Tag Archive for: National Academy of Sciences

Do Cats Need Vitamins?

/in /by

Absolutely no way I could write about dogs without talking about cats as well, and there’s good reason: my daughter-in-law is an ardent cat advocate. She and our son act as foster parents for kittens from their local animal society until they’re ready for adoption so that when they join a family, they’re accustomed to being around people. When you have grandcats, even only for a few weeks, you want to see how they’re doing and what Matthew and Kerri have named the latest pair. I also want to see that they do well, so the topic was relevant: can cats take vitamins and minerals?

When the National Academy of Sciences put together the report on dogs, they also did the same type of brochure for cats, and again the quantities seem proportional to body weight.

One difference I noticed about cats is that they require the amino acid taurine to be healthy. As a result, while dogs could do well on a vegetarian diet with enough protein, cats require animal protein. You can check out the entire PDF to get additional information.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: www.nap.edu/resource/10668/cat_nutrition_final.pdf

Do Dogs Need Vitamins?

/in /by

I recently got a question from a long-time listener who asked if it was okay to give the dog a partial serving of their multivitamin-multimineral. I didn’t have a clue—I don’t deal with supplements and animals, with the exception of glucosamine and fish oil. Both are good for dogs, but what about the rest of the supplements?

One supplement I know they don’t need is vitamin C, because dogs can make their own vitamin C. In fact, only humans and one variety of bat can’t make their own vitamin C; all other mammals can. While too much C can be hazardous, the amounts found in most multis for humans should be fine for dogs. But what about the rest of the vitamins and the minerals?

Wouldn’t you know that the same organization, the National Academy of Sciences, that establishes the Dietary Reference Intake for humans has done the same for dogs. In examining the list, they’re in proportion for what humans would take, but proportional based on body weight. The document also goes through the entire nutrition lifecycle of a dog. If you have a dog or dogs, just download this PDF.

And before you ask, we’ll talk about cats on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: www.nap.edu/resource/10668/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf