The Original Viking Cat

Norwegian Forest Cats are friendly, calm, and gentle.  They get along with children and other pets  These cats are intelligent and alert, and they love human connection and affection.  Wegies are great talkers, and communicate in high pitched chirps and trills.  They're playful, sweet, and generally accepting of their surroundings. This outgoing breed wants to be friends with everybody.

Cats that are thought to be "hypoallergenic" either produce less of the Fel d 1 protein, or they have very short hair that holds less of the Fel d 1 protein, according to PetMD. The Norwegian Forest Cat's saliva actually contains lower levels of Fel d 1 (the protein that triggers human allergic reactions) than most cats'. However, wegies can carry allergens in their long coats, which can trigger human allergies and prevents the breed from being truly hypoallergenic. 

Because of their long water-shedding coats and dense undercoats, Norwegian forest cats need brushing about twice a week.  Wegies shed their long coat in the spring, and enjoy a week or two of extra brushing at that time.

Here‘s the most up to date theory on how the Vikings brought cats to Scandinavia.

The Great European Housecat Migration 

Cats are obligate carnivores, which means they eat meat.  Because cats are originally desert animals, they don't drink enough water to safely digest dry food over the long-term.  Gudrunsplace cats eat a variety of raw meats, including  beef, lamb, pork, and rabbit; they also eat  tinned sardines in oil,  cooked chicken, and freeze-dried liver.

- On January 30, 2021 by Anthea Appel, Board Certified Animal Naturopath

It’s not that cats are hard to please, it’s just they are misunderstood. This misunderstanding not only comes from the pet owner, but also from the pet food manufacturers. On a cat forum I moderate, I often hear pet owners complain how their cat won’t eat this and won’t eat that. Since I’m a big advocate of feeding cats a species appropriate diet of raw meat, the next complaint is “My cat will never eat raw. He is too addicted to kibbles/canned food to change”.  The pet food industry placates to the cat owners frustration with their “difficult” feline. They use advertisements to reinforce the myth of the finicky cat. We’ve all seen the TV commercials: A beautiful white Persian wearing a diamond collar sits on a satin pillow while turning her nose up to every offer of canned wet food, except for (insert brand) which is served in a sparkling Waterford crystal bowl. Then the narrator says: “For the princess in your life” or “to satisfy even the most discriminating connoisseurs.” 

Traditionally, commercial pet food is developed based on the cat’s sensory characteristics. First, there is the sense of smell. Cats have 200 million odor-sensitive cells. Humans only have 5 million. Believe it or not, cats have a more sensitive sense of smell than dogs. That’s because cats can discriminate between a greater variety of smells. This is due to one of the three scent receptor proteins in the nose called V1R, or vomeronasal type-1 receptor. This protein allows the animal the ability to separate one smell from another. Humans have only two; dogs have nine V1R receptors, and cats have 30 (but rats have 120 V1Rs). It’s no wonder the cat can pick out those pills or supplements you hide in their meal (See study HERE). 

After the cat smells the food, the next step is to taste it. Since cats are attracted to amino acids, the taste buds on their tongue will let them know if it is rich in protein. The cat’s tongue feels the texture of the food to see how easily they can get it in their mouths. The last and most important factor is the cat’s previous experience with food. For example: if the mother cat ate “X” then the kittens will eat “X.” In the pre-natal stage, kittens sense of taste becomes functional in the final days of gestation. Once born, the food the lactating mother is eating comes through in the milk. So, whatever the mother cat is eating, the kittens develop a taste for. After they are weaned, the kittens continue to be influenced by the mother’s proximity and the food she is eating. At this point, it would be a good idea to rotate a variety of different foods so the kittens don’t grow up to develop a fixation on one diet.

The pet food companies do everything in their power to manipulate different taste and smells in order to get cats to not only accept their food, but become addicted. But, finding a magic formula that all cats will accept is not easy. So, in order to get a cat to eat their de-natured, processed food, the pet food companies will mix pyrophosphates (aka “Kitty Crack”) with the meat to enhance the taste of amino acids. These chemicals are such effective endicers that it can drive the cat to binge eat to the point of vomiting. 

The big thing in pet food manufacturing is Palatant Manipulations. In other words, flavorings and attractants (listed on the label as Natural Flavorings) which are used to make up for short comings in taste. Palatants are a billion dollar industry where the four major pet food companies compete to create the “secret ingredient” that will get cats to stick to one food (In the wild, it is not natural for cats to stick to one food). Pet Food Companies will also use Nutrient Imbalances to trick the cat into thinking it’s not getting enough of a certain nutrient so it will continue to eat beyond satiety. All of these artifical taste manipulations sets the cat up for fixation. 

The one thing pet food companies find difficult to include in their recipes is the natural evolution of feline feeding behavior in the wild. This is important because the cat’s palate is tightly linked to a carnivore’s physiology of the hunt, the catch, the kill, ingestion, digestion, approval or disapproval of the nutritional value, safety, and satiety of the food.

Influencing Factors On Feline Food Selection:  There are many factors that influences the cat’s food selection and consumption: Such as, evolutionary factors, natural feeding behavior, and learned feeding behavior. Next, is health problems, environment, and pet food manufacturers’ product manipulation and modifications.  Let’s first look at the evolutionary factors: The cat is a solitary hunter with a diverse selection of small prey to feast on from rodents, birds, insects, and lizards. A cat in the wild may have 10 to 12 small meals a day: For example, the cat will eat a mouse in the morning, later in the day, a bird, maybe a bug or a lizard for lunch, in the evening, another mouse, and so on. Each individual meal is only a small percentage of the calories a typical cat needs for energy and weight maintenance. A 10-lb cat needs approximately 300 to 350 calories to maintain his weight and replenish his energy. An average-sized mouse is about 30 calories, so he’s going to need to catch, at least, ten mice a day.  Cats do not associate hunting with eating. Yes, cats will hunt to eat, but they’ll also hunt for fun. You can feed your cat until he is full, but it’ll never eliminate his natural instinct to hunt. I wrote a blog called “A Simple Pleasure” which describes the cats hunting behavior and several observational studies. You can read itHERE.   The way humans feed their cats has no similarity to a cat’s natural feeding behavior. Most pet owners only feed their cats twice a day. They open a 3-oz can and plop the whole thing in a dish and then get upset if the cat eats only a bite or two. Instead, you may want to try and copy the cat’s natural feeding behavior by breaking up the food into several small feedings throughout the day. In feeding my own cats I’ve had to learn that lesson too. Even with their species appropriate diet of raw meat, and a big breakfast, my cats will still nag me for food all day long. I now break up their meals from two big ones to three or four smaller meals, while still maintaining a daily 300-calorie consumption. This way I’ve stopped the nagging and appeased their natural instinct and no food gets left on the plate (And NO! Please don’t leave bowls of kibbles out for the cat to graze on all day. Dry food is extremely unhealthy and will lead to obesity and health problems).

There are several ways a cat will select their food. 

1. Monotony/Neophilia – This is a cat that is very open to trying different types of foods. You see this mostly in feral or barn cats that instinctively realize diversity in their diet equals nutritional balance. What’s interesting about these cats are, they select their food like an environmental strategist: they’ll eat whatever scraps humans throw to them just so they can protect their available prey from overkill and keep nature in balance. 
2. Fixation/Neophilia – This is something you see mostly in domesticated housecats. The more “same ole, same ole” the diet, the less interest the cat has in trying something new. To break the fixation, the cat needs repeated exposure to a new food. This can be challenging to pet owners who often give up after the first try if their cat immediately doesn’t like a new food. I hear it all the time when asking owners to switch to raw “I tried it. The cat wouldn’t eat it.” Transition should be slow and repeated at least 3 times to trigger interest.
3. Aversion – This can happen if the cat associates a specific food with stress, or a bad experience. If a particular food is followed by a stomachache or vomiting, the cat will avoid it in the future. Medications in the food can turn a cat off. The stress of strangers feeding them in a clinic, or a pet sitter, can turn them off accepted food. Odors may also trigger an aversion. In one study, researchers pumped into the air different smells while subject cats were eating. The odors cats found offensive turned the cats off their food. We have to realize cats’ sense of smell is more acute than humans. So, if we are using air fresheners, detergents, or perfumes, in the same room a cat is eating it may cause an aversion. And, keep in mind, all it takes is ONE bad meal experience to cause a cat to refuse their accepted food.
4. Warm the food – A recent study conducted by by pet food manufacturers Royal Canin and Waltham Petcare/Mars Petcare (which owns Royal Canin) found that cats preferred warmed foods to those at room temperature, or cold food right out of the refrigerator. Warmed food (37 degrees C/98.6 degrees F) imitates the temperature of a freshly killed prey. The researchers theorize that the study cats preferred warm food due to the release of volatile compounds that enhance the smell and taste of the food. One compound, hexanoic acid, which is related to palatability, increased as the food was heated above room temperature. In addition, the warmed foods released more compounds associated with meat flavors, but fewer terpenes related to plant flavors.

The way I warm up my cats’ food is to sit their stainless-steel food bowl in a larger, shallow dish of hot water (like, a pie dish). Do not micro-wave your cats’ food. Not only can micro-waving make the food too hot but will destroy important nutrients. 

Processed Cat Food Contain Species INappropriate Ingredients:  Cats taste system is the next influence for food selection. It is specialized for particular amino acids: such as, L-methionine, L-cysteine, taurine, and L-arginine. All of these nutrients are present in the prey a cat catches and eat, and it is also present in a homemade raw meat diet. Processed food, which is cooked at high temperatures for a long time, contains de-natured meat where these nutrients or amino acids are reduced or eliminated. For this reason, pet food manufacturers have to add synthetic lab-made vitamins and minerals (But, I must add, freezing and thawing of raw meat will reduce taurine, which is why I recommend adding taurine supplements to a raw diet. See my blog “Taurine & Your Cats Health”). 

Cats have no sweet taste bud. On top of that, cats also don’t have amylase in their saliva which is an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates and starch into simple sugars that supply energy to cells (Humans do have amylase in their saliva. That’s why when we eat rice or potatoes we can taste some sweetness). If cats can’t taste or utilize the glucose from starches and carbs, why is it in commercial cat foods? And why do pet owners think their cats enjoy eating carbohydrates? That’s just a rhetorical question, because cats can’t taste the carbohydrates at all. Instead, what the cats are tasting are the underlying flavors of the amino acids they seek.

Take a look at the can of cat food you’re feeding your cat and see if it lists DL-methiomine. If you see it, it means the food likely doesn’t contain protein primarily from meat, or that the food is very high in carbohydrates. An all-meat diet will be naturally high in L-methiomine (without the D). Carbohydrates can make your cats gastro-intestinal system too alkaline, which can lead to UTI and the formation of crystals. Plus, carbs can raise insulin resistance which triggers inflammatory diseases, like, dermatitis, arthritis, pancreatitis, etc.

Cats are smarter than us for what they should be eating, and what they should be eating is a high level of protein and essential amino acids, fat and essential fatty acids. Individual levels may vary depending on age and illness of the cat.

Meat can be expensive for the pet food manufacturers, so they’ll use plant proteins as a substitute, or as a supplemental addition, in order to keep expenses down and meet USFDA “protein profile” requirement for pet food. The problem is plant protein is a different kind of amino acid to the essential amino acids in meat. Plant proteins for cats are more difficult to digest with a limited absorption of nutrients that can be utilized by the body.

The most common plant protein you’ll see in pet food is legumes. Legumes, like peas, chick peas, lentils contain the anti-nutrients, lectin and physates. Physates and lectins can cause nausea, damage the gut wall, and interfere with absorption of nutrients. Other plants you’ll see in pet food are guar gum, carrageenan, both used as a thickerner for gravy, which can also cause nausea and digestive issues, like, IBD and pancreatitis. Then there are tomatoes, potatoes, and yams that contain “enzyme inhibitors” and if eaten with meat will interfer with the digestion of protein and fat. 

What Do Cats Really Want?:  Have you ever had a cat that had been eating a particular brand of cat food for weeks, or months, and then suddenly doesn’t want to eat it anymore? Pet Food Manufacturers actually have a name for it, it’s called “Post-Ingestion Long Term Acceptance.” Researchers at the Pet Food Labs scratched their heads and were at a lost as to what was happening. What have they over looked? There is very little information on what specific nutrients cats are looking for in their food. But what they did know was that cats didn’t select foods based on the flavors of sweetness, salt, or protein only. So, what is it? What do cats want?”  So, the researchers looked for answers in another carnivore animal: the mink. And like the mink, they realized cats would also modify their food choices to regulate their intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, in order to reach a target goal that matched the macronutrients of their natural prey. In conclusion, it is this balancing of macronutrients that is the primary driving force for long-term food selection.  So, what are the cats macronutrient preferences? It’s 52% protein, 36% fat, and carborhydrates tops off at 12%. These marconutrient profiles are true for all felines, such as, feral cats, domesticated cats, and wild cats. When fed a high carb, low protein diet (such as, a Prescription Kidney Diet), the cat will limit the carbohydrates to 72 calories per day. However, cats will be a little more flexible with protein and fat, thus, overshooting the target intakes in order to fuel their protein and energy requirements.  But, if a food does not meet the cat’s macronutrient preferences, then no amount of palatants, flavoring agents, the Pet Food Manufactuer adds to their product, will get the cat to eat it long-term. 

12% seems like a lot of carbs a cat would normally eat. My question is: How would a cat eat carbs in the wild? The answer is, they wouldn’t. Some people may suggest the cat might get some carbs from the stomach content of their prey. Maybe, but it would be a very small amount. For example: An average prey mouse, is: 70% Moisture; 63% Protein; 21% Fat: .04% Fiber, and .06% Carbohydrates. That’s less than 1% carbs and fiber.  Compare the mouse to Dry Food: 12% Moisture; 30% Protein; 11% Fat; 4% Fiber, and 43% Carbohydrates. Whoa! That’s a lot of carbs. Protein and fat is cut in half. And, considering cats are desert animals that get their hydration from food, dry food is very low in moisture. The fiber is very high, and too much fiber in a cat’s diet can lead to gastro-intestional disorders.

Tips For The Finicky Cat:  Encourage variety of different foods to overcome fixation and help improve digestive intolerance. Try fresh foods, freeze-dried treats, different textures, smells.

1. Read the ingredients, know what is in the product. If you’re feeding processed food and decide to switch brands, know who is the Manufacturer. It’s important to understand that when a major Pet Food Company buys out a smaller company the major brand will switch the palatant of the smaller guy to their own palatant. So, you’ll be thinking you’re giving your cat a new food when in reality you’re giving the same food because of the same palatant. Note: When feeding processed cat food, changing the protein to duck, to rabbit, to turkey doesn’t make any difference. That’s because the palatant makes all the meat taste the same.
2. Offer a new food in a friendly environment where the cat feels safe. Try hand feeding to create a “mother cat-kitten” bond. Feed smaller portions. Remember the cats natural feeding behavior: cats eat small servings throughout the day. So, instead of plopping a whole 3-oz can down in your cats dish, try just half. Wait a little bit, and give the other half.
3. Avoid offensive odors. What’s smells are in the kitchen? In a multi-cat household, make sure each cat has their own bowl. Use wide, shallow bowls to avoid whisker-fatigue. Cats whiskers are very sensitive and brushing against the side of the bowl can actually be painful. Feed the food at room temperature. If your cat is stressed, petting will release endorphins, and may help your cat to relax.

On March 21, 2014 by Anthea Appel (Board Certified Animal Naturopath)

If you have a cat you may have heard about the importance of taurine in a cat’s diet. Often, I will browse the internet and read cat health forums and sometimes there’ll be comments posted where pet owners who feed their cat a raw meat diet will add a taurine supplement to the food. Now, this made me wonder: Why are they adding taurine to a raw diet? Or Is it really necessary to add taurine when you feed raw?

Well, before I answer the question, let me explain what taurine is:

Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid. But, unlike other amino acids, taurine is not a constituent of any protein. Instead, it exists free in intracellular fluids. It supports neurological development and helps regulate the level of water and mineral salts in the blood. Taurine is also thought to have antioxidant properties.

For cats, taurine is an essential amino acid that is needed to maintain proper eye and heart function. But it is also found to be important for fetal development, growth, reproduction, neuromodulation, sight, hearing, blood platelet, immune response, antioxidation, and bile acid.

As you can see it effects many important bodily functions. Therefore, a taurine deficiency can cause serious health conditions, such as: blindness, Feline Central Retinal Degeneration (FCRD), Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), heart failure, a poor immune response, poor neonatal growth, deafness, lower number of fetuses, resorptions, abortions, reduced birth weight, low survival rate of newborn kittens, and birth defects, such as, abnormal hind leg development, and skeletal abnormalities that include curved spines and small stature.

Taurine is found in high percentages in the brain, heart, and skeletal muscles of mammals. In the cat, taurine reaches its peak percentages in the total body mass and in the neonatal brain of newborn kittens. But, as the cat matures, taurine decreases about 75% and the remaining 25% is now concentrated in the olfactory bulb and optic nerve, and a few other tissues, such as, the liver.

Taurine is abundant in the tissues of most fish, birds, and rodents, and at lower concentrations in larger animals, such as, bovines (Austrian scientists Friedrich Tiedermann and Leopold Gmelin first identified taurine in 1827 in the bile of an ox. This is where the name comes from—Taurus, the Latin word for bull). However, in the plant kingdom, taurine occurs either in small traces, or not at all. It’s found in red algae, but not in brown or green algae. And, at trace levels in a few plant foods, such as, nuts. Taurine is also present at high levels in insects (no wonder cats love bug hunting).

With the help of a proper diet the human body can make its own supply of taurine. However, it is found that people who are long-term vegans, or vegetarians, have a lower blood count of taurine than those people who eat meat. It is unknown what the long-term effects of depleted taurine is in humans, although some research indicates the nervous system will become over responsive to stress, and other studies are pointing to taurine as an important factor in heart health.

For dogs, taurine is not considered an essential dietary amino acid. And that’s because dogs are able to synthesize sufficient taurine when the Sulphur amino acid precursors, methionine and/or cysteine, are present in adequate amounts in their diet (NOTE: Some breeds of dogs have difficulty producing enough taurine per their body weight and this will lead to a deficiency. For example: the cocker spaniel, golden retrievers, and some giant breeds like the Newfoundland to name a few).

But this is not the case for cats. Our feline friends have a limited capability to make taurine in their bodies (although this blog is about taurine, the cat also need the amino acid, arginine, and the fatty acid, arachidonic acid, which the cat also cannot make in their bodies). Cats are unable to synthesize their own taurine because of their minimal activity of the enzyme cysteine dioxygenase and cysteine sulfonic acid decarboxylase. So, they must get their taurine requirements from the muscle tissues of their prey. Cats also lose taurine when they defecate since they produce bile acids exclusively from taurine.

A species appropriate diet of raw meaty bones & organs is abundant in taurine (and in arginine and arachidonic acid). However, heat destroys about 2/3rd of the taurine content (some research says heat destroys anywhere between 50%-100% of taurine). Heat also destroys all essential amino acids, enzymes, and a high percentage of nutrients. This becomes a problem when you feed your kitty a cooked meal…whether homemade or processed.

This may come as surprise, but no clinical studies have been done on the daily required allowance of taurine in a cat’s diet. The reason being is it can take months, or years, to see the results of a taurine-deficient diet. Therefore, very few dose experiments have been done. However, in the few clinical controlled studies that have been done it was observed that cats given 500mg of taurine per kg of dry matter in their food showed no signs of deficiency. At a higher dose, researchers saw a slight improvement in reproduction. In a 17-month study, cats that were given 375mg of taurine maintained a normal ERG value, as opposed to 250mg which was too low and caused heart abnormalities.

In spite of no long-term studies on feline requirement of taurine, the National Research Council (NRC) specifies that the minimal recommended allowance of taurine for adult cats is 0.0099 kg. per kilogram of body weight. For kittens, they list 0.017 kg. of taurine as the minimum requirement per kilogram of bodyweight and specifies a recommended allowance of 0.33 kg. of taurine per kilogram of body weight. And the AAFCO lists .2% as the minimum for canned/wet foods. This minimum refers to the dry matter percentage that’s in the food.

If the researchers want to see the long-term results of a taurine deficiency in cats then all they need to do is take a look of the work of Dr. Frances Pottenger.From 1932 to 1942, Pottenger conducted a feeding experiment of cooked food vs raw food and its effect on feline health. To summarize his experiment: he divided about 100 cats into two groups: one group was fed raw milk and raw meat, and the other group was fed cooked meats and pasteurized milk. The cats fed raw foods, thrived and reproduced. The cats fed cooked foods, disintegrated in health. They had blindness, heart disease, high mortality rate of kittens, until they failed to reproduce altogether. As you can see, the cats that were fed cooked foods all had the classic symptoms of a taurine deficiency.

(NOTE: Pottenger’s intention wasn’t to study the nutrient requirements of cats, but to prove that “facial deformities” in humans—narrowed jaws, crowded teeth, frail bones, and also difficult pregnancies—was the result of our Western diet of processed foods).

Earlier this year, I’ve had a couple of clients who came to me with cats suffering from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is a heart disease that causes the thickening of the heart. And, what I found interesting was that both these cats were fed the same brand of a “holistic” processed cat food (how can processed food be holistic? Now that’s what I call an oxymoron!). To me, this was a Red Flag.

And this is why…. Most veterinarians will tell you the cause of HCM is unknown, or that some breeds are predisposed to HCM. But I feel nutrigenomics should be taken into consideration. Nutrigenomics is the study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression. I suspected that this particular brand of cat food may have been deficient in taurine. Although when I checked on the pet food recall page on the FDA website, I didn’t see the brand listed.

Nonetheless, this reminds me of a story: In 1988, a cardiology veterinarian student noticed that one of his feline patients he was treating for congestive cardiomyopathy had extremely low blood serum of taurine. Now, this cat was fed one of the so-called best “high quality” “premium” commercial cat food, which according to its label contained all the daily requirement of taurine. This puzzled the veterinarian, so he went back to check other clinical cases of feline congestive cardiomyopathy. And to his amazement, he discovered that virtually all of the cases of this disease had low taurine levels in their blood. When the cats were given a taurine supplement many of them showed a dramatic improvement.

What was going on here? All the cats were eating a “premium” quality commercial cat food that supposedly contained the required levels of taurine! The problem was the taurine was deactivated during the cooking procedure of processing the cat food. You see, pet food manufacturers’ “feeding trails” only last about 6 months. So, if the animal is still alive and appears to be healthy after 6 months then the pet food is approved to sell to the public. However, it takes longer than 6 months to see the effects of a taurine deficiency in a cat. Anyway, because of the discovery by this veterinarian student, the pet food manufacturer corrected their mistake. But I can assure you these nutrient mistakes still occur today. If you don’t believe me, just take a look on the FDA’s website on pet food recalls to see what I’m talking about.

Now, to answer the question: Is it necessary to add a taurine supplement to raw meat? Well, I already mentioned what happens to vitamins, enzymes, and all the essential amino acids, when meat is cooked…but, with a raw meat diet the concern is the thawing out after its been frozen.

The answer is: There is a slight decrease in taurine when the meat is frozen. However, the longer the meat is frozen, the higher the decrease in taurine. Taurine is water soluble and during the defrosting of meat some water is released, so the actual meat might end up with a little bit less taurine when thawed. But keep in mind nobody knows the exact amount of taurine that is loss (the numbers were too variable) in defrosted meat. NOTE: This loss of taurine is not caused by freezing but water release with some taurine dissolved in it.

But if you are still concerned about the taurine content in raw meat then I’d suggest the following: Since the highest amount of taurine is present in muscle then be sure to feed your cat muscle meat, and especially hearts (the heart is a muscle).

Let’s take a look at the taurine content of some meats:  Fresh raw rabbit meat has the minimum requirement of natural taurine at .07 percent. And raw chicken has a high taurine level of .12 percent. One ounce of beef liver contains 2.359g taurine per kilogram of dry weight (19mg). And chicken liver contains 6.763g per kilogram of dry weight. One ounce of raw turkey leg has 86 mg. Chicken neck 33.1 mg. A typical mouse will contain 2.4 mg/g taurine or (for better comparison with the other values: 100g would contain 240mg) 4 ounces of a mouse would equal over 2400 mg taurine (However, 2500mg is minimum for a 10-lb cat). So, you see, you don’t have to worry about taurine levels being deficient in raw meat, providing it’s fresh and hasn’t been frozen too long or not at all (NOTE: Taurine is at its highest level in the tiny heart muscle of a mouse).

If you still want to add a taurine supplement to your cat’s food, please remember, it is synthetic and not a natural taurine you are adding. Synthetic taurine is obtained from isethionic acid (2-hydroxyethanesulfonic acid), which in turn is obtained from the reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous sodium bisulfite. Another approach is the reaction of aziridine with sulfurous acid, which also leads directly to taurine.  Personally, I’d avoid any taurine from China, simply based on their reputation for exporting tainted food products. However, that maybe impossible to do since China is the Number One exporter of synthetic taurine. As of 2010, China alone has more than 40 manufacturers of taurine. Most of these enterprises employ the ethanolamine method to produce a total production of about 3,000 tons per year.

An Important Word About Ground Raw Meat & TaurineI’m not a big fan of raw ground meat for several reasons. First, soft, mushy food does not clean the teeth. It’s the actual chomping down on raw bones that scrapes off the tartar. Also, ground raw is not a natural way a cat would eat its prey. Plus, I don’t like the “specialized brands” of ground raw that is sold in pet stores because they all contain fillers like fruit and veggies (not carnivore appropriate food) and added synthetic vitamins. Some ground raw contain organs and bones, which is OK occasionally if you have a cat that won’t eat bones or organs. But it’s not a good thing for your cat to eat every day because it’s too much organ meat per week may cause lose stools, or a vitamin A overdose from too much liver (bones and organs should be added proportionally to the diet). But, more importantly, grinding meat decreases the taurine content. What happens is, grinding increases the surface area of the meat and thus exposes more of the “good stuff” to the air. This results in oxidation of taurine which can result in a decrease in overall available taurine for the cat. Also, because of the exposure to air, grinding can cause a drop in some nutrients, such as, Vitamin E or Vitamin B6. Additionally, grinding creates the perfect environment for bacteria growth, and bacteria also utilize the taurine in the meat, thereby further decreasing the total amount of taurine available to your cat. Thus, if you feed your cat a ground raw diet it may not receive all the taurine it needs to thrive.

For example, researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California conducted a feeding experiment using 22 kittens between the ages of 7 to 20 weeks old. The idea behind the experiment was to see if diet played a role in Inflammatory Bowel Disorder (IBD) and cardiomyopathy. The cats were divided into two groups. One group was fed raw ground rabbit, and the other group was fed commercial cat food. After one week, the researchers noticed the kittens on raw ground rabbit meat had improved stool quality. After one month, the raw fed had firm stools, while the commercial fed kittens had soft to liquid stools. As the experiment continued, the raw fed had shiny, soft fur; and the commercial fed, did not. Then by the 10th month, one of the cats who had been eating the ground raw rabbit meat developed dilated cardiomyopathy. “Moreover, 70% of the remaining raw rabbit diet fed cats, which appeared outwardly healthy, also had heart muscle changes compatible with taurine deficiency and could have developed heart failure if continued on our raw rabbit diet. For the remaining three months of the study, the raw rabbit diet was supplemented with taurine and taurine levels returned to normal.” ~ Angela G. Glasgow, DVM; Nicholas J. Cave, BVSc, MACVSc; Stanley L. Marks, BVSc, PhD, Dip. ACVIM (Internal Medicine, Oncology), Dip. ACVN; Niels C. Pedersen, DVM, PhD, Center for Companion Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California. Read the study HERE.

Mind you, the researchers were feeding the cats only raw ground rabbit meat. And, as I mentioned above, raw rabbit meat contains the minimum amount of taurine to sustain your cat. Now, add grinding to the equation, plus, freezing and thawing, and taurine falls below the minimum requirement.

I get the impression from reading the above study that the researchers may have been trying to discredit raw feeding to cats by hinting that raw food was not as nutritionally viable as commercial food with its added synthetic taurine. But, the researchers have missed the whole point in feeding raw to our companion felines. The idea behind feeding a species appropriate diet of raw whole prey is to get as close to the cat’s natural diet as possible. The human pet owner can’t match it exactly (it’s not like we’re going to bring home live rabbits and chickens and expect the cat to hunt, kill, and eat the prey in our living room). But, what we can do for our cats is give them a rotation of various whole-solid pieces of fresh meat (rabbits, chicken, turkey, quail, mice, etc.), organs, bones, and limit the length of time the meat is stored in the freezer, and more importantly, do not grind.

The Outdoor Cat:  Neighbourhood Mascot or Menace?

  A new study finds that the feline reaction to catnip and silver vine helps to stave off mosquitos and other bloodsucking insects.