Hello i have a 3 year old cat called howlet.

I have had her since she was 12 weeks old. For the past three years she has been eating james wellbeloved And purely wet food.

Descovered about 2 years ago she cannot stomach fish and it makes her sick.

Anyway about 5 weeks ago i decided to try her on raw diet. (DAF minces). She eats mince, liver, heart supplemented with fish oils.

So she is about 4kg and will eat about 130g a day of raw. And that seems fine for her. Anyway i decided to start adding taurine powder to it, because i wasnt happy about the level i was feeding her.

To cut a long story short, whatever flavour she seems to eat, ESPECIALLY if it has taurine in it. She will vomit. Once, twice, three times a day. And refuses to eat the rest.

Now she is refusing all raw apart from liver and chicken wings.

She was no way this bad eating raw without the taurine in it? Im mixing in 250mg with water a day, till it desolves and mixing a bit in with every meal around 3-4 times a day.

I put her back on dry and her usual wet food again and she is fine and didnt puke for a week.

Within 2 days of raw feeding she starts vomiting.

Should i cut the taurine powder out for a week and see if that makes her sick? She vomits on chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, rabbit, duck, venison and meaty mince atm. If its raw.

She can eat any flavour of these if its dry or normal cat food.

Im so confused! Now she is refusing to eat anything raw near enough because she thinks she will be sick!

She was taken to the vet and was given the all clear. Blood tests and all.

What do i do?

Oh and hi! I'm new!

I have also tried the taurine powder myself and it does give you a slightly quesy belly. If she already has a sensitive stomach, could it be whats causing her to puke?

Could i cut the taurine out and feed her more heart and liver? Dont no abut prawns as she is alergic to fish?

Hello and welcome to PF.

There are a great bunch of people here and sure in no time you'll get some guidance and re-assurance as to what might help. I imagine you're at your wits end with your mind working over time in the process of elimination as to what may have cause your girl to have the reaction she did to the DAF mince. Understandable she won't go near anything raw right now as she associates this to making her vomit which is unpleasant.

Firstly maybe, in the interim, going back to something she is used to like the wet food you have been feeding her. This might help to re-assure her, help gain her 'trust' back with raw and at least she will be getting something down her. You say 5 weeks ago that she started eating raw, is the DAF mince recent or throughout this duration, every time you give DAF, she has been sick and are there any other reactions, how is she right now?

For you, take a breather- it's okay, it's not your fault in that you are trying your best and doesn't help when confusion sets in, clouds everything to the point one can find themselves going round in circles, chasing their tail so to speak.

I know there has been a recent thread or two about the DAF mince and possibility from what I recall some batches can have funny smell and or have caused adverse reaction from feeding. Don't quote me on this and wait for others to respond to your post who will be more informed on DAF mince and give tips as to re -introducing to raw if you decide to continue with it.

Try not to worry, sometimes it's simply a matter of trial and error in finding what will work for you and your girl. You haven't done anything wrong.

How peculiar, I must say I haven't heard about a cat vomitting because of a well-dissolved taurine powder before but it isn't impossible or implausible. I am wondering though, what taurine powder are you using and how much are you using?

I fed her DAF minces for about a week without any taurine and she appeared to be fine.

Then i started adding taurine and thats where the problems started. So in after the 3rd week, i put her back on her old food.

After that week i tried again but still puking. now it is the 5th week and im alternating between dry and raw.

I am thinking of cutting out the taurine for a week, to see if she is sick. If not then i will have to find an alternative.

Taurine Powder 227g (8oz) - JG Supplements - Vitamins Minerals & Nautral Health Products

This is the taurine powder she is eating.

Btw thanks to both of you for the welcome and reply's!

Looks like it is pure taurine. How much are you using a day?

I think your suggested way is a good one going forward. Feed her just the minces (do you know that the DAF minces apparently only contain up to 1% liver, so you need to supplement a little with some more) and see how she does. You could always get some heart to up the taurine amount naturally.

Im feeding 250mg of taurine per day. but because she is refusing most of it or vomiting it back up she isnt really "getting that".

I feed her liver and heart on the side anyway. Heart everyday nearly and liver once or twice a week.

Maby if i added prawns (if she tolerates then) i could add those if the taurine powder irritates her stomach.

Depending on the severity of her fish sensitivity/allergy, shellfish might not be the best. Have a look at that Spitze Pdf that is linked to on the taurine thread. You might find that feeding heart, liver and perhaps some tongue or other muscle meat is enough to supplement her naturally without having to resort to marine sources.

Ok. Thankyou very much for the advice. Will try that and keep you posted