Question about Taurine

nekoha

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We feed both our cats RC S/O Moderate Calorie and half a can of wet per day. In the US, I got about half fish and half other meats (chicken liver pate, beef, etc) for the wet. Well, here in Japan there is almost NOTHING except fish for wet! I asked my DH to find out if they add taurine to the wet, as I have read that not having enough taurine in the diet can cause blindness, but the only thing it says is "amino acids" and I know taurine is an amino acid. The vet here does not seem worried about their diet, and I do feed beef or chicken at least twice per week (that also just says amino acids, not specifically taurine.)
Any thoughts?
 

otto

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What are the canned brands you are feeding? Is there a GA (Guaranteed Analysis) on the label? That should list the taurine content.

Taurine is very important to cats and their eye health, as you've read. Their body does not manufacture it, that's why it has to be added to their diet.

(It's also one of the reasons cats cannot live on dog food. Dog food does not contain enough taurine, because dogs don't need it added to their diet, their body makes it for them)

If you give us the names of the foods, maybe we can hunt down the nutritional info for you.

If your cats are eating SO for urinary tract problems they should not be having any fish at all.
 
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nekoha

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Originally Posted by otto

What are the canned brands you are feeding? Is there a GA (Guaranteed Analysis) on the label? That should list the taurine content.

If your cats are eating SO for urinary tract problems they should not be having any fish at all.
The canned food is all Japanese. There is no GA on any labels. It lists name and ingredients only and all in Japanese, which my husband can read but I can't.
We feed two brands and lots of flavors/styles. One I think is pretty bad but is the only non-fish we can get: Mon Petit.
The brand name of main one that we feed is Aixia.

From one can of gelee style translated by DH:
Give one can at a time twice per day with dry food.
Ingredients: Tuna, dried bonito, oligosaccharide, polysaccharide thickener, Vitamin E.
Nutritional Breakdown: Crude Protein: >14.0% Crude Fat: >0.5% Crude Fiber: <0.5% Crude Ash Percentage: <2.0% Water: <83.0%
Only uses natural ingredients.

Why would no vet ever have told me not to feed them fish? They have been on S/O for about 5 years now and every vet knew I fed lots of fish because that was their favorite. Even in the States we fed the seafood and/or fish flavors 2-3 times a week and gave katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) as snacks, and our vets knew it!
 

otto

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Well if they are eating fish all these years with no problems, then I guess you don't need to worry.
Perhaps the quality of the food/freshness of the fish is so high it doesn't matter.

One of the reasons for the no fish rule is that fish and seafood in many cat foods is not of the highest quality or prime cuts. So it's full of metals and things that are really bad for cats and especially bad for cats with UT problems.

I feed no fish or seafood to my cats. Tolly loves it and does not have UT problems, but Mazy loves it and DOES hav UT problems so to keep things simple I ahve just eliminated fish cat foods all together.

But of course I have a much wider variety to choose from than you do.

Ask your husband to write to the manufacturer of the foods and request a breakdown of the nutrients and their percentages. He should specify that he wants ALL info, not just what is on the can.

This is the info you want to know:

Protein\t
Fat\t
Carbohydrate
Crude Fiber\t
Calcium\t
Phosphorus\t
Sodium\t
Potassium\t
Magnesium\t
Taurine\t
Vitamin E
 

strange_wings

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Mon Petit looks like Fancy Feast, in fact that's what everything on it reads like. It even has the fancier varieties, too (under the name Ensemble).
It is made by Purina.

...for some reason the soup is really amusing to me.


Have you ever given this one as a treat? http://www.purina.jp/monpetit/cream/index.html


And Aixia is aware how important taurine is. What are the names of the particular products and flavors that you use of theirs? If you go to their site, look for the particular product, it will have some information on each and some little "icons". The one shaped like an eye is about taurine. In fact the Aixia site lists quite a bit about their foods. You did look there first?
 

sharky

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I have Found that fish is manufactured very differently country to country... This processing can make it easier on the cats system.
 

strange_wings

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ETA: Instead of debating what's used, read the site.

Aixia lists the fish they use and parts for many of the foods,(mostly varieties of tuna, though) they even list calories. http://www.aixia.jp/products/index.php If there's at least one other person on here who can read it... Nekoha: the fish used is in katakana, so you should be able to read that.


ETA: For the Aixia foods, after looking through all of them for cats, you need to look up each food. Some are more of a treat and thus not as balanced as the ones that are for regular diet. Sort of like how Sheba is in the US.
They further go to list the benefits of each food, some are considered urinary safe foods, too.
 

ducman69

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Originally Posted by sharky

I have Found that fish is manufactured very differently country to country... This processing can make it easier on the cats system.
AFAIK, the bigger issue is what species of seafood is being served. Some are just naturally very high in mercury, and kitties were definitely not deep sea diving for giant tuna in any point during their evolution, lol!

Japan has a huge fishing industry though, so I'm sure all the undesirable catches are just processed for pet food as its more economical than importing chicken.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Ducman69

AFAIK, the bigger issue is what species of seafood is being served. Some are just naturally very high in mercury, and kitties were definitely not deep sea diving for giant tuna in any point during their evolution, lol!

Japan has a huge fishing industry though, so I'm sure all the undesirable catches are just processed for pet food as its more economical than importing chicken.
Fyi - You do realize Only One species of cat is actually known for eating fish in the wild as a regular part of its diet..When someone says seafood I automatically think crustaceans which I avoid being anything but a itsy bitsy part of my cats diets .. Mercury is one worry , Pcbs and other heavy metals and toxins are also things to consider
 
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