![]() If the meat is cooked in water (boiled or steamed), it will lose more taurine than if it were baked. Therefore, during any type of processing (including cooking) some taurine can be lost in the water. This would result in a recommendation of 250mg per 1000kcal or 0.1% of dry matter for a diet at 4000kcal/kg.Ĭontrary to popular belief, taurine is not destroyed by cooking. One study recommended using the same guideline as for kibble for a raw diet, as raw diets contain bacteria that are susceptible to destroy taurine. However, a future study showed that rabbit is a type of meat particularly low in taurine: the taurine quantity in rabbits is inferior to the recommended allowance defined by the NRC for a purified diet, which would explain the taurine deficiency when cats were only fed with rabbits. In one study, cats were fed a diet made of whole ground rabbits and developed a taurine deficiency. įor a raw diet, it gets more complicated as there is no official recommended value. Similarly, dry food also contains Maillard products and high fiber levels. Canned food contains higher levels of Maillard products, which explains why it has the highest requirement for taurine. ![]() The bacteria will degrade the taurine and make it again unavailable for the cats. These products are less digestible than untreated proteins and they favor the development of bacteria that degrades the taurine in the gut. Regarding heat processing, the cooking of certain proteins with sugars results in the creation of Maillard products. High levels of proteins increase the taurine requirement, as well as low-quality proteins. In fact, some fibers such as rice bran or protein compounds can bind with the taurine in the small intestine and make it unavailable for the cat. These elements are mainly the amount and type of fiber and proteins, and the degree of heat processing of the diet. In fact, some elements of the diets can reduce the availability of taurine. This difference is to account for the bioavailability of taurine in the different diets. The recommended allowance defined by the NRC is 100mg of taurine per 1000kcal for a purified diet, which is a highly digestible diet used in nutritional studies to determine nutrient requirements.įor dry food such as kibble, the NRC recommends 250mg per 1000kcal (equivalent to 0.1% on the dry matter for a 4000kcal/kg diet).įor wet food such as canned food, the NRC recommends 425mg per 1000kcal (equivalent to 0.17% of dry matter for a 4000kcal/kg diet). There’s no one-size-fits-all answer regarding the nutrient requirement of cats in taurine: it depends on the cat’s diet. Taurine plays a role in many body functions such as growth, reproduction, sight, heart function, neuromodulation, immune response, fetal development…Ī deficiency in taurine will lead to feline central retinal degeneration and blindness, dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure which will result in the cat’s death, and other disorders such as inadequate immune response, poor neonatal growth, poor reproduction, congenital defects…Įxcess taurine is non-toxic as it is excreted through the urine. Essential means that cats, contrary to dogs, cannot synthesize it and so it must be provided in their diet. ![]() Taurine is an essential amino acid for cats (more precisely, it is a beta-amino sulfonic acid). In today’s article we are going to talk about taurine: what is it, why is it so important, and the question that everyone asks: should I add taurine to my cat’s raw diet?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |