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My cat eats homemade chicken. Should I give him a vitamin supplement?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Male | neutered | 7 months and 8 days old

I feed Calvin chicken thighs, cooked in low sodium chicken broth. I'm wondering if I should I be including a vitamin supplement as well?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on November 20th, 2016

Chicken thighs and chicken broth are okay to feed for a few days at a time, but this is not an appropriate long-term diet for a cat because it lacks a number of vital nutrients that cats need to be healthy. And unfortunately, balancing a homemade diet like this is not as simple as just adding a multivitamin. If you want to feed a home-cooked diet, I would recommend consulting with a veterinary nutritionist who can help you formulate a complete and balanced diet for him. You can also check out the website www.balanceit.com for help in how to balance a diet like this. Or, you could opt to feed a commercial diet like Purina or Iams since these are already complete and balanced without the need to add anything.

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Yes, I would be including a vitamin supplement as well. Chicken thighs alone are not a well balanced and complete meal for kittens, and it won't be reaching his nutritional needs. If you would like to feed Calvin a home cooked meal, I would have a consult with your vet first to discuss an appropriate and balanced diet. It's very hard to have a nutritionally complete diet for cats that is homemade, and the best way to try to achieve this is to consult with your vet to come up with a diet together. Until then, I would be giving him a dry kitten food as well with the chicken. That's because kittens require higher amounts of calories, protein, and calcium than adult cats, and a kitten food will provide this.

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