Just making sure I've got everything covered

[britt0325]

Sorry if this is a bit long. I'll be getting my first kitten soon and I want to make sure I'll have everything I need. For me, nutrition is extremely important when it comes to caring for animals. My dog is currently fed Primal premade raw, Nupro supplement(the one for joint support), spirulina, and milk thistle & SAM-e with his flea & tick or heartworm meds for that week.

So of course I'll probably be sticking with Primal for my kitten because I feel comfortable with that. Since I'll be getting my kitten from the shelter I'll probably stick with whatever dry he's used to and add water then switch to canned and finely to raw.

So one of the first things I did after I joined here was to search supplements and I found a lot of helpful info and wrote it all down. This is what I have so far:

-Anutrin (for homemade diets, if I choose to go that ruite)
-Wysong call of the wild
-Probiotic (human supplement). Would like to know if kefir is appropriate for cats?
-Vyralys (L-Lysine supplement) Should I worry about giving this because of the stress to the kitten in a new environment it is this for more serious concerns?
-Omega 3 supplement. Actually thanks to the insight of people on here I will probably be giving my dog Krill oil to help with his aging joints.
-Egg Lecithin or egg yolks
-hearts and gizzards as treats (for taurine and teeth cleaning)
-Ubiquinol (another thing I will now also be giving my dog thanks to the info another person posted on here!)

Does that pretty much cover what I'll need for my new kitten?

Just a couple more things, sorry I know this is long lol.

I like to switch around with the whole food supplements. I feed my dog Nupro and they do have a supplement for cats. Is it good for cats though?

Some others I've seen:
-Dr. Harvey's supplements(herbs and whole foods), specifically the "Formative Years For Kittens & Cats" supplement.
-Missing Link
-Flying Basset (apparently formulated for both dogs and cats)

So are those good options to rotate with the Wysong call of the wild?

I would like to go out and buy everything I'll need a couple weeks before getting my kitten so I can budget and focus on spending money on supplies once and then on the kitten and vet visit a couple weeks later. So hopefully I can use the above list to make out a shipping list of what I need.

Am I missing anything of nutritional importance?

 

[ravencorbie]

I cannot really comment on anything but the kefir, and even that only partially.  I know some people feed small amounts of cheese to their cats as treats or toppers, but some cats are allergic to dairy.  My cat and one of my mom's cats always throw up when they eat any kind of dairy.  On the other hand, some aren't.  So that's one thing you'll want to watch out for.

 

[jcat]

I'm going to move this to the Raw Feeding subforum, because it's mainly the raw feeders who are familiar with giving nutritional supplements.

 

[britt0325]

Oh sorry about that. I'm used to dog people feeding supplements with regular food. Usually the raw people just insist on feeding variety and not worrying about many supplements. I feel it's beneficial either way but everyone has their own opinions on the matter

RavenCorbie: I was thinking coconut milk kefir which is what I personally prefer for myself and occasionally my dog. I'll have to see if I can find anything online about coconuts and cats. I know some dog people love giving their dogs coconut products while others think their are no benefits to it.

 

[vball91]

Sorry if this is a bit long. I'll be getting my first kitten soon and I want to make sure I'll have everything I need. For me, nutrition is extremely important when it comes to caring for animals. My dog is currently fed Primal premade raw, Nupro supplement(the one for joint support), spirulina, and milk thistle & SAM-e with his flea & tick or heartworm meds for that week.

So of course I'll probably be sticking with Primal for my kitten because I feel comfortable with that. Since I'll be getting my kitten from the shelter I'll probably stick with whatever dry he's used to and add water then switch to canned and finely to raw.
That's a fine transition plan. You could also go straight from whatever he's eating to raw. I would probably add probiotics first to whatever he's eating.
So one of the first things I did after I joined here was to search supplements and I found a lot of helpful info and wrote it all down. This is what I have so far:

-Anutrin (for homemade diets, if I choose to go that ruite)
-Wysong call of the wild Both Alnutrin and COTW are meant to be added to homemade food to supplement and balance the food. If you are planning on feeding an already nutritionally complete food like Primal, these are not necessary. In fact, you would be over supplementing and throwing the calciumhosphorus balance off, so they would not be recommended at all.
-Probiotic (human supplement). Would like to know if kefir is appropriate for cats? I'm not that familiar with kefir, but if your goal is to provide probiotics, I don't think kefir is your best option. I would use the Nexabiotic 20 strain. Oh, and I saw that you are talking about coconut milk kefir. Being a plant-based food, I'm not sure how much nutritional benefit a cat can get from it.
-Vyralys (L-Lysine supplement) Should I worry about giving this because of the stress to the kitten in a new environment it is this for more serious concerns? Lysine is good for the herpes virus, not much else. It is not a general immune booster.
-Omega 3 supplement. Actually thanks to the insight of people on here I will probably be giving my dog Krill oil to help with his aging joints.

-Egg Lecithin or egg yolks
-hearts and gizzards as treats (for taurine and teeth cleaning)
-Ubiquinol (another thing I will now also be giving my dog thanks to the info another person posted on here!)

Does that pretty much cover what I'll need for my new kitten?

Just a couple more things, sorry I know this is long lol.

I like to switch around with the whole food supplements. I feed my dog Nupro and they do have a supplement for cats. Is it good for cats though?

Some others I've seen:
-Dr. Harvey's supplements(herbs and whole foods), specifically the "Formative Years For Kittens & Cats" supplement.
-Missing Link
-Flying Basset (apparently formulated for both dogs and cats)

So are those good options to rotate with the Wysong call of the wild?
Again, if you are feeding a nutritionally complete food like Primal, then I would not recommend a vitamin supplement.
I would like to go out and buy everything I'll need a couple weeks before getting my kitten so I can budget and focus on spending money on supplies once and then on the kitten and vet visit a couple weeks later. So hopefully I can use the above list to make out a shipping list of what I need.

Am I missing anything of nutritional importance? I would recommend feeding a variety of raw proteins for their different nutritional profiles. You can stick to Primal as it looks like they have quite a few different varieties. However, there is some risk to only feeding one brand. What happens if they are discontinued or are recalled? For that reason, if you can get another brand into the mix, it would be good.

 

[peaches08]

Take a look at the resources sticky for this forum. Lots of feline nutrition info to be found there.

 

[britt0325]

Vball91: Thanks for the reply. 

The reason why I was going to start out with dry, then wet, and finally raw is because, on the dog forum I frequent, a cat owner told me that it's best to try and feed a kitten pretty much every type of food as to make it less picky as it gets older. Since I've noticed from reading through some of the post on here it seems like cats are pretty picky eaters so I figure it would be best to follow that advice. Even if I plan on only feeding raw in the long run it might become necessary to switch over to wet or dry in an emergency situation and I wouldn't want my cat to be too picky to eat those things. 

Plus I wouldn't want to bring a new kitten home and then switch his diet right away when he'll probably already be stressed. Wouldn't want him to get sick or anything. 

I had thought Wysong Call of the Wild was similar to the Nupro I feed my dog. Nupro is a vitamin supplement but it's made with whole foods and it's meant for immunity support as well as joint support. So that's pretty much what I'm looking for. It does have vitamins and minerals but not enough that it would cause an overdose because with the calculations I did, counting up everything with his food and the supplement, nothing goes over the max limit of any fat soluble vitamin or mineral anyways. Plus, from the reading I've done, there's never been a case of an overdose on vitamins for any animal, including humans, that have gotten vitamins from food sources. All vitamin overdoses have occurred through the use of synthetic vitamins. Which I refuse to use. My only concern, as you mentioned, would be the calcium and phosphorus ratio. I'll have to look into that more. I know the ratio for dogs but not a clue about the one for kittens. I could always tweak the diet to make everything balanced as far as the calcium and phosphorus is concerned.

Sadly, the only raw foods I have available to me are NV and Primal. I prefer Primal because NV is higher in fat. With a Mini Poodle, they're prone to Pancreatitis, I try to avoid giving him a lot of fat. I'm not sure if that would really matter for a cat or not though so that's something I'll have to look into. If it doesn't seem to be a problem then I could easily switch around between those two. If not, I'll just look to order something online and have it delivered if need be.

 

[vball91]

Your reasoning behind the transition plan makes a lot of sense.

I don't know of any whole foods vitamin supplement like you're looking for. COTW is definitely meant to balance just meat so I would not use it like you're thinking of. You will definitely throw off the organ and calcium ratios.

NV' higher fat is not a problem for most cats. Cats can handle a pretty high percentage of fat. Current research does not indicate that there is any correlation between a high fat diet and pancreatitis in cats. It does however have a high bone percentage (15%) which can cause constipation in some cats. That might not be a problem since you're planning on feeding gizzards and hearts which will lower overall bone percentage.

 

[ldg]

Your reasoning behind the transition plan makes a lot of sense.

I don't know of any whole foods vitamin supplement like you're looking for. COTW is definitely meant to balance just meat so I would not use it like you're thinking of. You will definitely throw off the organ and calcium ratios.

NV' higher fat is not a problem for most cats. Cats can handle a pretty high percentage of fat. Current research does not indicate that there is any correlation between a high fat diet and pancreatitis in cats. It does however have a high bone percentage (15%) which can cause constipation in some cats. That might not be a problem since you're planning on feeding gizzards and hearts which will lower overall bone percentage.

Cats metabolize fat completely differently than dogs do, so the NV (from a fat perspective) wouldn't pose a problem for your kitten.

And CoTW isn't like Nupro. I don't say this because I'm familiar with Nupro, but because as vball91 points out, CoTW is meant to be a supplement used to make just meat complete, so adding it to a food that is already balanced would definitely result in over-supplementation. Same goes for Alnutrin.

I see no reason to provide kibble to your kitten. I understand you don't want a picky eater, but kibble is just completely species-inappropriate for dogs and cats. Dogs are adaptive carnivores, so can handle carbs, but cats are obligate carnivores, and have no use for carbs or plant-based ingredients. Some use various things for the antioxidant value.

Since you're familiar with dogs, but not necessarily cats, you might find this of interest: http://www.catinfo.org

 

[Willowy]

Hi! Yep, I said that .

Anyway, if you're going to use COTW, that makes it super simple---just get plain ol' human-quality meat, add the COTW and voila, a balanced meal . If you use it according to the directions (I think one teaspoon per 3 oz of meat? I'm not at home so I can't go look), it will make plain boneless meat balanced. Using pre-ground meat from the store is not recommended because you don't know what's in it or how it was handled, but you could dice it up yourself or put it in the food processor (if you don't have a meat grinder) and mix the COTW in. Or coat chunks of meat with COTW; most cats like the taste. That would help you get different proteins than what Primal offers, and help provide a good variety.

(Note: COTW does say it can be used with commercial foods. I'm not sure I would do that regularly, but it probably won't cause any terrible overdoses, since, as you say it's from whole food sources. But I don't think it's necessary to add it to pre-balanced foods, and it's not cheap ).

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Are you talking about feeding your dog and cat the SAME primal and/or NV?  They make them different for a reason.  For example, the taurine level.  Cats require more taurine.  But, as Vball says, since you'll be feeding hearts to the kitty, he'll get extra taurine that way, but it's a balancing act

.  You definitely want to read up on this, although it appears you have done LOTS of reading on it already

Now I use both Call of the Wild and Alnutrin (several of their products), but I do not use any of them with commercial prepared foods like Primal, NV, Radcat, etc.  I only use them with meat that I buy and prepare the meals myself.  

As far as your list goes, on the Egg Yolk Lecithin and/or Egg Yolks, you should do both, as they do different things.  The Egg Yolk Lecithin keep the hairballs broken up and going out the back end properly, and the Egg Yolks are full of "good for your kitty" stuff

(where's LDG with all her links ?)

I do know Wysong has all kinds of supplements for different things, but have honestly never looked into any of them other than  Call of the Wild.  I know there are probably hundreds of supplements/vitamins for cats out there, but how necessary are they really if you are feeding them an already supplemented raw diet?  Probably not necessary on top of what you've already mentioned.  (at least that I can think of).  LDG is our resident guru, though, She'll probably be along and think of several things

Oh, but there ARE digestive enzymes that would be a good idea to use when first transitioning him to raw. 

 

[ldg]

I don't know where you're located, but I use http://www.hare-today.com. They have an amazing variety of things to feed your pets - quite a few whole ground animal (or meat/bone/organ) options. Many people use those and add the Alnutrition for meat/bones/organs to make the meals balanced/complete. :nod: A "full" box is about 50 pounds. Shipping to me is usually about $24 for 2-day. (I live in NJ).

 

[britt0325]

LDG:

“I see no reason to provide kibble to your kitten. I understand you don't want a picky eater, but kibble is just completely species-inappropriate for dogs and cats. Dogs are adaptive carnivores, so can handle carbs, but cats are obligate carnivores, and have no use for carbs or plant-based ingredients. Some use various things for the antioxidant value.”

My only reasoning for wanting to make sure my cat is okay with dry food is for emergencies only. I live in NJ too. I’m not sure how bad you got hit by Sandy but basically I lost power for two weeks and raw feeding pretty much went out the window at that point. I lost hundreds of dollars’ worth of my own food let alone the dog’s food. Even with going to Shoprite and buying bags of ice. So, that’s the kind of situation I’m talking about. I guess I could always just feed canned and keep it in a container of ice and change the ice every few hours but idk, I can’t really process all that now and honestly I hope I never have to go through anything like that again so I would rather not think about it.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on catinfo.org and I absolutely love the site. I can definitely see why it’s so highly recommended by so many people. I know the concern with dry food and I completely understand it and trust me, I will only be feeding dry for a VERY short period of time and with water mixed in the food itself. I never even fed my dog dry food without water mixed in because of the very fact it’s so lacking in moisture and it’s not even so much of a concern for dogs.

I was excited to find out about Hare Today. I had actually seen it recommended when I was reading through this:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/natural-cat-diet/#axzz2b8LbAwAM

I was reading through the comments and someone had mentioned something about a study which showed that mice have EVERYTHING a cat apparently needs and is nutritionally complete and then mentioned buying them and blending them up lol. Well someone mentioned Hare’s Today and I’m seriously impressed with the options they offer. LOVE it.

(By the way, I HIGHLY recommend the above website for people that are into the whole natural and healthy eating thing. Lots of great information and recipes!)

Willowy:

Hi!

Yeah, I mean, I’m really just looking for something like Nupro rather than a complete vitamin supplement so I guess I’ll keep looking. I know Nupro does have a cat supplement but I’m not sure how good all the ingredients are for cats so I’ll have to look into that.

Although, it is good to know about the option of using Wysong’ss COTW just in case I decided to go that route later on and do homemade. I’m really debating about that because I don’t really like the Primal formulas for cats. I had never checked them out before but I did today. I wasn’t expecting them to actually include produce in a cat’s diet. I thought they would be more knowledgeable than that. I love them for dog food but not so much for cats. So I’ll have to wait to see what happens later on when I actually get my kitten. I guess it really depends on what he’s willing to eat.

Mrsgreenjeens:

No, well I guess maybe with the NV since they only have formulas for both cats and dogs but the Primal has it’s on cat formula so definitely not for that. He’ll be getting the formula for cats only.

Ok, so I’ll make sure I supplement with both. I’m probably going to be doing more extensive reading about everything once I narrow down what I actually need and plan to supplement with. Which reminds me, I was actually planning on reading about eggs, I read somewhere that egg whites are bad for cats and I have absolutely NO clue why and need to figure that one out.

 

[Willowy]

Hare Today is awesome. And if you add the Alnutrin (they sell it), it has everything kitties need (well, probably whole ground animals have everything kitties need already but the Alnutrin is for extra insurance). My cats didn't really like the ground mice but starting a kitten on it will be easier. They really like the rabbit, though. . .haven't tried cavy yet. But, yeah, the variety is terrific.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Britt, I copied your last paragraph rather than quoting and cutting out a whole bunch.

"Ok, so I’ll make sure I supplement with both. I’m probably going to be doing more extensive reading about everything once I narrow down what I actually need and plan to supplement with. Which reminds me, I was actually planning on reading about eggs, I read somewhere that egg whites are bad for cats and I have absolutely NO clue why and need to figure that one out."

So.  one of us is confused!  You said you will supplement with both (meaning either Primal or NV), but either I misintepret what you mean by "supplement" or you misinterpret what we have all said.  With either of these two completely nutritional commercial raw foods, you do NOT need to supplement with vitamin type things or calcium or any type thing.  (does that make sense?)

Egg whites are NOT bad for cats.  As a matter of fact, I feed my kidney cat egg whites with every meal.  No egg yolks for her because they are very high in phosphorus, which is bad for her.  I think what you are thinking is that raw egg whites and raw egg yolks together kind of cancel each other out.   I always forget the details of it, but it's really not an issue, otherwise in homemade raw recipes they wouldn't call for adding whole eggs

.  But egg whites are loaded with protein, so definitely not bad!  But most people (unless making a homemade ground recipe) just use the yolk as a meal/snack a couple of times a week.  Then you can use the whites to give yourself a facial

 

As an aside, I didn't realize NV was for both cats and dogs (the same formula).  Maybe that's why their bone percentage is so high

.  To me, that's really odd, because obviously their nutritional requirement are different. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Lookie what I found

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/260952/avidin-in-eggwhites-blocks-b-vitamins

 

[peaches08]

Lookie what I found

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/260952/avidin-in-eggwhites-blocks-b-vitamins

Egg whites: turns out the avidin issue is a bit overblown. But I'll let others like mschauer and LDG go into more detail about all that.

Britt, I live on an island off the GA coast and while Sandy didn't affect me, I know the concerns about hurricanes. It's always in the back of my mind. I'll go far enough inland that I can get supplies, and worst case is I'll have to feed canned. But I can't imagine feeding dry ever again. None of my cats have had any urinary troubles, but I fear it so much I won't risk them getting dehydrated on kibble.

 

[ldg]

Actually, a lot of companies make raw food for both cats and dogs with the same formula. It's just that dogs are getting more taurine than they "need," and cats likely wind up with some fruits and veggies, like with the NV formulas. Stella & Chewy's raw froze for dogs, for instance, can be fed to cats as it's supplemented with enough taurine to meet a cat's needs.

Yeah, I'm really confused about what you want to supplement with in a commercial raw diet. The only "supplements" I would use with a commercial raw diet that is already balanced and complete are:

* salmon oil or krill oil 500mg once a day (for the omega 3s)
* a sardine once a week (more natural source of omegas)
* probiotics daily (I now use the Nexabiotic 20 strain, and I give 1/2 capsule in the am and 1/2 capsule in the PM). The "what, how, and why" is being discussed in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262587/probiotics-search-human-grade-and-cfus
* Ubiquinol (which I do not give daily. I "pulse" most things like this, and I either give it every other month, or every two weeks)
* egg yolks once or twice a week
* egg yolk lecithin as needed

My immune-compromised cats are also getting 250mg of lactoferrin daily (again, every two weeks, not all the time).

For home made raw feeders, the egg yolks and sardines are important (actually rather essential) for the vitamin D. They're important for all kitties because of the omega 3s. The egg yolks are important for choline; a component of choline is acetylcholine, which improves gastric motility. This is needed for many older kitties transitioned to raw, because it helps prevent hairballs. In kittens fed raw from the get-go, hairballs will likely never be a problem, as their systems likely won't be impaired from inappropriate ingredients. They may never need the lecithin. I have three boys for which hairballs are a problem: they each need a full capsule of Swanson egg yolk lecithin twice a day to prevent hairballs. My other cats need just 1/2 a capsule in the mornings. And that's during hairball season. Come fall, I'll cut them all back to just 1/2 a capsule of egg yolk lecithin daily. The lecithin just emulsifies the fat that binds the hairballs, allowing cats to more easily pass the ingested hair.

Egg whites are fine to feed. They contain avidin, which inhibits B6 uptake (I think it's B6 - it's one of the B vitamins), but the raw diet is so rich in B vitamins, it's really kind of moot. They can be cooked if someone is worried about it, because cooking deactivates the avidin. For kitties with chronic renal failure or early stage kidney disease, egg whites are a GREAT part of the diet, replacing some of the protein, because they are a protein that comes with almost no phosphorus (and kitties with kidney issues cannot properly process phosphorus).

To provide alternate complete and balanced meals, just meat with CoTW is quick and easy. I have one kitty that hates organs, and I don't want to feed him canned food, so he gets meat and CoTW pretty much exclusively. TCfeline also makes a series of supplements (similar to Alnutrin), with one, like CoTW, that makes just meat complete.

I have one cat that loves kidney but hates liver, so he gets fresh kidney, but freeze dried liver.

I have two cats that love liver, but only freeze dried. And they hate kidney, even freeze dried. So they get freeze dried liver (working out to the equivalent of 5% fresh liver in their diet), and I give them other freeze dried organs: spleen, pancreas, thymus, etc.

I have one cat that hates liver, even freeze dried (I can convince her into eating it sometimes), and she hates kidney. So I give her a cod liver oil supplement to get all of her vitamin A, and she gets other organs that she does like: pancreas and spleen, principally. Not perfect, but IMO better than canned.

But I tailor all of this because I do not feed commercial raw. They do get four meals of Hare Today ground food weekly, but that's because almost all of them hate egg yolks, and that's the only way I can get egg yolks into them. Four of my cats don't like ground food though, so it's a bit of a chore to get them to finish those meals. :lol3:

And I get it now, why you want your kitty to at least recognize kibble as food. But why not use canned? :dk:

We live in an RV, so we have a generator. We probably would have bought one by now anyway if we didn't have one. Where we live the electricity goes out a couple of times a year for at least a couple of days at a time anyway for whatever reason. We have a separate small chest freezer outside for the cats' meat (well, mostly ). We'll probably be buying a small generator just for it.

 

[britt0325]

Obviously there’s some confusion about what I mean when it comes to the supplements lol. Sorry about that. I’m used to dealing with dogs so it’s a completely different situation now and I’m not really sure what’s the norm for cat owners.

Basically I don’t give the Nupro to my dog because of the vitamins and all that. I give it to him because of what’s in it.

For example:

 Organic Cold-Milled Ground Whole Flax Seed, Norwegian Kelp, Proprietary Blend (Bee Pollen, Lact. Acidophilus), Glucosamine, MSM, Vitamin C, Shark Cartilage, digestive enzymes, desiccated liver, esc.

So I don’t really feed it to supplement vitamins. I feed it because it has stuff in it that I’ve read about and seen recommended for dogs. Like flax seed is high in Omega 3s and Bee Pollen is good for allergies, immune system, esc. So that’s basically why I feed it and what I’m looking for in a whole foods supplement. Not so much for the vitamins which will already be plentiful in the food but for a supplement that contains a variety of foods that are beneficial for the immune system and overall health of the cat.

I just have no idea what is recommended for cats. Like I give my dog Spirulina, do people give that to their cats? I have no clue. I just know a lot of people give it and recommend it for dogs. So I’m kind of at a loss here as to what kind of overall supplements are available and what I should be looking for in a cat supplement. Not for the vitamins but for the actual ingredients found in it.

Stating that, I also make sure that I add up everything and make sure nothing exceeds maximum levels and that everything is balance with what I give my dog. I don’t feed Spirulina for the vitamins but obviously it has vitamins in it and I had to check and make sure I wouldn’t be overdosing anything.

I hope that makes more sense.

Mrs.GreenJeens:

Thanks for the link about eggs. I’m thinking that what I read did say raw egg whites but it might have just been on a site I was just scanning through that was basically saying raw eggs are bad because of the danger of bacteria or something. I can’t really remember where exactly I read it so that’s probably it.

LGD:

Thank you for writing all that and helping me try to figure this all out. I’m somewhat in a rush (campfire outside, nephew whining for me to get out there lol) so I’ll have to come back on here and read through it more carefully.

Idk, you might just be convincing me into not sticking with this whole dry food idea lol. I really hate dry food, I wouldn’t ever want to feed it and I swear I would do anything to make sure I wouldn’t have to. It’s just kind of this worry that “what if” and then my cat starves because he won’t eat the only thing that’s available. Probably over worrying about it. I’m sure from being in the shelter he would have had enough kibble by then to have gotten used to it so maybe I’ll just switch right over to canned as soon as I can. Right?

 

[Willowy]

Probably . (I mean probably the kitty would already be used to kibble so would recognize it as food)

The thing about cat supplements is that cats can't process certain things because they're obligate carnivores. Like, they can't make vitamin A from beta carotene the way most animals do---they need to get their vitamin A from animal sources. And they wouldn't get as much omega 3 fatty acid from flax seed as they would from an animal source such as fish oil. And a lot of cat foods/supplements put those kinds of thing in . It's ridiculous how many cat foods have beta carotene in them!

I think most cat-owning raw feeders who use supplements usually use human supplements, like probiotics and fish oil and so on. The majority of supplements made for cats are either for adding to an incomplete homemade diet or are entirely unsuitable for cats.