Taurine Content In Cat Food

Taurine comes from animal based protein.

Taurine content in cat food.

Unlike other mammals cats do need this amino acid to be present in their organism. So you will have to look for high animal protein content food so that your cat gets more taurine. 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. Unfortunately cats cannot synthesize sufficient amounts of taurine from other amino acids for their body to properly function.

When it says for example taurine 0 10 min that means that taurine will be almost exactly 0 10. It s because cooking destroys up to 2 3 of the taurine content in foods. The aafco lists 2 as the minimum for canned wet. 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.

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. While i can t find a quick answer it is in the guaranteed analysis of each food. Most cat foods have about 0 2 taurine. 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. Taurine is an essential amino acid produced by most mammals in the body in the liver itself. Formerly wild cats ate rodents and ingested the taurine stored in rodents brains. Maybe just the tiniest bit higher so that they never mess up.

These include protein source dietary fiber levels food processing sulfur containing amino acid content and the metabolic needs of the individual cat. Recommended ranges for an average cat fall between 35 and 250 mg a day. A little goes a long ways when it comes to most minerals like taurine. It s difficult to overdose the pet as excess taurine isn t stored but excreted.

If you ever start looking at taurine content in cat food you might come away thinking that it all sounds pretty small. According to other studies for every 2 2 pounds of food consumed it s recommended that cats consume 1000 mg of taurine. Cats belong to the carnivores and are therefore pure carnivores. The average cat needs about 1000mg of taurine for every 2 2 pounds of food or roughly 100mg per day.

So trust your kitty s appetite and feed him a raw food diet of beef lamb chicken fish or shrimp. Look at the ingredient description when buying.