Why add nutrients to the feline diet?
Just like humans, the bodily structures and functions of cats can benefit from additional nutrients that supplement a healthy diet. Although many nutrients – in particular, vitamins and minerals – are added to commercial cat food, the amounts are usually just enough to prevent a nutrient deficiency in a healthy cat – but likely won’t provide a cat with optimal nutritional support for a long, healthy, and vital life. With modern processed food and pollution of food, water, and the environment, it’s difficult to know whether a cat is receiving the essential supportive nutrients that can promote its optimal health and well-being. By providing a cat with a multi-vitamin/mineral formula early in its life, and certainly before a cat becomes old or ill, you can enhance the quality and length of the cat’s life and optimize its vitality.
There are times when a cat can have an increased need for nutritional support:
- When a cat has an acute or a chronic health condition
- When a cat is pregnant or nursing
- When a cat is beginning to age
- When a cat becomes stressed – such as moving to a new home, traveling a long distance, the addition of a new family member, being boarded, etc.
- When a cat is a persni-kitty eater
Why Feline Basic Nutrients?
The nutrients in ThorneVet’s Feline Basic Nutrients are specifically curated to provide a cat with the best absorbed, most tissue-ready, bioavailable forms available. And this feline health supplement is provided in a highly palatable, beef liver-flavored powder for ease of dosing and sprinkling on food.
The fat-soluble vitamins – A, D, and E
Vitamin A is provided as preformed vitamin A because cats have a difficult time converting beta-carotene to vitamin A.
Vitamin D in its vitamin D3 form is more potent and effective at increasing a cat’s blood level of vitamin D than the vitamin D2 form.
Vitamin E as d-alpha tocopheryl is the most bioavailable vitamin E isomer.
The water-soluble vitamins – the B vitamin complex and vitamin C
Feline Basic Nutrients contains the entire B vitamin complex – plus 50 mg of vitamin C.
Vitamins B2 and B6 are provided in their active, tissue-ready phosphorylated forms – vitamin B2 as riboflavin 5’-phosphate (R5P) and vitamin B6 as pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (P5P).
Vitamins B12 and folate are provided in their active, tissue-ready methylated forms – methyl-folate (5MTHF) and methylcobalamin (B12).
The Minerals
Macrominerals (calcium and magnesium) are provided as well-absorbed and highly concentrated malate chelates.
Trace minerals (zinc, iron, and chromium) are supplied as highly bioavailable glycinate chelates, while selenium is provided as selenomethionine – an organic form of selenium in the same form found in food.
But Feline Basic Nutrients doesn’t stop with this comprehensive assortment of vitamins and minerals. Several unique nutrients offer additional feline health and wellness benefits.
Inositol along with the B vitamins helps balance neurotransmitters to manage stress in a cat. And along with chromium and other nutrients, inositol helps support healthy blood sugar levels. Inositol, once known as vitamin B8, is actually a carbocyclic sugar.
Methionine is an amino acid that provides liver support. Methionine also helps acidify the cat’s urine to prevent crystal formation.
Taurine is a key amino acid that is essential to include in the feline diet because a cat’s liver doesn’t synthesize enough taurine on its own; taurine is particularly essential for a cat’s heart and eye health.
Probiotics – two of them – are added for gastrointestinal and immune function support. Bacillus coagulans is a spore-forming, very stable beneficial bacterial species, and Saccharomyes boulardii is a beneficial yeast. Both of these beneficial probiotics help maintain a cat’s healthy gut microbiome.
Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA are added to support a balanced inflammatory response throughout the cat’s body for cardiovascular, neurological, brain, eye, and skin support. Providing preformed essential fatty acids EPA and DHA is especially important for cats because cats don’t synthesize either fatty acid very efficiently from the dietary precursor alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
Astaxanthin is a carotenoid found naturally in a number of foods. Astaxanthin is what gives salmon, krill, algae, and lobster their familiar pinkish-red color. Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant for protecting against oxidative damage to cells and for supporting healthy aging.
