Is your cat eating complete cat food or supplementary food?

Read this article to understand what complete cat food and supplementary cat food means. Not all cat foods sold in stores are complete foods, which provide all the nutrients your cat needs. It is important to recognize the difference between complete and supplementary foods, as only complete cat food contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients calculated to meet a cat's daily requirements.

Supplementary or complimentary cat food is designed to enhance, not replace, a cat's main diet. It cannot provide all the nutrition a cat needs by itself. However, it can make a cat's meals more varied and interesting, improve the taste of the cat food, and support hydration.

Cats are obligate carnivores that require several small meals throughout the day. Read more about the cat’s natural diet.

Complete cat food simplifies feeding

Wet food is an excellent primary food choice for cats as it helps maintain their hydration level. Learn why cats need most of their required fluids from their diet.

Some of the wet cat foods sold in stores are supplementary rather than complete foods, so be careful when choosing. Check the product label to see if the cat food you are buying is complete cat food or supplementary. For example, if the wet food package suggests also offering dry food in addition to the wet food, the product may be supplementary.

Supplementary cat foods do not contain added nutrients up to the level recommended by FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation) and the balance of phosphorus and calcium may not be optimal. Adequate nutrient intake and balanced minerals will help your cat stay healthy and prevent various deficiencies.
 

PrimaCat’s popular Classic wet food is a grain-free complete cat food that is perfect for your cat's main meals. It comes in various flavours to suit every cat's unique taste preference. All PrimaCat complete foods are enriched with essential taurine for cats and have the right mix of minerals to support your cat’s health. PrimaCat dry foods, like the Classics, are also complete cat foods.

How much supplementary food can a cat eat?

You can replace one of your cat's daily meals with a supplementary food, such as PrimaCat Fillets or Soup wet food. Typically, one pouch of supplementary food per day is suitable for a cat weighing about 5 kilograms.

The most important thing is that supplementary cat food makes up no more than a third of your cat's daily diet. An occasional increase beyond this for an adult cat is okay, but regularly exceeding this limit can lead to a lack of essential nutrients.

Raw meat and fish are also considered supplementary foods because they do not have added vitamins or other nutrients.

However, meat and fish naturally contain many nutrients such as important amino acids for cats. Still, you should give meat and fish to your cat as a supplement, or you need to calculate by yourself is your cat getting all it needs from the diet.

Take a note that overfeeding fatty fish like salmon and tuna can reduce the body's vitamin E. A deficiency of vitamin E can cause steatitis, or yellow fat disease, where the cat's fat tissue becomes inflamed. Keep this in mind if your cat eats lots of fatty fish, PrimaCat Fillets tuna and salmon wet foods, which do not contain added vitamin E.

By ensuring that around 70% of the food your cat eats each day is complete cat food, you will ensure your cat is getting enough nutrients.

Are supplementary foods suitable for a kitten’s diet?

It is better to offer supplementary foods to kittens as an occasional treat rather than part of the kitten’s daily diet, since kittens need a constant supply of nutrients for healthy growth and development. Learn more about feeding kittens.

Complete cat food for adult cats is not suitable as the main food for a growing kitten. Therefore, we recommend PrimaCat Classic Turkey in gravy for kittens wet food, which is designed to meet the kitten’s nutritional needs. We also have a special dry cat food for kittens and nursing cats.

About half of a kitten's diet can consist of the Classic wet foods for adult cats, but for kittens expected to grow large, it is advisable to focus more on products designed specifically for kittens.