Do Cats Need Vitamins? A Vet-Approved Guide to Cat Supplements

You pop biotin supplements to grow your hair, chew collagen gummies to stave off wrinkles, and stir adaptogens into your coffee for mental clarity. Isn’t your cat entitled to whatever superfood du jour promises them eternal youth, too?

Before you slip a supplement into your cat’s kibble, confirm with your vet that your cat doesn’t have health concerns and that there is no potential for a medication interaction. Read on for a complete breakdown of cat vitamins and supplements and when you should consider giving them to your cat. 

Main Takeaways

• Most cats don’t need vitamins at all. A complete, AAFCO-approved commercial diet already covers their needs, and extra vitamins can throw off their nutrient balance.

• Fish oil and joint supplements are the two most likely to get a vet’s okay, especially for cats dealing with skin, coat, or joint issues.

• Having more vitamins isn’t always better. Overdoing certain vitamins, such as A or D, can lead to serious problems, including liver or kidney damage.

• Always check with your vet first.

Do cats need vitamins and supplements?

First, vitamins are a type of supplement, but not all supplements are vitamins. Although some supplements are commonly recommended for cats, vitamins rarely are. 

“Humans take vitamin supplements because most of us have terrible diets,” Dr. Angela Rollins says. “[But] most commercial cat foods are actually high-nutrient diets that don’t need extra vitamins or supplements. Calcium and phosphorus should also be in correct proportion to each other, so giving your cat a vitamin supplement with extra phosphorus could throw off that balance. You may end up overdoing certain nutrients and introduce the potential for toxicity.”

Mauro Grigollo / Stocksy/

Commercial dry or canned diets are well-balanced and regulated by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, or AAFCO, which ensures these diets meet the nutritional needs of the pet species and the life stage that the food is intended for, so no vitamin supplementation is needed.

That said, Rollins adds, “Most pet vitamins tend not to be very potent because manufacturers know they are being given in addition to an already complete and balanced diet.” Supplements show the most promise (and proven results) when cats have health conditions or vitamin deficiencies — from omega-3 fatty acids’ heart-health benefits to antioxidants’ ability to fight chronic inflammation. You should still choose wisely: Read labels to ensure quality, and look for brands that ideally have clinical studies backing their products.

When a veterinarian might recommend supplementation

Your cat’s diet most likely has everything they need in it, so they should only be offered a supplement if we know there’s a problem or deficiency that a supplement can improve.  Here are a few cases where that might apply:

• Medical issues: In some rare cases, cats may have a disease or disorder that keeps them from absorbing vitamins or other nutrients from their diet.

• Homemade diet: Homemade and raw diets will very commonly need multivitamin supplements mixed into these diets to meet all nutritional needs for cats. If you’re interested in feeding your cat a homemade diet — talk to your cat’s vet as well as a board-certified veterinary nutritionist. They can create a diet plan for your cat that meets all their nutritional needs and will almost certainly ask you to purchase one or more vitamin supplements, too.

• Targeted support: Vets are more likely to recommend non-vitamin supplements for specific issues, such as joint health, skin and coat health, immune support, and anxiety relief.

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Key types of cat vitamins and supplements

Essential vitamins

Essential vitamins are those your cat absolutely needs for all their body systems to develop and work. Deficiencies in any nutrient will have an effect on the body — and what exactly is essential is debatable sometimes — but for cats, the key vitamins are A, B, D, E, and K. 

• Vitamin A is needed for healthy eye development and maintenance, and does the same for bone and muscle tissues. 

• B vitamins (there are many types) are needed for a healthy metabolism. If a cat doesn’t have all the B types they need, they can’t absorb nutrients from their food. 

• Vitamin D, which cats have to get from their diet and cannot get from the sun like humans can, balances calcium and phosphorus levels for healthy bones and teeth. 

• Vitamin E is an antioxidant. As long as your cat is eating a commercial diet with an AAFCO statement, and your vet hasn’t identified a vitamin E deficiency or health issue that benefits from more antioxidants, they don’t need antioxidant supplements most of the time. (It can get confusing when companies switch between different names for the same thing.)

• Vitamin K is helpful for blood clotting and maintaining bone health. Cats with bleeding disorders or injuries may need a vitamin K supplement. 

Essential fatty acids for skin, fur, and coat health

For cats, essential fatty acids are also known as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Their bodies cannot make these from other fats and need to get them from their diet and/or from supplements. 

Cats, as obligate carnivores, must get them from animal sources (rather than from plants). Although other animals easily convert omega-3 and -6 fatty acids into what their bodies need, cats often do this poorly. So, for cats in particular, omega-3 and -6 fatty acid supplements are super-important and likely to have a positive health benefit for them. The most common type of omega supplement for cats is fish oil. 

Consuming enough essential fatty acids helps almost every part of a cat’s health, but we often talk about how important they are for skin, hair coat, heart, and joint health.

Joint supplements

Joint supplements help repair or maintain the cartilage in a cat’s joints, keep those joints well lubricated, and decrease inflammation that comes from conditions such as arthritis. Although joint supplements often become a point of discussion with your vet once your cat becomes a senior or shows signs of arthritis (like slowing down, having new difficulty jumping, and playing less actively), they do a much better job of maintaining a joint’s health than they do of repairing what’s already been eroded. It’s usually a good idea to start talking to your vet about joint support supplements for your cat once they’re one year old. 

The big three joint supplements to know about are:

• Glucosamine (chondroitin +/- MSM)

• Green-lipped mussel extract

• Omega-3 fatty acids

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Probiotics for digestive and behavioral support

A cat’s digestive tract has a large variety of bacteria and other organisms — all in different parts, all doing different things. This is pretty consistent in a cat with good gut health, but cats whose population of gut bacteria (or microflora) is out of whack may struggle with:

• Diarrhea

• Vomiting

• Anxiety

• Poor coat health

• Belly pain

• Urinary tract disease and pain

Probiotics provide more beneficial bacteria to a cat’s digestive tract, supporting the normal function and variety of that microflora. The problem: Just because a cat eats a dose of good bacteria doesn’t mean it goes where it needs to go, in the levels it should, and to do the things it needs to do in a cat’s gut. 

Your vet can help you determine if your cat would benefit from a probiotic for digestive or behavioral support, or if they need additional or other supplements to support the gut microbiome, such as added fiber or anti-inflammatories. They’ll also help you pick out one best designed for your cat’s needs. 

Taurine and critical amino acids

Cats, being obligate carnivores, must get several of their essential nutrients from animal sources, rather than from plants. They cannot join us in a no-meat Monday — they have to eat meat. 

One of the amino acids that they need to create proteins to keep their heart healthy is taurine. And they have to get enough of it from their diet — from animal sources. All commercial cat diets with an AAFCO statement have enough taurine in them to keep your cat healthy. (It is rarely a concern in raw diets as well.) But you may be asked to add more taurine into your cat’s diet if you feed them a homemade diet. 

Antioxidants

An explanation of antioxidants can be a little complicated, but bear with me…. 

When a cat’s body is under stress, more compounds can be created — in their cells, in their bloodstream, all throughout the body — that release chemically unbound “reactive oxygen species” (aka free radicals or ROS). Normal metabolism from eating or breathing creates more ROS.

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A cat’s body already has a large number of ways to snap up these free-roaming radicals through various proteins, enzymes, and more. We call the latter antioxidants because the unbound free radicals want to bind to them, which makes them less harmful. A normal, healthy cat’s body and diet are already rich in antioxidants. But when the amount of ROS is higher than the amount of antioxidants available, inflammation occurs. 

Chronic inflammation in cats due to extra free radicals in the body, caused by too much or too many stressors, is linked to things like:

• Faster aging

• Immune system suppression

• Inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease

• Heart disease

• Urinary tract inflammation

So, that all sounds horrible, right? The good news is that there are dozens of different antioxidants: They range from vitamin E and fatty acids to metals like zinc and iron, in addition to many, many other things. 

The important takeaway is that a separate antioxidant supplement is very rarely needed in cats. A commercial feline diet already contains enough vitamin E, zinc, iron, and various omega fatty acids to do the job — and supplements that help other conditions are also usually antioxidants, too. Reducing stressors, treating underlying conditions, feeding your kitty a commercial diet, and talking to your vet about joint supplements will take care of your cat’s antioxidant needs. 

Even for a cat transitioning to a new home and feeling extra stress, steps towards anxiety relief and a consistent, balanced diet will do wonders for them.

Milles Studio / Stocksy/

Choosing the best supplements and vitamins for cats

Trying to figure out which brands adhere to rigorous standards and undergo third-party testing to prove their supplements are safe and effective?

Unfortunately, we don’t have a national regulatory body and set of standards for pet supplements. Many supplements that have proven health benefits in humans and dogs come with few, if any, studies proving they also work for cats. Proving that a specific dose is safe and effective is also tough. So, before giving your cat any vitamins or supplements, talk to your vet first.

The good news: You can check for the NASC seal. The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) is a nonprofit trying to develop state and federal standards for pet supplements. They also maintain a list of manufacturers committed to producing supplements in compliance with NASC standards. Those brands and products will, in turn, have a NASC seal on their labels. No seal doesn’t mean a product is unsafe, but it does make it easier to spot ones that meet a higher bar.

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How to give your cat supplements safely

Anything at a high enough quantity becomes toxic — even water, even air. Many vitamins, if given at even marginally high levels, especially over long periods of time, can cause damage, such as to a cat’s heart or kidneys. 

If your cat has a specific health condition that leads to them needing or benefiting from a supplement, your vet will help you determine this, decide which supplements to give, and how much is safe. They’ll know important information such as which type of administration is most effective, if it needs to be given on an empty stomach, if testing to monitor the levels of supplements in them is needed, and more. 

Commonly asked questions

Can I give human and dog supplements to my cat?

No, supplements made for humans or dogs are unsafe for cats. The amount of vitamins found in a single or multivitamin for dogs or people is almost certainly going to be way too much for a cat. Because cats rely so heavily on getting nutrients from meat rather than a variety of plants, vitamin deficiencies are incredibly rare if they’re eating a meat-based diet. Meanwhile, commercial diets are fortified with enough of the vitamins they may not easily get from meat. 

On the flip side, due to how small cats are and the sensitivity of their kidneys, liver, and heart, too much of any vitamin can cause serious health effects. Too much vitamin A, for example, can cause liver disease, while too much vitamin D can cause excess calcium to build up in the body. It is never safe to offer your cat vitamins that aren’t formulated for felines, nor is it a good idea to feed your cat a supplement without checking first with your vet. 

Can I give my cat a daily multivitamin?

Unless advised by your cat’s vet, you should never give a cat a daily multivitamin.

Do senior cats need extra vitamins?

Senior cats do not need extra vitamins. Everything in a well-formulated commercial diet for them will still meet their vitamin needs, though your vet may recommend other supplements, such as joint supplements. 

What vitamins help with cat shedding and fur quality?

Talking to your vet about potential underlying health conditions (such as allergies and parasites) is always important. They may recommend something like fish oil as a fatty acid supplement that helps support skin and coat health.

Are supplements needed for homemade or raw cat diets?

Yes, supplements are almost always needed for those feeding their cats a homemade or raw diet. 

References

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Cat vitamins & supplements: What do cats need? (2017). Purina. https://www.purina.com/articles/cat/health/nutrition/cat-vitamins-supplements.

Delaney, S. J., & Dzanis, D. A. (2018). Safety of vitamin K1 and its use in pet foods. Javma, 252(5), 537–542. AVMA Publications. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.252.5.537.

Fan, Z., Bian, Z., Huang, H., Liu, T., Ren, R., Chen, X., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Deng, B., & Zhang, L. (2023). Dietary Strategies for Relieving Stress in Pet Dogs and Cats. Antioxidants, 12(3), 545. MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox12030545.

Gorzelanna, Z., & Miszczak, M. (2024). Through the Intestines to the Head? That Is, How the Gastrointestinal Microbiota Affects the Behavior of Companion Animals. Pets, 1(3), 201–215. MDPI. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/pets1030015.

Liu, Y., Smit, M., Andrews, C. J., Corner-Thomas, R. A., Draganova, I., & Thomas, D. G. (2026). Evaluating the Efficacy of a Joint Supplement in Senior Cats Using Accelerometry and Machine Learning. Pets, 3(3), 40. MDPI. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/pets3030040.

National Animal Supplement Council | NASC. (n.d.). NASC. https://www.nasc.cc.

Yu, S., & Paetau-Robinson, I. (2006). Dietary supplements of vitamins E and C and β-Carotene reduce oxidative stress in cats with renal insufficiency. Veterinary Research Communications, 30, 403–413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-006-3269-5.

Zoran, D. L. (2002). The carnivore connection to nutrition in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 221(11), 1559–1567. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.2002.221.1559.