No added taurine in canned food, meat is enough?

I have very limited options for canned food locally, i give raw chicken when i can get it but is mostly necks/backs so white meat, and use a couple different cat  foods and an all beef dog food, i have been doing this for a wile now but after talking to one of the companies that make the cat food they don't add taurine to it,  it turns out they make the dog food as well under a different label and they said both have the same vitamins minerals! The dog food contains; fresh lean beef steaks and roasts, beef liver, beef kidney, carrots, guar gum vits/mins. The cat food is beef lung/liver, whole chicken, chicken viscera, salmon, guar gum, thiamine, other vits/mins.

My question is does the amount of meat mean there is enough taurine in the canned food if fed as a meal, to support a growing-adult cat, without it needing to be added or is the taurine in the meat destroyed by the cooking of the meat in the cans? I cant seem to find a clear answer?    

I believe it needs to be added as a supplement unless you are feeding pucks or other ready made formulas like Primal for example.

I would not feed dog food to a cat since the amount of ingredients will not meet the needs of a cat.

silentcat said:

I have very limited options for canned food locally, i give raw chicken when i can get it but is mostly necks/backs so white meat, and use a couple different cat  foods and an all beef dog food, i have been doing this for a wile now but after talking to one of the companies that make the cat food they don't add taurine to it,  it turns out they make the dog food as well under a different label and they said both have the same vitamins minerals! The dog food contains; fresh lean beef steaks and roasts, beef liver, beef kidney, carrots, guar gum vits/mins. The cat food is beef lung/liver, whole chicken, chicken viscera, salmon, guar gum, thiamine, other vits/mins.

My question is does the amount of meat mean there is enough taurine in the canned food if fed as a meal, to support a growing-adult cat, without it needing to be added or is the taurine in the meat destroyed by the cooking of the meat in the cans? I cant seem to find a clear answer?    

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(my bolded text)

If you feed a cat a canned food as its regular meal, it needs to have Taurine as an ingredient on the label. A cat needs taurine. Feeding a cat canned dog food can be possible in infrequent instances, but you should never make dog food (which lacks the taurine a cat needs) a regular daily part of the cat's diet.

Was that your question? Not sure if I answered it, as you also mention raw food.

PushPurrCatPaws said:

(my bolded text)

If you feed a cat a canned food as its regular meal, it needs to have Taurine as an ingredient on the label. A cat needs taurine. Feeding a cat canned dog food can be possible in infrequent instances, but you should never make dog food (which lacks the taurine a cat needs) a regular daily part of the cat's diet.

Was that your question? Not sure if I answered it, as you also mention raw food.

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I agree dog food is not formulated to meet a cats daily dietary requirements.

What brand is this? Some higher end foods use enough heart that they don't add additional taurine, but it's typically in higher end foods. You can't feed dog food to a cat if it doesn't contain supplemental taurine. Typically dog foods have veggies in them, which are inappropriate for cats. You can supplement some raw meat, but this can be no more than 10% of your cats diet per week, otherwise you must feed supplemented raw meat. Just feeding raw meat alone is not balanced. 

How about food that is made for both dogs and cats?  Like Evanagers.

This is the ingredients list for the pork flavor:

Pork, Water Sufficient for Processing, Liver, Guar Gum.

Would this mean the food should not be given primarily or exclusively to cats since vitamin and mineral supplements and taurine are lacking?  Would it be okay as part of a rotation of half a dozen brands of food?  Can it be fed alone for a couple of days?  Or should it be mixed with dedicated cat food (with the usual standard of vitamins and minerals)?

I'm intrigued as I want to expand my cats' protein rotation and it has a limited list of ingredients.  My cats don't like seafood. Sometimes tolerate duck or turkey.  Vomit at the sight of any red meat.  So they pretty much eat chicken 95% of the time. I want to see if we can try pork. 

tdonline said:

 
How about food that is made for both dogs and cats?  Like Evanagers.

This is the ingredients list for the pork flavor:

Pork, Water Sufficient for Processing, Liver, Guar Gum.

Would this mean the food should not be given primarily or exclusively to cats since vitamin and mineral supplements and taurine are lacking?  Would it be okay as part of a rotation of half a dozen brands of food?  Can it be fed alone for a couple of days?  Or should it be mixed with dedicated cat food (with the usual standard of vitamins and minerals)?

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Evangers' Gane Meat line is only a supplement type food. The Evangers web site says the Game Meats are meant as a topper for dry food. So no, you cannot feed it exclusively to a cat without risking vitamin and mineral deficiency. Any canned food that lacks vitamins and minerals ia only a supplement / treat type foods.

You can mix a small amount of Evangers or other similar food with regular canned cat food. I wouldn't go as far as including a whole can as part of a rotation of complete balanced canned foods.

Thank you LTS3, very informative.