{"id":41063,"date":"2023-10-11T11:29:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T11:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/?p=41063"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:23:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:23:51","slug":"what-is-taurine-and-why-is-it-so-important-for-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/what-is-taurine-and-why-is-it-so-important-for-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffbWhat is taurine and why is it so important for cats?\ud83d\ude3a"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-93c0635ba51cae94d04d0e0fb111d090\">What is Taurine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-07fbf1e525a9945bb40726e8adfafc37\">Taurine is an amino acid found in foods of <strong>animal <\/strong>origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6cabb03ddb9b43efc2c49b2e64aeeb57\">What happens if there is a deficit?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-66ce43fa4af9bebbdcaef8d3429ec916\">Taurine deficiency leads mainly to <strong>heart problems<\/strong> (dilated cardiomyopathy) and <strong>visual problems<\/strong>, among many other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f05be1402329f39ddf19a0cc1138406d\">Why are cats most affected?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6ab81e74f46aa588a4f042623b0c4abc\">Both dogs and cats need taurine. The fundamental difference between the two is that <strong>dogs can synthesise taurine<\/strong>, <strong>whereas cats cannot synthesise the necessary amount<\/strong>, so it must be <strong>provided in their food<\/strong>, as it is an <strong>essential amino acid<\/strong> for them. This means that it is <strong>essential that it should be included in the diet<\/strong>. Otherwise, eye problems (such as blindness) and heart problems, as well as reproductive problems, growth problems in kittens and immunological problems can occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c31c417623ef43d3166312c14370bf52\">In the wild, cats do not usually have any problems, as <strong>the meat of the prey they hunt<\/strong> provides them with more than enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d099022d7e631a98312c7754d749f375\">So, it is not necessary to provide it in the diet for dogs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3398adc2846fc00a69d7365d5d8d09f2\">As we said, its intake in dogs is not so essential as they can synthesise it in sufficient quantity if they receive an adequate diet, but it could be indicated in breeds <strong>predisposed<\/strong> to suffer a deficit and therefore dilated cardiomyopathy, such as the Labrador or the Cocker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-90a04d5f83b6188661007307828000e2\">How do I ensure that my dog\/cat receives the necessary dose?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5943f096c852c069f299d96bcef9aaad\">Simple, by feeding it correctly. Quality feeds, by default, add the optimum amount of taurine according to need (dog\/cat).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a3856614fcff816b39c50245ce46e0f2\">In fact, the vast majority of feeds, including those of lower ranges, provide at least the <strong>minimum<\/strong> necessary, after a large number of dogs and cats died of unknown causes in the 70&#8217;s. It was later discovered that the cause was taurine deficiency. It later emerged that the cause was taurine deficiency. From that time on, pets began to be fed with animal feed, but this was of very low quality, incorporating a huge amount of cereal and very little meat to reduce costs. Under these conditions, even the dogs were not able to synthesise enough taurine and died of cardiomyopathies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c50137c156eed92c8f9b0f2530f55803\">How much taurine should my puppy\/adult cat&#8217;s food contain?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-95625ed750e80e76a483ae13e6e22d3f\">Kittens need to take a <strong>minimum<\/strong> of 300 mg daily, ideally in excess of 500 mg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cc20ad87fccdb9f2c1c9f9f94d090cc6\">The recommended dose for adult cats is 100 mg per kilo of body weight. In other words, if it weighs 3kg, you need <strong>at least<\/strong> 300 mg per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ff051f8d4e43bdce09c26345c9d15a14\">This is one of the reasons why you cannot feed your cat with dog food as a rule. It&#8217;s okay for him to peck a little (sometimes it&#8217;s unavoidable if they live together) but it is essential that he eats cat food as well, as dog food will not provide him with the taurine he needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-098bdf1d31e42712d9c0e92d8ac06525\">Special attention should also be paid to the feeding of natural cooked diets. Just as the BARF diet usually meets the necessary requirements as it is raw meat, if it is offered cooked, much of the taurine is lost through heat, so it would be necessary to supplement it once it is cooked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Taurine? Taurine is an amino acid found in foods of animal origin. What happens if there is a deficit? Taurine deficiency leads mainly to heart problems (dilated cardiomyopathy) and visual problems, among many other things. Why are cats most affected? Both dogs and cats need taurine. The fundamental difference between the two is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":41064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12],"tags":[24,21,25],"class_list":["post-41063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cats","category-health-and-hygiene-for-cat","tag-care","tag-cats","tag-taurine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43435,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41063\/revisions\/43435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenda.net\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}