Why We Formulate Differently for Cats

Because No, They're Not Just Smaller, Sassier Dogs

My cat Coco was a terrible patient.

Not because she was mean. She was a tiny, chunky tortie who squeaked instead of meowed and followed me around like a shadow. But the moment I tried to give her anything that wasn't her idea first? Absolute betrayal. Ears back, trust broken, hiding under the bed for an hour minimum. And cats don't forget. To Coco, a dropper coming at her face was a personal attack on par with rearranging the furniture.

I think a lot of us come to cat supplementation with dog brains. We assume we can just find the right product, dose it, give it, done. But cats operate on completely different rules. Their stress responses are different. Their metabolisms are different. And their relationship to novelty, especially around food, is basically the opposite of dogs. A dog will accept something new because you seem excited about it. A cat will reject something new SPECIFICALLY because you seem excited about it.

So when I think about feline formulation, I'm always asking two things: does the science actually translate to cats, and can we deliver it in a way that doesn't make their lives worse?

What Most Cat Parents
Are Dealing With

In my experience with Coco and the cat parents I've talked to over the years, feline wellness concerns cluster around three areas: mobility, urinary health, and behavior.

Mobility is the sneaky one. Cats are masters at hiding discomfort, so by the time you notice your cat isn't jumping onto the counter anymore, the underlying joint changes have usually been progressing for a while. They don't often limp the way dogs do. They just stop doing things. They sleep more. They groom less. They become "calmer" in ways that feel like normal aging but are actually compensation for pain.

Urinary health is the one that sends people into panic mode, and honestly, fair. Cats (especially cats eating dry diets) are prone to urinary tract inflammation, crystals, and stress-related bladder issues (yes, stress literally affects their bladders, and we'll get to that). Proactive support matters here because once problems escalate, you're in emergency vet territory fast.

So when we sat down to formulate for cats, those were the three areas we kept coming back to. Mobility, urinary health, and stress. And each ingredient in our feline formula CBD+CBDa oil is in there because it speaks to at least one of them, sometimes all three.

Astaxanthin and Why It Matters for Cats

This superstar ingredient is what gives our feline oil it’s bright red color, it’s a carotenoid, same family as beta-carotene, but structurally different in ways that actually matter functionally. It's what makes salmon pink and flamingos, well, pink. But unlike most antioxidants that can only work on one side of a cell membrane, astaxanthin spans the entire membrane. It embeds itself across the phospholipid bilayer and neutralizes free radicals from both the inside and outside simultaneously. Up to 6,000x more potent than vitamin C as an antioxidant, and it crosses both the blood-brain barrier and the blood-retinal barrier, which most antioxidants can't do.

Why does that matter for those three problem areas? Oxidative stress is involved in all of them. Joint cartilage degradation involves oxidative damage to chondrocytes. Urinary tract inflammation involves oxidative stress cascades in the urothelium. And chronic stress generates more free radicals systemically, which creates a feedback loop where anxiety drives cellular damage, which contributes to more inflammatory signaling, which makes everything feel worse. It gives the body more room to manage its own repair processes without being constantly overwhelmed. I think of it as clearing the backlog so the body can actually keep up.

CBDa, CBD, and Why the Ratio Matters

Cats metabolize cannabinoids differently than dogs and they seem to respond particularly well to CBDa, the raw, unheated precursor to CBD.

CBDa interacts with the endocannabinoid system and serotonin receptors in ways that are especially relevant for stress and inflammatory signaling. It also has superior bioavailability compared to CBD, meaning more of it actually gets where it needs to go rather than being metabolized before it can do anything useful. CBD and CBDa complement each other: CBDa hits specific receptor pathways while CBD supports the broader endocannabinoid system. You're covering more ground with both than you would with either alone.

The behavioral piece is where I saw the most noticeable shifts with my cat Coco. She went from overgrooming and hiding to just being a calmer version of herself. Not sedated, not zonked out. Still squeaky, still following me around, still deeply offended by the existence of the vacuum cleaner. Just less like everything was an emergency.

Cranberry (But Not for the Reason You Think)

Most people hear "cranberry" and think "UTIs" and assume it's about acidifying urine. The actual mechanism is more interesting than that. Compounds in cranberry called proanthocyanidins, PACs, may help prevent bacteria from adhering to the urinary tract lining. They make the walls slippery so bacteria can't get a foothold and get flushed out instead of setting up shop.

For cats, this matters because feline lower urinary tract issues aren't always bacterial. Sometimes it's sterile inflammation. Sometimes it's crystals. Sometimes it's stress-related, and feline idiopathic cystitis is a real and frustrating diagnosis where stress is a major trigger. Cranberry isn't a silver bullet for all of these, but supporting a healthy urinary environment is part of the longer game. Especially for cats who've had issues before or who run anxious (because, again, stress and bladder health are weirdly connected in cats).

Sardine and Pollock Oil: Palatability With a Purpose

Back to Coco being a terrible patient for a second.

Cats are imprint feeders. Whatever they're exposed to as kittens tends to define what they'll accept as food for the rest of their lives. Try introducing something new to an adult cat and you're often fighting uphill against years of established preferences. It's actually similar to our local Southern Resident orcas, who will only eat Chinook salmon even when other food is available. They don't recognize anything else as food. Cats can be the same way. If it wasn't in the rotation early on, it doesn't exist.

This is why so many supplements fail with cats. The supplement might work fine, but the cat won't touch it, so it sits in your cabinet until it expires and you feel guilty about wasting thirty dollars.

Sardine and pollock oils pull double duty. The omega-3s are doing real work for healthy inflammatory response and skin health. But they're also there because cats often recognize the smell and taste of fish, making it a bit of an easier ask. That said, the formula also contains CBD, CBDa, and astaxanthin, so even with a fish oil base, some cats will clock it as unfamiliar. And unfamiliar, to a cat, means suspicious at best and poison at worst.

Bottle of Austin and Kat CBD oil for cats with a cat sitting nearby, showcasing the product on a wooden surface.

How to Actually Give This to Your Cat

Do not, and I cannot stress this enough, do not squirt oil directly into your cat's mouth from a dropper. I know it seems efficient. I know some dosing instructions on CBD products read that way. Unless your cat is unusually tolerant (and if they are, congratulations, you have a unicorn), you're going to create a negative association that makes future supplementation harder. And cats hold grudges.

Add it to food. Twice daily with meals is the sweet spot. The oil mixes into wet food easily and a lot of cats won't even notice once it's incorporated. If your cat takes to it right away, great. You're done. Move on with your life.

If they don't, go smaller than you think you need to. A drop or two, mixed thoroughly into something they already love. You're not trying to hit the full serving yet. You're desensitizing them to the smell and taste so gradually that they never register it as new. Over a week or two, work up slowly. Most cats come around once it's just part of the routine and not some strange new event happening to their food. It's sneaky, but it's infinitely better than wrestling your cat twice a day and destroying your relationship in the process.

What to expect

Supplements won't reverse severe arthritis, resolve chronic urinary issues, or turn a deeply anxious cat into a zen master. They're one piece of a bigger picture that includes diet, environment, enrichment, and veterinary care. When Coco's anxiety was at its worst, supplements were only part of what helped. Catifying our space with more vertical hiding and climbing spots, establishing predictable routines, reducing household chaos, all of that mattered just as much.

But for cats who need a little extra support, whose joints are getting creaky, whose bladders are sensitive, whose nervous systems run hot, this is the kind of foundational care I wish I'd had access to sooner. Ingredients that may help support healthy function across multiple systems, delivered in a way that doesn't make supplementation another source of stress.

Coco deserved better than me chasing her around with a dropper. Your cat does too.

- Lilly

Hey there, I'm Lilly!

Lilly is the Director of Education and a member of the innovation team at Austin & Kat. With a background in biology and a decade spent formulating supplements and raw diets for the dogs in her life, she's on a mission to make natural pet care less confusing for everyone. Lilly shares her Gig Harbor home with Arya, a 10-year-old pit bull mix and three-time cancer survivor, and Floki, a 120-lb Anatolian Shepherd who thinks he's a lap dog.

Explore A&K College

What truly
makes us different?

When you give your pet Austin and Kat, you're not just giving them any supplement — you're giving them something I've personally obsessed over. As a former ironman athlete and race director - the source, quality, and ratio of ingredients in my supplements had a huge impact on my quality of life. I've brought that same mindset to everything we make today at our Seattle Makery™, and the results speak for themselves.

The Story of Austin and Kat Frequently Asked Questions