Taurine Supplementation - How Much? Can You Give Too Much?

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Critter Mom

Critter Mom

Member Since 2014
Hi all,

I am feeding Saoirse some home-cooked poached chicken at the moment to try and settle her GI tract. I want to give her some taurine supplement.

Any recommendations on how much I should give her, and can you give too much taurine or is the excess excreted?
 
Thank you for the very useful link, Larry. The calculations helped, too.

Is it better to spread the daily amount over all meals?

Also, can home taurine supplementation cause digestive upsets at all? (This really worries me - Saoirse's pancreatitis is active again.)
 
Hi Aine,

A common amount to supplement seems to be around 200mg per day. (And these Pro-Taur tablets contain 250 mg; http://www.provet.co.uk/nutrition/Protaur 250 R.htm )

My oldies all get 'a pinch' of Felini taurine powder each day, which is probably around 50 - 75mg, but they are eating (supposedly!) 'complete' foods, and so the pinch I give them is just to make sure that they do have enough in their diet. If Saoirse is eating 'incomplete' foods then she may well warrant a higher dose.
(Incidentally, chicken hearts and raw prawns are good natural sources of taurine.)

Another supplement you might want to consider is B complex (also available from the Provet people in the link above), as the chicken may be low in these vitamins.
But, if the chicken-only diet is a very temporary measure, Saoirse may be just fine without any supplements in the short term.

Both taurine and B vitamins are generally considered safe supplements because they are water-soluble and any excess would normally be excreted through the kidneys.

Eliz
 
Hi Eliz,

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I've got the Felini taurine. How much of a scoop do you give each day? I'm a bit worried about the kidney side of things after last week's CKD diagnosis (stage II).

.
 
Hi Aine,

Sheba has pancreatic flare ups as you know although not as badly as Saoirse.
I feed raw red meat and cooked chicken to Sheba. I give a pinch of taurine twice a day. The excess is excreted in the urine. I also give Vit B complex. Neither appears to affect her at all. As Eliz and Bertie said above, chicken hearts have a lot of taurine. All raw meat is a good source of Taurine. When meat is cooked it looses some of the taurine, but not all.
 
Critter Mom said:
I've got the Felini taurine. How much of a scoop do you give each day?
Click to expand...
I just measured one of my 'pinches'; it comfortably covers the bottom of the little cup that comes with the Felini taurine tub. (The cup holds 500mg of taurine).

I was told that it's important to ensure the taurine is either dissolved or is well distributed through the food, as clusters of dry crystals may cause the kitty to become "excitable". If the food is very wet I sprinkle it over the food and then mix it in; if it's a drier kind of food then I dissolve the taurine in a little water in a spoon and then add it to the food. None of my cats have ever seemed to notice it in their food (and I've never found myself with an "excitable" kitty, though I'm pretty sure I have found that taurine can lift the mood of a lethargic or depressed kitty, and have specifically used it for that purpose at times.)

Eliz
 
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