Adding extra taurine

[mscatmom]

I have been feeding my kids canned and homecooked food  (eventually would like to do mostly homecooked) and currently add Alnutrin - after the food is cooled and before freezing. What I am wondering about is adding a little more Taurine, as I know how important it is for them. I understand that you really can't give them too much as it is water soluble and won't be stored in their body. Also I heard that heating can destroy up to half of it in a food serving, and I sometimes will microwave their meal for a few seconds. 

Does anyone out there add a little Taurine to their kitties food? How much per pound?

Thanks very much for your input! 

 

[Columbine]

Bumping this in the hopes that someone who can help will chime in.

 

[lcat4]

I don't have any scientific backing to my method, mschauer would be the one to speak to for that, but I always use Alnutrin with my raw ground meats and sometimes with my cooked meats, and I add additional taurine to my cooked meat when I mix with Alnutrin.  

Just to be clear, Alnutrin has taurine in it, and in some thread a couple years ago it was determined that no additional taurine needed to be added to raw meats when mixed with Alnutrin, even when the meat is ground and frozen.  

Alnutrin is designed to balance raw meat and does not account for any nutritional or mineral loss incurred when the meat is cooked.  So on the side of caution, I add a little taurine to my cooked meats at the same time I mix in the Alnutrin.  I believe mschauer's home cooked recipes add 1000mg taurine to each pound of meat. So since I'm only trying to supplement for the effect of cooking, I add about 500mg to a pound of cooked meat.  I haven't worried about it when I warm the food, like you, for just a few seconds.  I also make sure to grab any warmed liquid when I serve, since the taurine and other nutrients will be in the broth.  

Hope this helps.  

 

[mscatmom]

Thank you for your input!

I think I need a precision scale, though, as I realize you can't convert mgs to teaspoons. What I did today was add about 1/4 teaspoon to a pound of the cooked rabbit (along with the Alnutrin). 

Does that sound like how much you add?

 

[lcat4]

I buy the taurine in 1000mg capsules.  Usually I prepare my food 2 pounds at a time, so I just open and pour in the whole capsule. If I only make 1 pound, I don't measure by 1/4 teaspoon, I just pour in 1/2 capsule.  1/4 teaspoon may be more than 1/2 capsule, but...I'm sure it's fine.

I do use a precision scale for weighing my Alnutrin since it's usually less than 16 grams at a time.  I bought a $20 version off Amazon that goes to 1/1000's grams.  It's smaller than my hand.  I started out using my bigger scale that goes to 1 gram, but I feel more comfortable using the one that's more precise.

I puree my raw livers, and depending on how I cook my meat, I'll either blend them into the ground meats on the stove in the raw state, or cook in the micro and add to the chopped meats I cooked in the oven.  In either case, I use the bigger scale for measuring the liver.  

How are you cooking your meat?  Just be sure to keep all the liquids (tightly covered lid or foil) to retain as much of the nutrients as you can.   

 

[mscatmom]

Your reply is appreciated! 

I have been cooking the rabbit meat in a slow cooker with a little water added. When I grind it I do add all of the liquid from the pot - rabbit meat sure doesn't contain much fat or produce many cooking juices. I also drizzle a little water on the medallions (which is how I freeze them) before I microwave. In Dr. Lisa's recipe on catinfo.org she mentions including chicken skin with some of the rabbit to add fat, but right now I'm trying to feed only rabbit and pork as my little girl may have a food allergy, and I'm starting with eliminating poultry. Hope it's not that, as rabbit is expensive by comparison. 

I did buy a small scale at WalMart but it only measures in grams and doesn't seem very precise. Will check out Amazon, I've been shopping there a lot lately. 

Thanks again for all of the information, and I feel better about the taurine.