Taurine and blindness ?

The rescue I volunteer with just took in a 3 yr. old female.   When vetted, the vet said she was blind due to lack of taurine.   While my disgust for her previous owner is beyond words, it has started me thinking.    

I foster feral kittens and I often use turkey baby food to get them to eat and to socialize.   I also feed quality cat food.   I now have  a 6 month old female since Thursday. (scared out of her mind)   She wasn't eating, so last night I gave her 1/2 a jar of baby food.   Today she has only eaten 1/2 a jar of baby food, about 8 treats (with taurine), and nibbled at some dry (merrick kitten).    In about half an hour I plan to try a wet food/ baby food mix.   My questions:  how long can she go safely without  having taurine?   What amount of taurine does a kitten/cat need to stay healthy?

Even though I feed Midi food that is balanced and certified nutritionally complete I sprinkle pure taurine on his food every morning   Now Foods has a pure Taurine, some add fillers so be careful of that 

AAFCO sets the minimum taurine requirement for cats at 10% taurine on a dry matter basis (or 0.25 g per 1000 kcal of metabolozed energy) and 0.50 g per 1000 kcal of metabolized energy. The 2014 report is here. If you don't want to read all the gobblygook, the cat nutrient stuff can also be seen at http://maxshouse.com/nutrition/aafco_cat_food_nutrient_profiles.htm

It can take anywhere from a few months to a few years for symptoms of taurine deficiency to develop. So a few days temporarily on baby food is fine. You can buy taurine powder and sprinkle it on top of food. Excess taurine will be excreted in the urine so you can't overdose. Dr. Lisa of Catinfo.org recommends 2,000 mg powdered taurine for making raw food. You can use the same for regular commerical cat food. If you buy the capsules (it also comes in regular powder form), just pop the cpsule open and sprinkle the powder onto food. With either type, avoid those that contain fillers and flavorings and other junk cats don't need.

Have you tried stinky canned food in gravy? Cats usually will eat that, with or wihout toppers like FortiFlora or crushed up treats on top. Weruva and Tiki Cat are two good brands to try but gravy or seafood Fancy Feast will also do the trick and is more widely available in many types of stores.

It can take anywhere from a few months to a few years for symptoms of taurine deficiency to develop.............

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That's not accurate....it's closer to suggest a few weeks to a few months....it's accurate to say 10 to 16 weeks - and that better emphasizes the potential gravity of the dangers. Furthermore, cellular damage was occurring long before the condition became apparent through examination.

Quote:

Within 10 weeks of eating a diet low in taurine, the cone photo-receptors of the retina begin to deteriorate. The cones are responsible for bright-light and color vision. Within 20 weeks, many of the cones are dead. If taurine remains deficient, eventually the rod photoreceptors (responsible for dim-light vision) are also affected.Taurine affects both eyes in a symmetrical fashion, and the end result is complete blindness.

Rhea V. Morgan, DVM, DACVIM (Small Animal), DACVO

http://www.saintfrancis.org/wp-content/uploads/Taurine-Retinopathy.pdf

also in  Small Animal Practice Client Handouts - Rhea V. Morgan

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In addition to permanent retinal damage (and, any amount of damage is irreparable), heart disease - dilated cardiomyopathy - also results from taurine deficiency. In one study, 91% of the cats showed significant heart impairment after just 4 months on a taurine-deficient diet: http://cdn.intechweb.org/pdfs/27287.pdf   This may be reversible if diagnosed early enough....but, the start and the progression of both DCM and vision loss occurs without noticeable symptoms.

Now, none of that applies in Theyremine's case - nor to anyone feeding babyfood or something else for very short periods...but, in cases like this, it's important to keep a daily record/diary of what's going on. With a chronically sick cat time/events can become one huge blur and losing track of what happened/when/how long is almost inevitable.

If you have a cat who's eating noticeably less than usual, start some sort of documentation and, if it persists, begin Taurine supplementation while working on a nutrition solution - it's absolutely safe, as any excess Taurine will be excreted. If you suddenly notice that a cat has lost weight (as frequently reported by new posters in this forum) it can be assumed that this occurred over an extended period of time - therefore immediate taurine supplementation should begin. A careful read of Dr Morgan's "Treatment" section shows that this supplementation could continue indefinitely.

I'm particularly sensitive/aware of all this because one of my cats had an extended period of inappetence/reduced food intake. He subsequently developed an unrelated eye ulcer which proved almost intractable and so was seen by an ophthalmologist...who discovered degeneration in both retinas. If only I had known....

White Shadow said:

 
That's not accurate....it's closer to suggest a few weeks to a few months....it's accurate to say 10 to 16 weeks - and that better emphasizes the potential gravity of the dangers. Furthermore, cellular damage was occurring long before the condition became apparent through examination.

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I found the info about a few weeks to a few months here: http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/taurine-in-cats/3857 Perhaps that web site is wrong.

Temporarly short term feeding of baby food is fine but I wouldn't do it for more than week even if supplemented with taurine. It's better to offer regular cat food with toppers, or if the cat just won't eat, to seek out the advice of a vet.

Thank you RTS3, White Shadow, and Zed Xyzed for your advice.   The good news is she ate FF salmon pate made soupy with turkey baby food twice yesterday and again this morning.   She also ate some (1/6 c.) Merrick kitten dry during the night.   My plan is to back off the addition of the baby food once she is eating well.

I will get some taurine supplement.    While I'm pleased to hear damage takes weeks not days,  I will keep it on hand  from now on.