a properly balanced raw diet shouldnt need supplementing with taurine...

Muscle meat from "red fibre" muscle contains around 10 times the amount of taurine that "white fibre" muscle does.

Very simplified classification:

white fibre muscle: muscles which can tire and fatigue, chicken breast for example

red fibre muscle: muscles which do not tire but work ALL the time... heart for example,

cats should be given around 500-1000mg or taurine per 1kg of food (range depends onthe study and the source).

Now here comes the more complicated bit..

there are various values of taurine given for different cuts of meat... and every one is blinkin different! One study gives the value very low, another very high- for the same cuts of meat!! ARGH! Now until a really thorough study is completed i wont be going with either the highest or lowest values... but work on a median between the two.

What is generally accepted is that whole prey carcases such as chicks, quail, mice and rats contain ALOT more taurine than normal farmed meats.

Shellfish is also much higher in taurine so supplementing with a few prawns (mine get them as treats - we play hide and seek) would give them quite a taurine boost.

Now then... if you wish to supplement to be sure (many do, i simply prefer not to, but i am very very careful about what goes into my cats diet) you arent likely to do any harm. I prefer not to because no long term study has been completed to overdoing taurine (quite simple to do), and i am very cautious and i prefer to go the most natural way as possible. Saying that mine do get wet food occasionally too, so they have taurine in that aswell.

A study was completed with a breeding colony of cats. They were fed a very HIGH amount of taurine, and there were no adverse effects in the 4month period they tested. Not long enough for me but its enough for most.

Now... something that may interest you.. there has been some reports of one study that was completed that states that ground meat can destroy some of the nutritional values of taurine... its not yet been proven becuause they were actually measuring the compound that taurine is part of rather than the taurine itself. On that point its important your cats get plenty of RMB's, shellfish and whole prey items to avoid the need for supplementation.

cor blimey what an essay!

Anyway the jixt of it is... you dont have to supplement providing you are super careful about what your feeding to ensure the taurine levels are there. If however you have any doubt, then supplementing should do no harm and it would certainly avoid the chances of cardiomyopathy and other taurine deficient related illnesses.