Taurine Content In Cat Food

A little goes a long ways when it comes to most minerals like taurine.

Taurine content in cat food.

Cats belong to the carnivores and are therefore pure carnivores. Recommended ranges for an average cat fall between 35 and 250 mg a day. A species appropriate prey model raw pmr diet is abundant in taurine it is important to note that heat destroys more than half about 65 of the taurine content and vegetables contain almost no measurable amounts of taurine. Unlike other mammals cats do need this amino acid to be present in their organism.

When it says for example taurine 0 10 min that means that taurine will be almost exactly 0 10. Taurine is an essential amino acid produced by most mammals in the body in the liver itself. Taurine comes from animal based protein. The aafco lists 2 as the minimum for canned wet.

You also can add small amounts 1 2 teaspoon per serving of nutritional yeast to your cat s diet to supplement his taurine intake if he is a particularly finicky eater. These include protein source dietary fiber levels food processing sulfur containing amino acid content and the metabolic needs of the individual cat. Most cat foods have about 0 2 taurine. If you ever start looking at taurine content in cat food you might come away thinking that it all sounds pretty small.

The average cat needs about 1000mg of taurine for every 2 2 pounds of food or roughly 100mg per day. It s difficult to overdose the pet as excess taurine isn t stored but excreted. Plant based proteins are avoided because they do not have enough amino acids that are essential for the cats which is easily found in animal based protein. So trust your kitty s appetite and feed him a raw food diet of beef lamb chicken fish or shrimp.

While i can t find a quick answer it is in the guaranteed analysis of each food. That doesn t sound like much but taurine doesn t have to be a major factor in your cat s diet. It s because cooking destroys up to 2 3 of the taurine content in foods. It is generally safe to assume however that if a cat food meets the requirements set by aafco cat food nutrient profiles the taurine content will be sufficient to avoid a deficiency.

Look at the ingredient description when buying. So you will have to look for high animal protein content food so that your cat gets more taurine. Maybe just the tiniest bit higher so that they never mess up. Taurine is one of the most important essential amino acids for the proper functioning of a cat s heart muscle vision digestive and reproductive system.

There is no precise feline requirement for taurine in raw cat food as many factors influence requirement levels. Another problem is that most cat food brands don t list taurine content in their guaranteed analyses.