Why supplements matter and how to measure

Why food alone is not enough

A cat in the wild eats its whole prey: muscle, organs, bone, blood and glands. A recipe uses the parts you can buy, and some nutrients fall short. Without bone, calcium runs low. Without the thyroid and blood, iodine and iron run low too. Cats cannot make vitamin D from sunlight the way people do. Taurine varies by cut, and cooking loses some.

The supplements fill these gaps in measured amounts.

What each supplement does

Your recipe may not use every one.

• Taurine for the heart and eyes. Cats cannot make enough of it.
• Vitamin D3 to use calcium.
• Vitamin E to protect fats, in the food and the body.
• Iodine for the thyroid.
• Zinc for skin, coat and the immune system.
• Copper to use iron.
• Iron for red blood cells.
• Manganese for bone and cartilage.
• Magnesium for muscles, nerves and bones.
• Potassium for muscles and nerves.
• Choline for the liver and nerves.
• Fortified nutritional yeast for B vitamins.
• Salmon oil for omega-3 fats.
• Eggshell powder or bone meal for calcium.
• Kitchen salt for chloride. Plain or iodized both work: the amount is very small.

Why the exact product matters

Products with the same name can hold different amounts per drop, capsule or spoon. Each recipe is balanced on the products it lists, so a look-alike changes the dose.

When we switch a recommended product, the recipe page notes what to do with the old one.

Where to get them

Most supplements are bought online, and two are made at home. Order early, so they arrive before cooking day.

Every recipe page lists its supplements in its Where to source section, with a link to each exact product. Under some products it also lists a same-dose alternative, for readers who cannot find the original. Use it at the same amount: any other swap changes the nutrition.

Outside the US

Most supplements link to iHerb, which ships to many countries. The same-dose alternatives listed so far are for Canada. If neither the product nor an alternative is sold where you live, contact us before you cook. In Australia, a tablespoon is larger: see Measuring small amounts.

Made at home

The two calcium sources are made at home, each from its own recipe on the site. Never swap one for the other: each version is balanced on its own source.

• Eggshell powder goes in Adults Only versions. Shells are boiled, oven-dried and ground. It brings calcium. Store it airtight.
• Bone meal goes in Kitten & Adult versions. Raw chicken bones are pressure-cooked soft and mashed with their liquid. It brings calcium and phosphorus. Store it frozen.

Make or thaw yours ahead, and weigh it.

The supplement shelf

The shelf is a one-time cost of about $100 to 150, and it lasts more than 50 batches (1x). Full recipes use 8 to 12 supplements. They share most of them, so a new recipe mostly adds fresh food.

Take Chicken & Salmon Meal. Its 10 supplements cost about $120 together. The fortified nutritional yeast runs out first, after about 60 batches. Copper lasts about 100 batches and iron about 130. The other seven last more than 250 batches. A 1x batch feeds one average adult cat for about 4 to 5 days, so the yeast lasts about 10 months and most of the shelf more than 2 years. You then replace only what runs out.

Keep them sealed, cool and dark, and use each before its expiry date. Refrigerate the salmon oil after opening.

Measuring small amounts

Every recipe gives its supplements two ways. We recommend the exact one.

• Exact, by weight. Switch the ingredient list to Exact and weigh each powder on a precision scale that reads to 0.01 g. Open capsules and crush tablets, then weigh only the contents.
• Rounded, by hand. The Metric and US views round each amount to standard spoon fractions, whole drops, and whole or half capsules and tablets.

For rounded amounts, mini measuring spoons (1/32 to 1/8 tsp) handle the smallest ones. Halve tablets with a pill cutter, then crush them. Open capsules and measure the powder as closely as you can. In Australia, a tablespoon holds 20 ml, not 15 ml, so use 3 teaspoons instead.

Either way, throw away the empty capsule shells: only their contents go in. Count drops one by one, and measure the salmon oil in ml with a marked syringe.

Adding them to the batch