Vitamin A

Why this ingredient is used

Vitamin A (retinol) is essential for vision, immune function, skin health, and reproductive function in all pet species. Dogs can convert plant beta-carotene to vitamin A but cats cannot - cats are strict retinol-dependent and must receive preformed vitamin A from animal sources (liver is the richest natural source). Vitamin A is one of the few nutrients where too much is as dangerous as too little: hypervitaminosis A causes bone deformities, particularly in cats fed raw liver diets without portion control. Commercial pet food adds synthetic retinol acetate at calibrated doses (typically 5,000 to 25,000 IU per kg of food).