Does My Dog Need Taurine Supplements
Should you abandon ship on Grain Free Dog Food? No, your dog doesn’t need corn, wheats and other starchy grains.
What Is Taurine In Dog Food
Taurine is an essential amino acid that dogs and humans need. Most of us get it from raw fed dogs, variety in diets, periodic rotation of animal-based proteins, dairy shell-fish and vitamin/mineral supplements. If your food isn't offering enough of the whole food sources of the amino acid -- you need a supplement. But you need to know facts about your food -- not just guesses. Remember excess can be as problematic as deficiencies in many cases.
Breeds with a predisposition to Dilated Cardiomyopathy are probably at the greatest risk IF they are deficient in Taurine.
Research in the studies done on Goldens showing a possible link between Taurine Deficiency and DCM. It spun into headlines as Grain Free issues. Other breeds with a predisposition to DCM include: American Cocker Spaniels, Labrador Retrievers, English Setters, Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, Portuguese Water Dogs, Great Danes, Boxers, Irish Wolfhounds, and Doberman Pinschers.
You can potentially eliminate this whole issue with a good quality balance Raw-Fed Diet or Fresh Food Diet containing real meat that offers variety and quality.
You can introduce other problems if you just jump ship on the Grain Free Dog Food Bandwagon and don't manage low-carb, high-quality meat, whole foods diet with proper vitamins and minerals.
Not sure what you need to do -- a good holistic pet health coach (aka me!), holistic vet or holistic nutritionist can help you sort it all out.
Does Your Dog Need a Taurine Supplement?
Maybe? Isn't that always the answer? "It Depends".
There are many factors that come into play on this subject. So let's take a look at it
Taurine is an amino acid. The body needs amino acids to function properly. Taurine is a non-essential fatty acid, which means, the dog’s body can convert the right nutrients & other amino acids into taurine.
Taurine is found in some foods and you may even have heard of it in your energy drink.
Canine Heart Health Requires Taurine In Food
We know that Taurine is negatively affected by heat. It loses its effectiveness under high heat. Since kibble is heated 4 times during the manufacturing process and high temps, the likelihood of taurine surviving the cooking process is quite low. So that's one good reason to consider supplementing.
We are starting to hear about food mediate Taurine deficiency being associated with heart disease and specifically Dilated Cardio Myopathy (DCM) in our dogs. It's been linked to grain-free diets. And a lot of questions and concerns exist.
The issue is not really the removal of the grain. Not all grains are bad -- but please don't rush to buy a bag filled with corn, wheat or rice. If you see foods that contain moderate oats or high-quality , easily digestable grains in reasonable amounts -- no worries unless it's out of balance on the carbohydrate scale. ((Does my dog need carbs at all?)
The issue with Grain Free has become that when they removed grains, they substituted in legumes, peas and potatoes. Peas and other plant-based ingredients often shift the overall % of protein. So even though meat is listed as your first ingredient -- that just means the bag contains that ingredient as the single largest ingredient. But what happens when you keep reading and see Pea Protein, Peas, Pea Meal, and other sources of protein? Add them up -- but they won't tell you the % per ingredient. But when you do add them up you could easily has a much or more plant-based protein as you do meat.
Some suggest that all kibble diets contain no more than 20% actual meat protein in any kibble recipe!
Taurine is found in meats. It’s abundant in muscle and organ meats. But you can also find it in dairy, and shellfish. It’s possible that when foods went grain-free and grains were replaced with plant-protein sources, it may have started to throw off the balance of Taurine occurring in the food. Putting some dogs into deficiency. if there is only 20% meat in the kibble diet — no wonder they may be falling short of taurine in these new formulations.
Read More Ways to support your dog’s heart health.
Holistic Total Body Support by Dr. Ruth Roberts is an excellent Vitamin Mineral Supplement for those making homemade food or feeding kibble that includes Taurine.
Note: Endurance -- The Supplement Product from Volhard Dog Nutrition adds whole-food, non-synthetic vitamins, minerals, and amino acid profiles including Taurine that support your dog's health.
Every kibble feeder should add a good vitamin mineral supplement.
Every pet parent should truly consider a fresh food diet! There is no better option.
Read More from Dr. Jean Dodds https://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/176405475391/fda-dog-heart-disease
Listen to my podcast interviewing a holistic veterinarian