Supplements for Sphynx Cats

Supplementation depends first on what you feed.

A complete commercial diet, whether raw or wet, should already contain the vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids a cat needs. The important word here is complete. Not every commercial raw or wet food is complete, and the actual amount of individual nutrients can vary between products.

If the manufacturer provides a full nutritional analysis, it is worth checking what is actually in the food rather than assuming that every complete diet contains exactly the same amount of everything.

Home-prepared raw is different. It needs to be properly balanced as a whole diet and will usually require supplementation. Adding a few vitamins or some taurine by guesswork does not make an otherwise unbalanced diet complete.

Taurine

Taurine is probably the one supplement worth discussing separately because cats have an absolute dietary requirement for it.

They cannot make enough taurine themselves to meet their needs and deficiency can have serious consequences, including retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy.

Complete commercial foods, including complete raw diets, should already contain adequate taurine, but the amount is not identical in every product. Where the manufacturer provides the taurine content, it makes sense to check it against current nutritional recommendations rather than simply assuming all foods provide the same amount.

Taurine is also a little different from many other nutrients because cats handle excess taurine relatively well. As dietary intake increases above requirements, urinary excretion increases substantially, and current FEDIAF guidelines do not set a nutritional maximum for taurine in cat food.

That still should not be taken to mean that unlimited amounts can be given. There is no benefit in adding huge doses simply because an upper nutritional limit has not been established.

With a home-prepared raw diet, taurine should be included as part of a properly balanced recipe. But taurine is only one part of that calculation. Adding taurine to a diet that is deficient in calcium, vitamins, minerals or other essential nutrients does not make the diet balanced.

There is also an important distinction when we talk about heart health. Taurine deficiency is a recognised cause of dilated cardiomyopathy in cats. There is currently no evidence that giving additional taurine to a Sphynx already receiving enough will prevent HCM.

Omega fatty acids

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are part of normal feline nutrition and a complete diet should already contain the essential fatty acids a cat requires.

Fish oil is sometimes added as a source of EPA and DHA, but it should not be treated as something every Sphynx automatically needs on top of a complete diet.

The amount already present in the food matters, and more is not automatically better. Increasing polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet also affects the amount of vitamin E required.

If fish oil is being added, choose a product that clearly states how much EPA and DHA it contains rather than using an unspecified amount of salmon or fish oil and assuming that all products are equivalent.

CoQ10

Coenzyme Q10 is often marketed as a heart supplement and some owners use it in cats with cardiac disease.

The problem is that evidence in cats is limited, and there is currently no good evidence showing that routine CoQ10 supplementation prevents HCM or offers a particular benefit to healthy Sphynx cats.

For that reason, CoQ10 should not be considered a routine Sphynx supplement.

Probiotics

Probiotics may be useful in some cats with specific gastrointestinal problems, but they should not automatically be added to every Sphynx diet.

Evidence in cats is still fairly limited and the effect depends on the particular bacterial strain and product being used. Different probiotics are not interchangeable simply because they all carry the same general label.

If a cat has an actual digestive problem, that is a much better reason to discuss an appropriate probiotic with a vet than adding one simply because the cat is a Sphynx.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an essential nutrient and a complete diet should already provide it.

It becomes particularly relevant when additional fish oil or other sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids are added, because increasing PUFA intake also increases the dietary requirement for vitamin E.

Vitamin E should not be routinely supplemented on top of a complete diet without first checking what the cat is already receiving.

What not to do

Do not supplement blindly.

A complete diet has already been formulated around a particular balance of nutrients, and adding more does not automatically make it better.

Some nutrients can absolutely be given in excess. Vitamins A and D are obvious examples, and even supplements that sound relatively harmless can alter the balance of the diet.

Taurine is somewhat different because cats readily excrete excess taurine and there is currently no established nutritional maximum in the FEDIAF guidelines. Even then, it is still worth checking how much the cat is already receiving before deciding that more is necessary.

If the diet is complete, additional supplementation may not be needed at all.

If the diet is home-prepared, the answer is not to build it supplement by supplement. The whole recipe needs to be properly formulated.

A note on quality

Not all supplements are equal.

Look for products with clear ingredient lists, named sources and proper dosage information. With products such as fish oil, the actual amount of the active nutrients matters much more than the name on the front of the bottle.

Avoid vague labelling and products that do not tell you clearly what they contain.

If you cannot work out exactly what you are giving, how much you are giving and why you are giving it, choose something else.