[FurKids]

Always be careful of any separate individual supplements (even if your vet suggests it to you ... why? read the extract of an article below) that you give to your pet because your normal cat food already contains supplemented vitamins and minerals. You must always total them up and check to see if you are overdosing on any one of them. An overdose can cause detrimental effects on your cat/kitten!

For example, cats are frequently presented to veterinarians showing the toxic effects of excess vitamin A which causes new bone to be deposited around joints causing pain, lameness and spinal problems. This is often associated with eating liver (also high in vitamin A content) or cod liver oil supplementation.

Here is an extract of an article from the Tree House Humane Society:

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Feral Cat Feeding and Supplementation

At our workshops, we always tell caretakers to feed their feral cats the best food they can afford. This maxim recognizes two important things: first, that good nutrition is important and second, the caretaker's budget is also important. So like so many aspects of being a feral cat caretaker, you do the best you can without sinking your own ship. If you have the time and the money with a colony of 5 cats, and want to prepare fresh meals of raw chicken, steamed vegetables and vitamin-mineral supplements, then that is great and you should. But if you are pressed for time, trying to feed 30 cats and can barely afford supermarket brands of cat food, then that is also great, and your sacrifice is no less.

Nutrition for feral cats is particularly important given the rigors of their outdoor lives, and is the single most important thing you can do to help regulate their health. That said, it behooves any animal caretaker to gain a basic knowledge of nutrition. We urge you not to simply follow what anyone, including your veterinarian, says about nutrition, but educate yourself and make your own decisions. Few vets study nutrition for more than a few hours, and most just repeat what the supposedly "scientific" pet food manufacturers tell them.

Like most people, vets usually do not know how to analyze the ingredients on a pet food label, have not heard of the best brands, do not realize that dry food is just wet food baked to a crisp (with the vitamins usually added before the baking and so ruined), that a raw chicken neck will do more for an animal's teeth than 100 pounds of dry food, and so on.

You will know more than most about animal nutrition by reading any of the following:

• The New Natural Cat by Anita Frazier
• Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats by Dr. Richard Pitcairn, DVM
• Food Pets Die For by Ann N. Martin
• Protect Your Pet by Ann N. Martin
• Cats (and Dogs) are People Too! by Sharon Gannon