Which Vitamins/Suppliments for food/where to buy?

[Nsarno87]

I ordered a grinder (which is on backorder for almost 2 more weeks) so I am getting everything else in order to be ready to make my little girl some raw food once the grinder arrives.

I need Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Taurine, Vitamin E, vitamin B-complex, & Salmon oil.

• Do you guys just buy capsules & soft gels or do you buy the liquid and powders of each?

• Also, where do you buy yours at?

 

[Nsarno87]

Anyone? At least the question on the types you get, Liquid or Gel/Capsule pills...

 

[WitchyWoman]

It really doesn't matter which form you use. What's more important is ease of use. Where there is an option between powder-filled capsule or pill, I chose the capsule because it was easier to mix powder into a recipe rather than hoping the pill would be evenly distributed. You have to crush a pill anyway to ensure even distribution. I think most of the things you mentioned only come in one form but it's been a long time since I've made raw food so I could be wrong.

I've purchased from local health food stores and on-line from places like iherb. Whichever is more convenient and economical.

 

[Patti]

I have heard Mazuri supplements recommended here.

 

[scorpius]

I use both powder and some capsule supplements if it helps.

 

[John Popp]

My first preference is to use liquid in bulk outside of fish oil which can turn rancid, so I have used capsules. Recently I started using fresh cooked salmon as opposed to fish oil. A pound of cooked salmon has 20 grams of salmon oil and you can adjust it into your recipe. For whatever reason one of my cats doesn't care much for the raw food with the prescribed amount of fish oil, but has no problem eating it when I use cooked salmon. Not sure of the exact reason, but don't feed your cat raw fish.

As for where I purchase vitamins and supplements, I use Vitacost.com. Been using them for years and they have always been great. Fast deliveries, no backorders and a ton of different quantity options along with a variety of brands. In a pinch I use the local health food store, but costs are almost twice as much and I'm sure things are on the shelf longer.

Lastly I try to get at least half the needed taurine from using chicken hearts purchased from Hare Today. A pound of chicken hearts has about 4 grams of taurine in it and taurine is also found in high amounts in dark muscle meat. Toxicity levels in taurine are quite high and unneeded amounts of taurine are passed through the urine. A 10lb cat would need to ingest 25 grams of taurine to have an issue, which would be 6lbs of chicken hearts or the amount of taurine placed in about 30lbs of the typical raw recipe. In other words, it would be really tough to overdo it on taurine and it is one of the more important supplements of a raw diet.

 

[Nsarno87]

Thank you! We got our grinder today and made Nylah her first batch of homemade raw and she loves it... Obviously we only gave her a small amount because we have to transition from canned/instict raw but she ate the stuff we made first and then the rest later lol

 

[BelaFamilia]

You will be amazed at how much less there stool will smell and the amount of stool is much less. Good luck with the new food.

Set from my Cube tablet.

 

[Sunny]

I use the following two supplements:

-- Life Extension Cat Mix powder (taurine, probiotics, arachidonic acid, alpha lipoic Acid, folic acid)

-- Missing Link Feline Formula (Omega-3 and fiber via flaxseed powder)

Community warning: If you use the Missing Link Feline Formula, beware of changes made to the nutritional value between the bright gold, smaller label package and the Missing Link Ultimate Feline formula which the front is mostly purple and the label takes up the whole side of the bag.

The Omega-3 concentration and minimum guaranteed level has been dramatically lowered, going from 1000mg/teaspoon down to 312.5mg/teaspoon comparing the ingredients of the two packages. I have not ran out of the older mix yet and source this via Amazon or the local pet store.

So either the formulation changed, the minimum guaranteed analysis on the old was incorrect, or they are "making up" the lack of Omega-3 with some other nutrient 'filler' and the primary reason why Omega-3 is helpful is it's mostly limited to seafood nutritional sources. Even humans on a pure seafood diet still have a higher concentration of Omega-6 in their diet by a factor of 2:1 and good nutrition means bringing these ratios closer to balance for skin, coat, and organ health. And I'm allergic to seafood so my boys don't get it any other way outside of canned seafood.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I have heard Mazuri supplements recommended here.

I have used the Mazuri Supplements for some years now(there's one for slab meat and one for whole animal so depending on what I am feeding I use the appropriate one). It's been the one supplement I've found that my cats don't hate the taste of.

Last year I had a very sick kitten that was seeing multiple specialists, as his issue was intestinal we included a specialist in nutrition for him. My kitten would not eat any prescription canned diet and never would touch kibble... he wanted raw meat and that only. After some working on this issue with various food trials the specialist accepted he needed a raw diet but wanted it balanced. Although it was his preference to use Balance IT feline supplement, he took the composition and studied it and did not find fault with it. My kitten had the Balance IT supplement but my other cats objected to the taste... but the formula of that is designed by UC Davis vets so worth considering also