There is nothing in the world that a cat parent wouldn’t do to protect their baby. Our pets are considered a part of the family that you make sure to take care of. As many cat lovers know, taurine is essential for the health of cats and dogs. Taurine is an amino acid that, unlike many other amino acids, can be found in a free form in body tissues. Incorporating taurine into your canine’s diet is a critical task that every parent must consider. This amino acid is needed for normal heart muscle function and to enhance vision, reproduction process, and regulate digestion. Cats, dogs, and even humans require the set of basic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids for all body parts and processes to function properly. To understand the importance of taurine for cats, here are a few reasons why it’s extremely important to have sufficient amounts of this amino acid in their diets.

Taurine Deficiency

Cats are carnivores. Since taurine is found in animal meat, cats should be naturally getting enough of this amino acid in their diets in the wild. Domesticated cats, on the other hand, are at higher risk of suffering from a taurine deficiency since they are not consuming fresh animal meat. Therefore, to prevent taurine deficiency, you must ensure that your cat is getting enough taurine by using the right supplements and food choices to support its absorption.

Taurine Importance

Cats are essentially wild creatures that managed to depend on themselves for so long out there in the wild to get all the essential nutrients their bodies need. The cat body requires about 23 amino acids to enjoy optimum health. While they can independently get enough of about 12 amino acids their bodies naturally produce, taurine is one of the 11 amino acids that must be obtained from their diets. While taurine is required in a lot of natural processes that go down in their bodies, the clear benefits manifest in the reproduction process. Without sufficient amounts of taurine, pregnant cats might suffer from a few complications as taurine is essential for kittens’ healthy growth.

A Healthy Diet

For some people, depending on dry and wet canned food options is a risky game. While these options usually contain all essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids our canine friends need, they still come with a few disadvantages that pushed many cat parents to switch to home-made diets. However, bear in mind that not all brands and cat food chains care to ensure that their products have sufficient amounts of essential vitamins. So, even if you have decided to only base your fur baby’s diet on canned foods, you need to make sure that it has enough taurine and other essential vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, if you are always mixing and matching home-made meals that are created with your cat in mind, you need to make sure that you are providing your canine baby with all needed vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that they can’t easily get on their own.

Taurine Deficiency Risks

• Busy cat parents sometimes depend on a certain canned food option without knowing that they might not be sufficient for their cat’s growth and health. Taurine deficiency is one of the stubborn deficiencies that might not manifest clearly in their symptoms until it’s a bit too late. Here are some symptoms to look out for in order to be able to recognize and deal with this deficiency.
• Blindness: One of the main reasons why many stray cats suffer from blindness is not getting enough taurine in their diets. Without this essential amino acid, the cells in the retina of cats eyes might not be able to properly develop and function in order to prevent the risk of blindness in our canine friends.
• Heart Disease: Over time, when cats are consistently not getting enough amounts of taurine, especially after going through pregnancy, older cats might become at higher risk of developing heart disease and suffer from poor heart functions as a result of a taurine deficiency. The lack of taurine can affect heart muscles to weaken over time, thus leading to heart failure.

Decreased Reproductive Performance

Even though neutralizing your cat is extremely important to limit the suffering and the risk of a few serious conditions, it’s still essential to ensure that the reproductive system is functioning properly for the overall health of cats.

There are a few vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that must be incorporated into your canine friend’s diet to ensure healthy growth and development. Without meeting their daily nutrient needs, cats might become at higher risk of developing a few serious conditions. Therefore, it’s essential to pay attention to your fur baby’s diet to make sure that they getting enough of what their bodies need.