Ragdoll Cat Forums

Taurin content in meat is a much discussed subject. Many say there is enough in good quality meat, others not... I honestly don't know.
I can understand where she stands. After 4 months of diarrhea with Diwan I was ready to try anything and once something works, you're so greatful and reluctant to change the diet once more. Many friends asked me why the hell I was not giving him this hypo kibble for life as he was feeling so much better on it... I'm a stubborn gal who doesn't like to only give kibble to my babies and Diwan isn't a cat who accepts only dry food anyway, so I had to come up with something else.
I wouldn't try to make her change her ways of feeding her cat except for the garlic and onions. Those flavors might sound and be great for us but not for kitties and this food is for them not us.

The advantage of feeding commercial foods is that they focus on making sure there is enough taurine. Even experts get surprised by this. A study of feeding only raw rabbit meat was terminated early when the cats started to die from DCM based on lack of taurine - and there "should" have been plenty.

There are supplements I know many people use, usually powdered, that supposedly ensure the correct amounts of vitamins/minerals, etc. that they use when feeding a raw or homemade diet. I don't know if these include taurine, since most probably assume there is enough in the meat itself. Honestly, I don't know what else is in the supplements either, I just know they exist and are used for that purpose. Of course, you have people who use homemade diets who feed nothing but raw meat and others who add quite a bit of other stuff to their meat. It seems like a fairly recent trend to me, and one of those things where ill effects may not be apparent for quite some time.

Most supplements seem to be to supplement commercial diets and do not mention taurine. It may be that folks who do their own pet food know about supplement offerings that are geared to what they do, including assuring taurine levels. However, anyone doing home cooking (or non-cooking) does need to focus on the issue and find out.