For a daily safe barf and homemade diet
A homemade diet, simple and easy to prepare, store and distribute, must contain few ingredients. This means that each ingredient provides a majority of a family of essential nutrients. In a home prepared ration, meat or fish provides protein, cooked vegetables provides fiber and volume, rapeseed (or soybean) oil provides essential fatty acids, other fatty acids can be added by fish oil capsules, starchy foods provide calories, and the mineral and vitamin supplement, Vit'i5, provides micronutrients that other ingredients do not provide, even if dairy and brewer's yeast are added.
Thus, Vit'i5 provides almost half of the nutritional needs. These are the micronutrients (calcium, possibly phosphorus, 12 vitamins, 6 trace elements), so very small quantities, but nevertheless quite essential to keep dogs and cats healthy.If we compare the place of the ingredients, adding Vit'i5 is as important as bringing the meat.
If meat is removed, one will see deficiencies faster (because it provides calories and protein), but the consequences of not bringing Vit'i5 will be just as real. It will solely be obvious less quickly.
Dr Géraldine Blanchard's interview, a specialist in veterinary nutrition
Dr Géraldine Blanchard is DVM doctor in veterinary medicine, doctor in nutrition (PhD), board certified in France and in Europe, being a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition
She answered a few questions below
Dr Blanchard, why Vit'i5, why specific fomulation of mineral vitamin supplements while there was already supplements on the market?
G.B. Yes and no. The Vit'i5 range of mineral and vitamin supplements is specifically formulated to balance the intake of meat or fish in the diet of domestic carnivores (dogs, cats, ferrets).
When the diet is homemade, Vit'i5 is an ingredient, just like meat, oil, vegetables.
When the diet is composed of dry or canned complete food, AND additional meat or fish, Vit'i5 allows to balance meat and fish because complete foods do not compensate for this unbalanced intake.
It is therefore a question of providing what the major ingredients do not bring: minerals, trace elements, vitamins. Mineral and vitamin supplements already existed, but were not adapted according to current scientific knowledge.
- For growing ones, reproductive females and young adults, an exceptional supplement, with calcium and phosphorus (Vit'i5 Orange) has been formulated to cover all needs, especially micronutrients missing in a homemade diet made of meat/fish, oil and vegetables. Even if you bring brewers' yeast and dairy.
- For the elderly, or at any age with renal insufficiency, the protection of the renal function requires a reduction in the supply of phosphorus. The final Ca:P ratio in the diet shall then approach or be greater than 2. Meat provides phosphorus, but no calcium. Meat is the best source of protein, and all amino acids, absolutely essential to life, health, immunity, digestion... We therefore need a supplement that contains vitamins, certain minerals, Calcium, but no phosphorus. However, there was NO supplement of this type on the market (until then it was necessary either to provide a supplement with phosphorus, which is harmful, or to provide two products, one with calcium, onewith vitamins, with a dosage not always suitable).
We therefore decided to create the supplement Vit'i5 BLEU (Vit'i5 Blue), to provide the best balance to these dogs and cats, by providing just the right amount of calcium and necessary all micronutrients without added phosphorus, to complete the homemade diet.
How can Vit'i5 BLEU be useful in case of renal deficiency? urolihiasis? Is it the same dosage in both situation? as in eldely?
G.B. This question is very relevant. In case of renal failure, we must adapt the amount of meat, oil, vegetables and rice, but also the mineral and vitamin supplement. It is always necessary to supplement with Calcium, without adding phosphorus, in order to target a final diet containing at least 2 times more calcium than phosphorus (naturally present in food). Other micronutrients, such as vitamins and trace elements, must be povided as they are in old animals, a bit more in reality. The need for group B vitamins is higher. However, all Vit'i5 supplements contain, in addition, in addition to guaranteed vitamins, brewer's yeast, an additional natural source of very easily assimilated B vitamins.
In the case of urolithiasis (kidney or urinary stones), once removed, to avoid their recurrence, a wet diet, is the most interesting. A tailored homemade diet is even more interesting. Balancing it requires bringing just enough Calcium to cover the amount of phosphorus already in the food (which, moreover, is low in the case of a balanced household diet). A supplement with Calcium without Phosphorus, such as Vit'i5 BLEU is the most indicated. We must finally drive the amount in order to reach a Ca:P ratio = 1, once equilibrium with Vit'i5 Ca has been achieved.
What other markable specificity can you mention about Vit'i5?
G.B. Formulating these supplements was an opportunity to achieve what was lacking in practice, a supplement that does not contain animal proteins, palatabiliy agent...nothin is hiden.
The only source of protein in Vit'i5 is brewer's yeast, which is very well tolerated and appreciated by dogs and cats. Indeed, some are allergic or intolerant to animal proteins or to different substances not always easy to identify. To identify these intolerances, we must often carry out eviction diets. Until now, these diets were unbalanced, because we did not know the components of mineral and vitamin supplements. We therefore chose a formula, with selected yeasts, but with no other addition.
It is a quality choice. This allows all dogs and cats, even the most sensitive, to be fed a homemade diet to access a balanced an complete daily diet.
There are also brewer's yeast cell wall...why?
G.B Indeed, walls of Saccharomyces cerevesiae have been added to help the digestive tract of dogs and cats to develop its natural defenses. It is a yeast whose walls contain elements (manno oligo saccharides) that stimulate local immunity, for helping the organism fighting against pathogens. These elements are not found in the homemade diet (meat+oil+vegetables+/-carbohydrates), we have chosen to add them to offer the best to these dogs and cats. Each choice in the formulation of the Vit'i5 range has been guided by the most recent scientific knowledge : find out more about the range.
What are the highlights of Vit'I5 Range ?
The PLUS of Vit'i5 supplements :
- All these supplements provide the minerals, vitamins and trace elements, essential to each ration that contains meat or fish, and are also a source of manno-oligo-saccharides (MOS).
- Formulated without animal protein, salt, sugar, starch, dye or added flavor, they are indicated even in case of allergy or diabetes.
- They are compatible with an organic diet
- They contain brewer's yeast and are naturally very popular with dogs and cats.
- Each 600g jar contains one 10 ml scoop and each 250g jar contains 2 5ml pods, suitable for easily dosing the amount of Vit'i5 to mix with the rest of the homemade diet.
- They are made in France, by licensed professionals.