Do Cats Who Eat Cat Food Need Feline Dietary Supplements?
Those who eat cooked cat food and raw meat need extra supplements, as those of you who are probably little more knowledgeable cat owners already know. But we often get the question: If my cat is already eating full-price cat food, is there any point in giving her extra vitamins and other supplements?
1. What is a supplement?
Supplements are designed to make up for nutritional deficiencies and often include many different vitamins and minerals. Fish oil, articular chondroitin, and probiotics also fall into this category. They also have a more colloquial name: health supplements.
2. In theory, cats that eat high-quality, full-price cat food don’t need extra vitamins and other nutrients
That’s because when full-priced cat food is formulated, it’s designed with complementary supplements that follow the standards recommended by the NRC and others to produce a balanced diet. Usually, the solution will be combined with the nutrient loss caused by the process and transportation and storage, and based on meeting the minimum needs of the addition. So, in theory, cats that eat high-quality, full-price cat food don’t need extra supplements like vitamins. But some cats may be more susceptible to vitamin deficiency than others because of absorption problems, and kittens and pregnant and lactating mothers need more nutrients than other cats.
3. In terms of risk control, it is feasible to properly supplement some nutrients
Due to their unstable nature, some nutrients are easy to be lost in cat food processing, transportation, and storage, and this kind of nutrients are usually water-soluble, will not accumulate in the cat’s body, and the safety limit is very high, so they can be used for a daily supplement. In addition, if the cat has a known nutritional deficiency, targeted nutritional supplementation may be required as adjunctive therapy for a specific medical condition.
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