Complete or complementary: what the label on a cat tin means

Turn a tin of cat food around and, somewhere near the ingredients, you will find one of two words: complete or complementary. Most people never look. It is worth a glance, because the two words mean quite different things, and both can have a place in the bowl.

What "complete" means

In Europe, a food labelled complete has been formulated to cover everything a cat needs every day: protein and fat, but also the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients (taurine, calcium, vitamin A and many more) in the right amounts and proportions. A cat can eat a complete food as its only food, for life, and get everything it needs.

Most kibble is complete. Some wet foods are complete too; it says so on the label.

What "complementary" means

A complementary food is made to be eaten alongside a complete one. It is not designed to provide every nutrient on its own. Treats are complementary. So are many tins, including our 70 g fillets.

Complementary does not mean lower quality. Our fillets are whole pieces of fish or chicken, cooked in their own broth, with nothing added to hide what they are. What makes them complementary is not what is in them, but what is not: they are not formulated to balance every vitamin and mineral a cat needs over the long term. That is what a complete food is for.

What a fillet brings to the bowl

• Real meat or fish, in pieces you can see, with a high share of animal protein.
• Water. Our fillets are 76% moisture: a 70 g tin brings about 53 ml, which matters for cats, who tend to drink little (more in Cats and water).
• Taste and smell. For many cats, the best part of the day.
• Taurine, naturally. Meat and fish naturally contain taurine, an amino acid cats need.

The different ways owners combine them

Every cat and every household is different. These are the usual ways people feed fillets:

• A complete kibble as the base, fillets on top. The most common combination. The kibble covers the nutrients, the fillet adds water and pleasure. Reduce the kibble a little to make room for the fillet.
• A complete wet food for some meals, fillets for others. For cats that prefer wet food, a complete wet food can be the base instead of kibble.
• Fillets as a treat or a topper, now and then, next to whatever complete food your cat already eats.

Whichever you choose, our feeding calculator works out how much of each to serve, including with a kibble from another brand.

If your cat eats mostly fillets

Some cats refuse everything except fillets, and some owners are simply happy to give them. If that is your cat, it is worth knowing that a diet made mostly of complementary food may not cover everything over time, even if your cat looks perfectly well. If its weight, coat or energy changes, that is a good moment to look at the diet as a whole.

If you would like to introduce a complete food, a few things often help:

• Mix a little into the fillet, and increase very slowly, over several weeks if needed.
• Moisten kibble with the broth from the tin, so it smells familiar.
• Try a different texture or recipe of complete food; cats can be particular.

In short

1. Complete food covers all of a cat's daily needs on its own.
2. Complementary food, like our fillets, is made to go with a complete food.
3. Fillets bring real meat or fish, water and taste; the complete food brings the full balance.
4. Kibble plus fillets, complete wet food plus fillets, or fillets as a treat: the feeding calculator splits the day.
5. If your cat eats mostly fillets, keep an eye on weight, coat and energy.

Your cat, of course, has its own view on the matter, and it does not involve reading labels.