Cats are wonderful creatures that enrich your life with their presence. As responsible cat owners, it is important to ensure that your furry friends receive a balanced and healthy diet.
However, providing calcium is not always easy. In particular, pet owners who feed their pets raw food are faced with the question of how best to provide calcium to the animal's body.
In this article, we'll look at the best sources of calcium to ensure your cat is getting enough of this important mineral.
Why calcium is so important for your cat
Calcium is a crucial nutrient for the growth and health of cats.
It is a bulk element, as it is found in greater quantities than trace elements in the animal organism.
Calcium enables the following:
- Mineralization of bones and teeth, which ensures stability
- Regulation of the excitability of muscles, heart and nerves
- Activation of selected enzymes
Good to know
In addition to calcium, the bulk elements include chlorine, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur and sodium. They are all important for your companion.
The interaction of phosphorus and calcium
The animal body has a few tricks up its sleeve to achieve a balance. You may have heard of the bulk element phosphorus in connection with calcium. In fact, they work closely together to optimize your cat's bodily functions.
Calcium and phosphorus act as antagonists. The animal body has set itself the goal of bringing them into an optimal ratio. The hormones parathyroid hormone and calcitonin as well as vitamin D help to achieve this.
The organism can therefore compensate for a calcium deficiency in the short term, but if the deficiency persists over a longer period of time, the animal's organism extracts calcium from the bones and teeth. After all, it is trying to keep the calcium level at a normal level.
This depletion is negative, as it can affect the stability of bones and teeth.
As a pet owner, you can counteract this detrimental effect by adding sufficient calcium to the food.
Good to know
Cats can also react to too much calcium with their regulatory mechanisms. Certain amounts are also excreted in the feces. But beware: young animals are not yet able to make full use of the calcium regulation system.
Adapt the calcium supply to the age of the animal
The need for calcium depends on various factors. There are remarkable parallels to us humans here. Cats also need more calcium as they grow, which is why the requirement is significantly higher up to the age of 6 months.
Pregnant animals or those that are lactating also need more of this vital mineral.
There are many sources of calcium for cats, but almost all of them have disadvantages!
Let's now take a look at the best calcium suppliers for cats, starting with the natural ones and then the supplements.
However, we can already tell you now: Only a few of the calcium suppliers for cats are actually convincing in everyday life. This is because they either contain too little of the mineral or can cause intolerances.
That's why we're giving you a real insider tip at the end of this article: red algae in the form of algal lime.
Natural sources of calcium for cats
1. Bones
Bones are an excellent natural source of calcium for cats. Another advantage: they also contain a variety of other minerals and trace elements. In addition to calcium, bones also contain magnesium, manganese, zinc, sodium and phosphorus. This results in real added value, as your companion's body needs a variety of nutrients to be healthy.
You can give raw bones, such as chicken necks or wings. Make sure the bones are raw, as cooked bones can splinter and cause injury.
Also, the size of the bones should always be adapted to the animal's body mass. You should not feed pregnant bones, otherwise there is a risk of injury. It is particularly advisable to feed bones with meat on them. This stimulates the production of gastric juices and speeds up digestion.
Chewing on bones also helps to keep your cat's teeth clean and healthy.
However, you should also bear in mind when feeding bones: not every cat tolerates bones or is used to being fed bones. Bones remain in the animal's stomach for some time until they decompose. This can cause discomfort. Constipation cannot be ruled out either.
2nd alternative to bones: Bone meal
If you are worried that your cat will struggle with its bones, bone meal can be an alternative. This contains calcium in the form of calcium phosphate. You can either choose meat bone meal, which contains a clear proportion of meat, or crystalline bone meal, which is made exclusively from bones.
The calcium content in these products should be much higher than the phosphorus content.
This ensures that there is an optimum calcium-phosphorus ratio. This contributes significantly to your cat's health. Because only if the minerals are in a good balance will the organism, especially the kidneys, be spared.
3. muscle meat and offal
You can provide your pet with calcium with the help of muscle meat and offal.
If you feed your cat raw, you will meet this requirement anyway.
However, it is important to remember that even the best meat is not enough to fully cover the calcium requirement.
4. fish
Fish is not only delicious for cats, but also rich in calcium. Sardines, salmon and mackerel are particularly good sources of this mineral. Remove all bones before feeding to avoid injury.
5. dairy products
Dairy products such as yoghurt or quark can theoretically be a good source of calcium for your cat.
However, many cats cannot tolerate dairy products well and experience digestive problems.
If your cat has no problems with lactose, you can occasionally give it a small amount of yoghurt or quark as a treat.
However, milk and dairy products should not be used as the sole source of calcium in their original form. This is because they also contain too little of the mineral.
The situation is different with special cat milk that is enriched with calcium. Here the lactose content is also reduced to improve tolerance.
6. vegetables
Some vegetables also contain calcium and can be a healthy addition to your cat's diet. Green vegetables such as broccoli or spinach are good options.
Cook the vegetables before feeding to improve digestibility and ensure they are well absorbed by your cat.
The downside The disadvantage of vegetables is, on the one hand, the effort involved in preparing them and, on the other hand, you can't count on the calcium content of vegetables being sufficient to provide your cat with an optimal supply.
7. eggshell meal
Eggshells are ground very finely and are then available as meal. This allows your pet's body to absorb the minerals well.
Eggshell meal mainly contains calcium carbonate. Phosphorus plays a very minor role. That sounds negative at first. However, there are animals that benefit from such a ratio. These include cats with kidney disease or those that frequently suffer from urinary tract disease.
Eggshell meal is not suitable as the sole source of calcium for growing animals. The total phosphorus levels are too low.
Supplements
If you are unsure whether your cat is getting enough calcium from its regular diet, you can also consider calcium supplements. It is important to speak to a professional such as a veterinary nutritionist before giving your cat supplements to ensure you are using the correct dosage.
Calcium citrate
Calcium citrate is a salt of citric acid, which in turn forms a compound with calcium. The advantages of calcium citrate are that it is particularly pure and easy to digest and utilize. However, there is also a downside. As it is an artificially produced product, it does not contain any other minerals. This also applies to phosphorus, which is also required by the animal body in certain quantities.
You can use calcium citrate if your pet has a diseased urinary tract or kidneys and therefore needs to cut back on phosphorus. However, other minerals and trace elements should definitely be obtained from other sources.
Dicalcium phosphate
combines both calcium and phosphorus.
It is also often referred to as a mineral bone meal substitute. If your pet has an allergy, the use of dicalcium phosphate can make sense, as it is considered to be well tolerated.
Here too, however, you must make an effort to provide your companion with missing trace elements and minerals from other sources, as these are not contained in dicalcium phosphate!
Disadvantages of many common calcium suppliers for cats
Now you have received a lot of information from us about possible calcium suppliers. Perhaps you've already chosen the right source for you, haven't you?
That's not surprising, after all, all alternatives seem to have a catch.
Let's summarize again:
- Muscle meat and offal do not provide enough calcium.
- Fish can be difficult to remove bones from, often contains heavy metals and also does not provide enough calcium as the sole source of calcium
- Milk and dairy products are also often not well tolerated by cats.
- Not every cat eats or tolerates bones. They can also pose a risk of injury, especially for small animals.
- Bone meal does not always contain an optimal calcium-phosphorus ratio.
- Eggshell meal also contains very little phosphorus, which is also required.
- Calcium citrate cannot score points with other minerals.
- Dicalcium phosphate lacks selected minerals and trace elements.
As you can see, almost every caclium supplier for cats has disadvantages. But you only want to give your pet the calcium it urgently needs. in a safe, well-tolerated and sensible combination.
At this point we would like to recommend our favorite DANUWA source: Algae lime.
Algae lime - a real alternative to bones and co.
Why red algae are such a high-quality source of calcium
Red algae have made it onto the market as a superfood in recent years. This can be attributed to the fact that they are rich in minerals and well tolerated.
As a pet owner, you can give your cat algae lime as a supplement. This natural product combines calcium in the form of calcium carbonate, which is very well absorbed by the animal's body.
Dead red algae provide deposits from which algae lime is made. The fine powder is easy to feed and contains an excellent proportion of calcium as well as other minerals and trace elements. Algae lime is a real magnesium booster - it can contain up to 10 %.
It also contains selenium, zinc, iodine, silicic acid and copper. However, it is not only the good composition that speaks in favor of algae lime, but also the fact that such products are particularly well tolerated.
In contrast to synthetically produced calcium carbonate, the natural calcium supplier for cats is much better tolerated.
DANUWA algae lime - the special alternative
At Arktis BioPharma, we are committed to ensuring that your pet gets all the nutrients it needs with our DANUWA animal line. That's why our product range also includes algae lime as an excellent source of calcium.
We are happy to recommend our 100% natural product as a source of calcium to meet the needs of raw feeding. If you want to support barfing in a meaningful way or if your companion cannot tolerate bones, DANUWA Algae Lime is just right for you.
It is easy to dose, feed and absorb. It is also very well tolerated and suitable for sensitive animals.
It contains no unnecessary fillers or other ingredients. Only the red algae (Lithothamnium calcareum) with its wide range of vital substances ensures that your dog or cat is supplied with minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iodine. This is particularly important during growth.
Try out now how DANUWA algae lime can affect your pet's well-being.
