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Home / Health / Supplements and Vitamins
Do You Need to Supplement Your Cat's Diet with Vitamins and Minerals?
By:John
Despite obvious physiology differences, your cat is not that different from you. Just as humans, cats require vitamins and minerals to survive. Whether or not you need to supplement your cat's diets with vitamins depends largely on their diet and current health status.
The vitamins that cats need include both fat soluble and water-soluble vitamins. These vitamins are essential to a cat's growth and for the efficient processing of fats in the body. These vitamins ensure that a cat's bones are healthy and that they have sufficient protection from disease. Cats are prone to cuts and vitamins can help to repair wounds quickly. Fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins E, D, A, and K. The water-soluble vitamins include the B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, and B12) and vitamin C.
Vitamins are easily absorbed in a cat's system. Minerals, on the other hand, require that the cat's system is healthy for proper absorption. Any slight infection can affect a cat's ability to absorb minerals. The minerals that cats require the most include calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium chloride.
The good news about foods for animals is that they are formulated to meet all the nutritional needs of the animal. Feeding your cat food is typically all that is necessary for them to obtain all the nutrients they need. However, there are some things that can affect the amount of nutrients in cat food. For starters, cat food can lose some of its nutritional value. This often happens if the food is kept on a store shelf for a significant amount of time.
If a stray cat has made its way to your doorstep, the condition of the cat may warrant the need for vitamin and mineral supplementation. Stray cats, especially abandoned kittens are susceptible to infections and diseases. The first step you should make when attempting to care for a stray cat is to have a veterinarian inspect the cat for diseases. The veterinarian will give you instructions for caring for the stray cat, including vitamin and mineral supplementation. You should follow the instructions given to you. An excessive amount of a particular vitamin or mineral can cause a toxic reaction in a cat that could be fatal.
Why not check out our nutrition guide at http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/nut-ebook.html
and also what supplement we personally use for our nutrition needs at http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/what-we-use.html
Article Source: http://www.dailynewarticles.com
John Gibb is the owner of Nutrition guides, a website offering free nutrition advice and a quality nutrition book for newsletter subscribers.
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