Taurine & homemade cat food

Question
I take in abandoned and stray cats of many ages and physical conditions and would like to start preparing food at home to reduce cost and improve quality.  I understand that I must add taurine to anything I prepare as cooked meat and eggs do not contain this substance.  Can you recommend sources for taurine of a dependable quality?

Answer
Hi Tonie,

Aw, bless you for taking in these little ones. What a wonderful thing you do!

I use NOW brand 1000mg capsules. I use this brand because there are minimal additives in it, which is what you need to look at when choosing a brand.

Do you add a calcium source? Balancing the calcium to phosphorus ratio is *vitally* important for kitties. The calcium to phosphorus ratio should be approximately between 1.2:1 and 1.4:1. If you don't supply calcium, there will be an imbalance of this vital nutrient and cause catastrophic deficiencies and eventually death. Meat contains much more phosphorus than calcium, so that is why it is very important to supplement it in the correct amount. Sources of calcium can be eggshell powder, calcium carbonate, or bonemeal, to name a few that are the most bioavailable. In the recipe on this page http://www.holisticat.com/boneless.html for a boneless recipe, it will tell you how to calculate the calcium to phosphorus ratio. Sorry to harp on this, but it is really, really important to balance this ratio within acceptable ranges.

You should also supplement a B-complex vitamin (I use Jarrow B-Right because it is low odor), Vitamin E (I use a dry E vitamin with minimal additives), and either salmon or krill oil.

Eggs yolks are good, but you shouldn't use the whites unless you cook the whites. The whites bind with biotin and cause a deficiency of this B vitamin. A resource for more information: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/121/11_Suppl/S73.pdf

Ideally you should feed a raw diet, not cooked, because cooking depletes minerals and vitamins. But, if you do decide to cook the meat, please visit this site for more information: http://www.holisticat.com/Keeping-Cats-Well-Fed/ You will find a recipe for boneless, cooked, and bone-in raw diets and information on balancing the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

A bit more on the calcium to phosphorus ratio: different meats and different parts of an animal contain differing amounts of calcium and phosphorus. Here are a couple sites that will give you the calcium and phosphorus amounts in a lot of meats (including egg yolks - because they too, contain higher phos than calcium):
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/poultry-products/645/2 (this is for a raw fryer chicken with skin)
Darn, my link for the foodcomp (Dutch) site isn't working. It's a great site, too. Here's the link in case it is just busy:
www.foodcomp.dk/v7/fcdb_details.asp?FoodId=0142 (not sure what I looked up last there, but that is what will come up if the site is back up).

The link to Holisticat that I gave you will tell about what supplements to add and about the ca:phos ratio.

Well, this "book" has gotten long enough - sorry 'bout that. :) Oh! Talking about books, one that I highly recommend is by Sandy Arora "Whole Health for Happy Cats - A Guide to Keeping Your Cats Naturally Healthy, Happy, and Well-Fed" it is at the Holisticat site and you can also buy it from Amazon (great reviews on Amazon). http://www.holisticat.com/Books-N-Things/ There are recipes in the book, too, besides a ton of wonderful information pertaining to kitties to keep 'em healthy.

Done rambling...LOL If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask away.

Hugs 'n headbutts,

Jules