Can I feed this to my cat and just add Taurine? (Merrick 96% Before Grain Chicken Dog Formulation)

Have been saving a great deal of money by getting the larger Dog cans of the premium wet food formulas that are identical to their smaller cat labeled versions. (Nature's Variety Instinct, Merrick, etc.)

Unfortunately Merrick has changed their Dog formula and it no longer contains Taurine.

I won't be buying it any longer but since I have an entire case now I'm hoping one of the resident nutrition pros can look over the current ingredient

list and let me know if it looks fine as long as I add a pure Taurine powder supplement like this.

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Broth, Dried Egg Product, Natural Chicken Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate), Carrageenan, Cassia Gum, Guar Gum, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Sodium Selenite), Lecithin.
Also was hoping someone could tell me how much Taurine I should be adding if the above ingredients are acceptable. 

Thanks so much for your help! 

Well the lack of reply is not a problem because there is no way I'm going to feed the rest of this case anyway.

1) This was easily one of the worst smelling canned foods I've yet come across.

2) It was equally "aromatic" after passing through my feline friends, even when all they had was some of it mixed with their regular Nature's Variety Instinct! 

I wonder if it was that "egg product" ( :dk: ) that caused the smell.... ????

So annoying when they change the formula!

But just FYI, I don't see any ingredients in there that would be a problem for cats. And on a dry matter basis, the food is

45% protein
28% fat
6% fiber
I assume ash (minerals) are 2.5% on an as-fed basis
...which means carbs are about 10%

So from THAT standpoint, it's appropriate for a cat, and if you add the taurine, should be OK.

...sorry it didn't agree with them.

Since cats don't need salt, I'd be hesitant to feed that formula.

I was looking at that scenario with By Nature 95%,

since only the Dog food comes in the big cans.

All living creatures need salt. It's the amount that matters. In the wild, they naturally consume their prey's blood, and blood is very high in sodium. So they probably have a fairly high tolerance. Although trying to find out how much salt cats need is hard! But whatever amount is in there is probably OK. I agree it should be OK for cats if you add taurine. Too bad your kitties' tummies didn't agree!

The AAFCO minimum recommended amount of sodium for cats is 0.2%. There is no "max" amount, as there are for some things.

I don't see a full nutritional analysis of any of the foods on the website. :dk: Maybe I'm just missing it. http://www.merrickpetcare.com/merrick-products/merrick-products.php

Well, your local shelter will be happy to see you anyway. ..*shrug*

LDG said:

...sorry it didn't agree with them.

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Actually it disagreed with me far more than it did them! LOL

Though this was a case where they seemed to share my sentiments. When I put it out on it's own BOTH of them sniffed and looked at me like "what they HECK are you trying to feed us" and wouldn't touch it. This coming from two cats that have scarfed down virtually every other kind of food I've ever put in front of them! 

They only ate it after I mixed with another brand of food.

Needless to say I'll be passing the remainder of this case on to some happy dogs.

Willowy said:

All living creatures need salt. It's the amount that matters. In the wild, they naturally consume their prey's blood, and blood is very high in sodium.

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Good point Willowy,

however, I've never noticed any derivatives of sodium being the 7th ingredient in any high quality cat foods,

nor have I seen it mentioned in any recipes for DIY cat food. 

So, it seems to me like that formula might contain substantially more sodium than our kitties need.

SevenWonders said:

Good point Willowy,

however, I've never noticed any derivatives of sodium being the 7th ingredient in any high quality cat foods,

nor have I seen it mentioned in any recipes for DIY cat food. 

So, it seems to me like that formula might contain substantially more sodium than our kitties need.

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It being the 7th ingredient vs other cat foods doesn't really tell us anything about it's actual quantity other than it being more and less than the other ingredients on either side. Ingredients 1-6 might account for 99.996% of the total can lending a lower sodium content than every brand in existence for all we know. (though obviously that's ridiculously unlikely)

It's unfortunate that more companies aren't revealing total sodium content.

The point you make about DIY recipes on the other hand is immensely valuable. It begs the question, if whole food high quality ingredients are making up the majority of the product why even bother adding salt at all? Whether it's a flavor enhancer or natural preservative, I'd rather avoid it being used excessively as much as possible.

I've never come across a concern for cats being sodium deficient if they're eating a whole food diet, and given that hydration is such a known problem it seems prudent to avoid products that are including more salt than other added nutrients. 

One of the raw recipes I found includes iodized salt. For the iodine, not the sodium, though. There's probably sufficient sodium in the meat, although bled meat wouldn't have the same amount as what they would eat in the wild.

That's okay, mine get enough blood from me personally when I foolishly play with them without using a toy intermediary. 

No major issues stood out on the nutritional side to keep the food from your cats if you add the taurine.  Others brought up sodium.  LDG answered that question but I would call their 800 number and get exact percentages etc. of the iodine and sodium if they have it.  Kind of a moot point anyway since you don't like the smell of it.  There will be some happy dogs out there
 

NutroMike said:

No major issues stood out on the nutritional side to keep the food from your cats if you add the taurine.  Others brought up sodium.  LDG answered that question but I would call their 800 number and get exact percentages etc. of the iodine and sodium if they have it.  Kind of a moot point anyway since you don't like the smell of it.  There will be some happy dogs out there :nod:

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Yep, I agree! Calling the 1-800 number would be the best help (LDG gave an awesome answer too! ).