Alternative to Kitty Bloom?

[carakitty]

We are looking for an alternative to Kitty Bloom as Uber's vitamins. Lately it seems like with being on multiple medications, his tummy is more sensitive and he doesn't eat as well if we put the pumpkin with his meat. He's also vomited a couple times after meals with Kitty Bloom. The KB is well before it's expiration date and hasn't changed in quality at all so I don't think it's a bad batch or anything like that. We are thinking the cheddar flavor might be too rich for him these days.

 

[Sheldon13]

Is he raw fed? Why, may I ask, is he in need of vitamins?


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[carakitty]

Yes, he's on raw. We feed him Blue Ridge Beef Kitten Mix formula. He's always had the vitamins on his food and has done very good with this plan.

 

[Sheldon13]

I always used Alnutrin. I know others have used Better in the Raw


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Condo commando]

@carakitty

I had a vet recommend Nucat Multivitamin by Vetriscience. You can get on amazon or chewy's.

Science-Backed Pet Supplements | VetriScience

Shop vet-formulated pet supplements and premium pet health products, made with the world’s best ingredients to bring out the best in your pet. Discover now.

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Full disclosure - my cats don't take this. I'm from the school of thought that if the food is balanced, unless they test having a deficiency, I don't risk messing it up with extra vitamins. But you asked so I just wanted to let you know which one I would use IF it came to that. Feel free to double check with your vet. Best to Uber.

 

[Condo commando]

I always used Alnutrin. I know others have used Better in the Raw


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

I use Alnutrin as well. Maybe I misunderstood the question. Alnutrin is a supplement to be added to food to make it balanced. The Nucat multivitamin is just a vitamin kind of like if you or I were to take a vitamin pill every day.

I guess I'm not sure what kitty bloom is. Is it more like Alnutrin or like Nucat????

 

[Sheldon13]

lol maybe I’m the one who misunderstood the question. Actually, I think I just kind of assumed that the raw was currently getting a supplement.


I think that is all you would have to do, rather than give a multi vitamin. Unless of course I’m mistaken and you were already supplementing.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Condo commando]

lol maybe I’m the one who misunderstood the question. Actually, I think I just kind of assumed that the raw was currently getting a supplement.


I think that is all you would have to do, rather than give a multi vitamin. Unless of course I’m mistaken and you were already supplementing.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

The only time I had an issue that needed something besides what was in the food was with a lymphoma kitty. Even then, I had to take her to the oncologist and they would run labs and only administer according to what showed up in her blood. She was blood tested every month.

The multivitamin I recommended is really just an over the counter thing.

 

[carakitty]

To clarify: Kitty Bloom is a supplement with "15 Vitamins, 10 Minerals, and Taurine" (from their website). It is intended as a supplement to help the absorption of what is in his current food plus a boost with immunity and general overall health.

Currently, I have tabs open to compare: Kitty Bloom, Alnutrin, Better in the Raw (now known as "Know Better"), and NuCat. There was another supplement that I was meaning to check out but now I can't seem to find the name of it. I need to get on to productively comparing these now, but did see there were more replies and wanted to come back to clarify.

 

[Condo commando]

@carakitty

Better in the Raw and Alnutrin are both "supplements for homemade diets." They are not to be given separately and doing so would be bad. So if you are not making food, stay away from these.

NuCat Multivitamin is what I would call a "true supplement" in that it is extra to whatever nutrients they get in their food. I think this is more like what Kitty Bloom sounds like.

To be honest I would just consult the vet to be safe.

 

[carakitty]

@carakitty

Better in the Raw and Alnutrin are both "supplements for homemade diets." They are not to be given separately and doing so would be bad. So if you are not making food, stay away from these.

NuCat Multivitamin is what I would call a "true supplement" in that it is extra to whatever nutrients they get in their food. I think this is more like what Kitty Bloom sounds like.

I may be a little confused. Do you mean to say that BITR and Alnutrin should not be used with such as canned or dry food? I don't make Uber's food in the sense that I buy the ingredients separately. It is a mix of Ground Beef, Ground Chicken, Ground Beef Heart, Ground Beef Liver, Ground Chicken Bone. (ingredients list copied from the Blue Ridge Beef website).

I don't know what we will end up going with at this moment. I emailed Alnutrin to see if they can send the Minimum Guaranteed Analysis for their product alone instead of as included in the recipes. It's kind of interesting, it seems like all these supplements have much lesser values of the Vitamins and Minerals than Kitty Bloom does. Along the lines of KB being 10x more per unit of each item with what they offer per serving. It's like a football stadium light compared to a flashlight!

 

[Condo commando]

I may be a little confused. Do you mean to say that BITR and Alnutrin should not be used with such as canned or dry food? I don't make Uber's food in the sense that I buy the ingredients separately. It is a mix of Ground Beef, Ground Chicken, Ground Beef Heart, Ground Beef Liver, Ground Chicken Bone. (ingredients list copied from the Blue Ridge Beef website).

BITR and Alnutrin should NOT be added to regular canned food or kibble. These are supposed to already be "balanced" so they already contain the right amounts of the vitamins and minerals that a cat needs. You don't want to mess with the balance by adding other stuff. In fact, too much vitamin A has been found to be toxic, as has vitamin D.

I don't know what we will end up going with at this moment. I emailed Alnutrin to see if they can send the Minimum Guaranteed Analysis for their product alone instead of as included in the recipes. It's kind of interesting, it seems like all these supplements have much lesser values of the Vitamins and Minerals than Kitty Bloom does. Along the lines of KB being 10x more per unit of each item with what they offer per serving. It's like a football stadium light compared to a flashlight!

I have been using Alnutrin for years now and I swear by it. If you look at their recipes, they clearly say that you must add liver. Liver contains vitamins A and D and if you don't add the liver, there is not enough vitamin A and D in the Alnutrin. To me this is perfect because I would rather feed my cats liver than have to rely on some artificial supplement. The flashlight is fine for me

BITR is different; you don't add liver. So it must include the vitamin A and D in the BITR. So you see, Alnutrin and BITR and not interchangeable. You have to figure out what meats and organs you're going to use, and then pick the right supplement. If the Blue Ridge product that you're using has liver (it says beef liver) then I would think that you should not use BITR.

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for extra supplements. I had a cat with lymphoma once that used to need certain things, but it was because of the cancer. A healthy cat is a different story.

And of course if you are making food at home, you will need to balance it with a supplement for homemade diets. Calling it a supplement makes it sound like it's optional, but it's really not IF you are making food.

I know too much vitamin A is toxic and same for vitamin D, so just be careful.

 

[Condo commando]

@carakitty
I looked up Blue Ridge Beef. They sell various products but I think the one you're using is Kitten Mix.

This is what they give for calcium and phosphorus in Kitten Mix:
Calcium – 145 mg/100g
Phosphorus – 216 mg/100g

That's a Calcium to Phosphorus ratio of 0.67:1 - the ratio is supposed to be between 0.9:1 and 1.5:1 with the middle being 1.2:1 ....we can see Kitten Mix needs more calcium.

It doesn't say how much vitamin A and D are in Kitten Mix, just that there's beef liver included. Liver has vitamins A and D, but it's impossible to know how much since we don't know how much liver.

I would rather buy the separate ingredients and mix them myself so I know everything. Hopefully this makes sense...