Is taurine-free wet food healthy for my 5-month-old Birman kitten?

All cat foods now contain taurine which is an essential amino acid for cats. I personally feed all my animals Hills food since they do a lot a scientific research and their foods are based on optimal nutrients, not excessive nutrients that can add weight or unnecessary stress on the internal organs. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Pumpkin.

Hello there. Good question! Kittens and cats need to eat food made for them. The reason for this is that the food is fortified with the amino acid taurine. Taurine is critical for normal vision, normal digestion, normal heart muscle function, to maintain normal pregnancy and fetal development, and to maintain a healthy immune system. Taurine is an essential amino acid in the cat. If taurine levels are deficient, the retinal cells of the eyes will eventually degenerate, impairing the vision. This condition is referred to as feline central retinal degeneration (CRD). Deficiency of taurine will also lead to a weakening of the muscle cells in the heart, causing a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Taurine is a component of bile salts, and its deficiency may cause digestive disturbances. During pregnancy, a mother cat must have adequate levels of taurine to maintain her health and to ensure proper growth and structural development of her kittens. Low taurine levels result in small litter sizes, low birth weights or fetal abnormalities. In growing kittens, taurine deficiency can result in delayed growth and development, central retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy. So, long story short, tuna and cheese is not a good diet. You must find a kitten food that he likes. You may have to buy a few brands/types until you find one he likes. I am not familiar with the diets you have available in the UAE so you may have to ask your vet for more recommendations. He should stay on a kitten diet until he is about 8 months of age and then he can go to an adult cat diet. I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and Akmi! Dr. Amber

Properly balancing a home cooked diet for cats is extremely difficult, and is nearly impossible for growing kittens. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they require meat as the staple of their diets. They are also require a careful balance of amino acids, particularly taurine, to maintain optimal health. Nutritional deficiencies can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy, abnormal bone growth, or a host of other problems. I strongly recommend exclusively feeding Pelly a commercial kitten food to provide a proper nutritional balance for optimal growth. Royal Canin kitten food is a great option! You do not need to add additional foods or vitamins while feeding commercial diets. If you decide to feed more home cooked foods, try to wait until she is fully grown, and then only do so under the guidance of a board-certified veterinary nutritionist (including the recommendations found on www.balanceit.com). I hope this helps and that all goes well for Pelly!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The treat is fine, just follow the dosing instructions on the back of the treat bag. With any new treat watch for upset stomach signs: vomit and diarrhea. Extra taurine is not harmful, she will just urinate out the excess. Have a great day!

I would recommend seeing a veterinarian who can examine Zaboo's eyes. Some of the more common causes of vision loss in an older cat include high blood pressure affecting the retina, infectious diseases, and cancer. The supplement you are referring to could be taurine which is an amino acid that cats need in their diets and can cause blindness and vision loss if deficient. If Zaboo eats commercial cat food, taurine deficiency would be extremely unlikely since all cat foods are required to have enough taurine.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It is OK to feed Bandit tuna and salmon along with his dry food. It is not necessarily "healthier" than wet food. Most commercial cat diets, whether dry or canned/wet, are formulated to be balanced in the appropriate macro- and micronutrients that cats require as part of their daily nutrition. As long as Bandit is eating an appropriate amount of the dry commercial cat food (there should be feeding amounts based on weight on the bag), giving him extra food in the form of tuna and salmon is OK. Just be careful about giving him too many calories, as this can cause him to be overweight. Obesity in cats is linked to many disease processes such as arthritis, diabetes and liver disease. I recommend asking your veterinarian to help you determine the correct amounts of each food that you should be offering Bandit to keep him at a healthy weight. I hope this is helpful!

Unfortunately I can't recommend feeding a diet such as you are suggesting. Kittens need minerals (among other things) for proper growth, especially calcium and phosphorus, and they need to receive them at a specific ratio. Commercial diets specifically prepared for growing cats are formulated properly, and I would urge you to feed one of these. Royal Canin is available in India, and they have an excellent diet for kittens. Here is a link to their dry product: https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-health-nutrition-kitten-dry-cat-food/2522 At 7 weeks of age you may want to also purchase the canned product (https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-health-nutrition-babycat-instinctive-canned-cat-food/4057) and mix the two together. You can certainly continue feeding a bit of chicken (preferably white meat/no bones) along with the commercial diet, but limit the amount you feed to only a tablespoon or so.