Supplemental Foods

Hi,  feel like I'm starting a lot of threads lately, but please bare with me....

Today I brought home a variety pack of Tiki Cat.  Of the 12 cans, it turns out 4 of them say they are meant for supplemental feeding only.  I understand that it means it doesn't have all the nutrients a cat needs but how do I go about feeding it to my cats?  Does that mean I have to mix it in with another food or can I use it for one of their meals as long as the other meals do have the nutrients they need?

For instance, this morning my kittens got about 3/8 cup of grain-free kibble.

Then at lunch they shared a 3oz can of grocery-store canned food.

At supper they split a 3oz pouch of Weurva Cats in the Kitchen

And then as their evening meal I gave them a can of Tiki Cat Sardine Cutlets which is meant as supplemental.  (they loved it!)

I just want to make sure I'm not depriving my kittens of all the nutrients they need especially as my Pickles is having a tough time putting on enough weight.  (they're 3 months old)

As the kittens are small still, and struggling to gain weight, I'd suggest that you use the supplemental foods as a treat/snack - maybe use just one can between them in a day. It won't do them any harm at all, but I wouldn't want to use a supplemental food very often while they're still growing. Maybe only feed it once a week for now. This isn't so much because of nutrient levels - more that the supplemental foods are generally lower calorie, sometimes significantly so.

If you continue to have issues with their weight gain you need to get them checked by a vet - just to be sure there are no underlying problems. Do make sure the wet food is KITTEN food, or marked as for all life stages too.

I've never used that brand of cat food before, not sure if it's available over here, but the supplement food I give my cats is meant to be given as a treat. It's more expensive than their regular food and must taste a lot better as they go wild for it. I give it to them as a snack between meals.

I think as long as you are not feeding them only the supplement food they'll be fine. The daily food you described, three meals of wet and dry food, sound fine to me. The supplement food might actually be good for Pickles as it will encourage him to eat more. Try to give them a variety of flavours as their snacks. Too much fish isn't good for cats, even though they love it. Make sure they get to enjoy the meat and chicken flavours too.

All of the Tiki Cat foods are complete diets, including the sardine cutlets one (Tahitian Grill): Tahitian Grill is naturally formulated with added vitamins and minerals to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages. http://www.petropics.com/tahitian_grill/ However you may have gotten an older batch of the sardine cutlets which are supplement only (apparently doesn't meet requirements for potassium).

The occasional supplemental food is fine. It's feeding supplemental food every day for every meal with nothing else that is a problem because a lack of vitamins and minerals will lead to a cat developing nutritional deficiencies.

The cans I have outright say they are meant for intermittent/supplemental feeding on the package.  Maybe the formula has changed?

And my Pickles is starting to fill out and gain weight now that I've switched to a diet of mostly canned food (and protecting her share from her brother Pepper).  I will use the other cans of supplemental foods as treats.  I did give the kittens some extra kibble last night to try and make up for it.

Perhaps I got the older stock they are trying to clear out and that's why it was on sale.  I will keep it as a snack.  They're all fish flavours so I need to space them out anyways.

As an aside, I did weight Pickles this evening and, according to my scale, she is just over 3 pounds and is 3 months old so maybe I'm just being paranoid about her weight.  She has filled out though.  I used to be able to feel the bones in her tail.  She's just not as roly-poly as her brother (who keeps stealing her food...)