Taurine in ground meat

[ChristineL]

Hello @Dr. Jean - I think you shared in the chat room in today's webinar that taurine is depleted when we grind up meat so we should supplement taurine to the raw ground meat we feed our pets. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to save the chat before the Zoom meeting ended! Can you confirm?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

FYI Christine- @Dr. Christina edited the chat and it was sent along with the recordings and is also in your member area.

 

[ChristineL]

FYI Christine- @Dr. Christina edited the chat and it was sent along with the recordings and is also in your member area.

Thank you.

 

[ChristineL]

Here’s a wonderful resource: The Importance of Taurine in Your Pet's Diet

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Let me provide a bit more detail... if you are grinding meat at home, and you retain and add back all the juice, then you're keeping the taurine. If you buy packaged ground meat, that fluid is either lost in the process or gets soaked up in those gel things and is inaccessible. If you're using meats that are borderline low in taurine (ruminant, rabbit, white meat poultry) then you could be looking at a real deficiency. As Dr. Christina said, taurine is cheap and extremely safe. It's also quite palatable (it tastes mildly salty). So, when in doubt, just add it.

 

[ChristineL]

Let me provide a bit more detail... if you are grinding meat at home, and you retain and add back all the juice, then you're keeping the taurine. If you buy packaged ground meat, that fluid is either lost in the process or gets soaked up in those gel things and is inaccessible. If you're using meats that are borderline low in taurine (ruminant, rabbit, white meat poultry) then you could be looking at a real deficiency. As Dr. Christina said, taurine is cheap and extremely safe. It's also quite palatable (it tastes mildly salty). So, when in doubt, just add it.

Thank you, @Dr. Jean - can you recommend a taurine supplement that I can add to my dog's food? We buy packaged ground meat like Answers (will soon switch to Kure once it's available).

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

All taurine is produced in just a few labs, mostly in Japan I think. Brand doesn't really matter since the source is the same, but personally I like Jarrow because their capsules are easy to open, no fingernails required. ?

 

[SharonC]

How much of a Jarrow capsule? Sir Frederick my 6 year old kitty, his raw diet is mostly grass feed local ground beef, some ground up local egg shells and a bit of spouts I sprout, and wheat grass I sprout, and grass Fred eats outside. He shakes his paws, so don't know what that is,????? Maybe starving and full of worms, including lungworm and close to death, may have effected his bones or nerves in his paws. Fred shakes his front paws while walking.
I don't know his history before 8 months, Fred came to us in the wild. starving and 5 1/2 lbs. Fred is a currently 13 lbs and has a tummy....and is back on a steroid Prednisolone 5mg, as the heat and humid in June trigged rapid breathing again, of 58 breaths at resting breath. This BEAM is good.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

About 100 mg per day would be more than enough.

 

[SharonC]

thank you, I like Jarrow products, I use some myself.

 

[LilF]

Do you lose the taurine if you are cooking the meat in water for the dog who gets some of the juice with the meal? Thanks good info. I had no idea that even if you do feed meat you still have to think about enough taurine.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Yes, Lil - do add taurine when feeding cooked meat.
Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Boiling leaches the taurine out of meat.

Big dogs are less able to make taurine than little dogs. Just to be really extra super safe, if your dog is >50#, I'd add taurine after cooking.