What is the difference between a professionally formulated diet, and a free internet recipe?

Formulating a complete and balanced cat food diet requires software and experience in cat palatability preferences. The software stores all information on nutrient content for various ingredients, AAFCO minimum and maximum guidelines for essential nutrients, and calculations for caloric density, feeding amount, and how to adjust the amount when feeding a highly active kitten or a sedentary senior cat.

I see many ratio-based diets (80/20 or 80/10/10) online. Many are not complete or balanced for adult cats. They lack essential vitamins or minerals and should not be fed long-term.

Many Facebook groups promote so-called “meal completers.” Meal Completers are an expensive multivitamin product that makes it easy for the owner. However, they are not precise when overdosing or underdosing your cat on essential vitamins and minerals. Meal completers don’t consider the nutritional differences between meat and organ meats.

Meal Rotation Does Not Guarantee Completeness

To compensate for the lack of consideration of nutritional nuances, “rotation” is recommended. Rotation does not guarantee a complete diet for your cat; it’s like playing roulette.

I have ordered a few completers online, and I am very surprised to find that some lack basic information on ingredients and nutrient profiles. Without knowing the completer's essential nutrient profile, it is impossible to determine whether the diet contains enough or too many essential vitamins and minerals for a cat.

Most meal completers don’t contain omega-3 fatty acids, so they will need to be added in the form of fish oil or another source.

EPA/DHA are Important Nutrients

EPA and DHA are essential for a cat’s immune system. DHA is vital for neurological and visual development during pregnancy and growth.

In completers that contain some form of powdered fish oil, the valuable unsaturated fatty acids are likely to have oxidized and are no longer available to the animal. Since unsaturated fatty acids have a high potential to oxidize, I prefer to add liquid fish oil to homemade diets.

If you still have questions, contact me for a nutrition consultation.