Excellent info on nutritional needs

[Davis]

I want to share these links with all of you on cat physiology and dietary/nutritional needs.  I have found them to be extremely helpful.  Well worth the read.  They will give you a much better understanding of what a cat truly needs to be healthy and why:

http://www.maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm
http://www.bright.net/~zimm1/whysupp/
http://www.healthycatscare.com/cat-diet.html

[Mary K]

Davis, Thank you. I have now read all 3. The Feline Nutrition link with daily vitamin and mineral requirements was helpful and I printed it out. Now to convert IU's/ug's/mgs/mcgs/DM's will take me a bit. You have an eye for finding good articles, especially the Nutrient Profiles. Say, Taurine isn't on the profiles list, although I did see it mentioned in the articles. It all makes you want to resume canned foods (sort of).

[Davis]

I'm really glad the links were helpful.  I just posted some nutrient charts for various cat foods too. 

Nice to see you on the forum Mary. 

[diffuse]

catinfo.org was really helpful for me, too, in explaining certain dietary requirements (& why dry food & grains are bad for cats, for example). i'll go check out those links you posted. thanks.

[janielaurel]

Taurine is a no-brainer if you feed your cat a raw diet. In my pet foods book, I made a note about Taurine and its importance, especially to cats, because they don't process it out of their food as well as dogs do.

All raw meats are a good source of taurine, which is an essential amino acid. Chicken seems to be the best source in terms of muscle meats, but since taurine is more liberally found in areas of the body where there is electrical activity, the heart, eyes and brains are an excellent source of taurine. Taurine also plays an important role in maintaining the health of your pet’s brain, heart, breast, gall bladder, and kidney. Taurine helps with brain and nervous system issues such as epilepsy. A deficiency of taurine can be a contributing factor in inflammation or swelling, hyperactivity, hypoglycemia, blindness, and death.

doesn't say much for buying canned food, does it? The taurine is found in RAW meats, especially organ meat. it is practically non-existent in processed and canned foods.

[mel_t]

Janielaurel - can you reference the book you mention please?

RE: Taurine - lack of taurine causes in cats is Dilated Cardiomyopathy.  Very, very important to ensure cats get enough taurine.