and you are seeing changes for the worst and are working on trying to figure them out, you might be grabbing at straws! Natures Logic also appears to be canola free.

Msvette, good to know. I did quit buying it now and have a bottle of sunflower for stir fry and have coconut for baking and olive for salads.


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## Kath & Clan (Jun 6, 2012)

@ jocoyn, can't quote you at the moment.

Proteins themselves are hard on compromised or "imvolved" kidneys, which is why kidney diets are low protein, lots of phos in protein sources. I don't know for sure that dogs spill albumin into the urine the same as people do but if this was the case with Grim then you were likely looking at more than his kidneys could handle. In these potentially kidney compromised dogs you probably also want to avoid excessive calcium to avoid kidney/urinary stones.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I am not sure we have a kidney issue. His protein levels were high on Evo but urinalysis was normal. Actually he ate about 3 hours before the blood draw too, but they scared me at the vets.

He has been on TOTW since though and the yearly labs have been perfect though we are having some problems I am thinking may wind up being thyroid (playing phone tag with vet. Thyroid levels just above low cutoff.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

jocoyn said:


> Emoore, True, but if you have an older dog and you are seeing changes for the worst and are working on trying to figure them out, you might be grabbing at straws! Natures Logic also appears to be canola free.


I know exactly how that is. :hugs:


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## itisdieter (May 16, 2010)

oops, wrong thread


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## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

Sorry - didn't see this thread when I posted the other one. Thank you for pointing me here. Yes, the link provided is from the Canola council which does provide some good information. As well, I think a balance to look at when comparing to other sites to get a complete picture to help one make their own decision about what to believe or not.

Canola Oil FAQ - Canola Council of Canada


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