In both of these categories, there were dogs with adequate taurine levels and those with deficient levels. In terms of the kibbles being fed, I saw brands that I once thought were OK, and others that I was critical of. And I saw amounts of food that seemed to be far too little for the size of the dog being fed. I saw commercial products used that I knew were not nutritionally complete. As I read the descriptions of what was fed to the dogs, I saw many feeding plans that seemed to lack variety, or seemed nutritionally incomplete. What these results don’t explain is why taurine might be lacking in the diet of raw fed dogs in the owner submitted data. These results showed me that while people want to get as much nutrition from whole foods as possible, the majority were relying on supplements to be sure their dog got everything they needed. (Mussels, oysters, sardines, and poultry dark meats are great natural sources.) Yet 72% chose whole foods to make their diet complete. But only 44% were supplementing with taurine rich foods. A whopping 88% included fruits and/or vegetables in their dog’s diet.Ī large number of respondents, 60%, used commercial supplements to ensure their diet was complete. Fifty-six percent fed three or four different meats over the course of a week, and 13% fed five or more. Over 30% utilized a commercial product, and another 21% combined a commercial product with other fresh foods. In my survey, I asked raw feeders what type of meal plan they used. The process of making taurine is not especially efficient, so I lean towards making sure my dog’s meals have adequate taurine in them. Both of these amino acids are also found largely in meats. Taurine is not considered an essential amino acid for the dog, as the dog’s body can make taurine from two other amino acids, methionine and cysteine. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. At present over 900 dogs’ data has been submitted. You can find this data by joining the Facebook group Taurine-Deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy. However, given that taurine is found in greatest quantities in meats, I was very surprised to see raw fed dogs on the list of those with low taurine levels. There are several theories about why this is happening – how little meat is used in these foods, ingredient interference in absorption, nutrient degradation, and more. You may be aware that this is a big problem in dogs eating grain free, high legume foods, especially Golden Retrievers. I decided to do this after seeing many of reports of raw fed dogs having low blood taurine levels, and some being affected by Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Recently I surveyed 100 people who feed their dogs a raw diet.
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