Vitamin A
Also appears on labels as: vitamin a supplement, vitamin a acetate, a acetate, beta-carotene, beta carotene, retinyl palmitate
Preformed vitamin A (retinyl acetate) or beta-carotene, the plant precursor.
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- Where it comes from
- Synthesis, or extraction from plant sources for beta-carotene.
- Why it's in the product
- Vision, immune function, and skin. Cats cannot convert beta-carotene to vitamin A, so cat food must supply the preformed version.
- Safety and toxicity
- Required, and one of the two vitamins where excess is genuinely toxic. Hypervitaminosis A causes painful bony changes, and the classic case is a cat fed a liver-heavy homemade diet, not a commercial food.
- Interactions and who should be careful
- Do not add a vitamin A supplement to a complete food without veterinary direction.
General reference, not veterinary advice. Dose, breed, and existing conditions change the answer, so talk to your vet before changing what your pet eats. Think we got this wrong? Tell us and we log it publicly.
Found in 302 scored products
Lowest scores first. Its presence here is not what drove those scores.
278 more scored products list this ingredient. Showing the 24 lowest-scoring.