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‘You Can’t Make This Up!’: Reddit User Explains Taurine Gets Added To Cat Food

Beautiful feline cat eating on a metal bowl

Recently, a user on Reddit, u/_Tryonite_, posted in the r/vegan forum about how they had just found out that taurine gets added to cat food.

[deleted by user]
by invegan

The user explained that they were watching an episode of Our Hen House, where someone is trying to produce cultured meat for pet food.

“You know all that stuff about how cats are ‘obligate carnivores’ that centres on their need for taurine? Well, turns out that the way animal bodies are processed for petfood leads to taurine, among other things, being lost along the way, and petfood manufacturers generally have to add it back in at the end.”

“That’s right,” the user continued, “your meat-based catfood is based on supplemental nutrients, not nutrients inherent in the animal-derived product. A quick bit of googling throws up several resources that seem to confirm this.”

Taurine is an amino acid that is commonly found in animal tissue. It is a sulfur-containing compound and is not used by the body to build proteins like other amino acids. Instead, it plays an important role in many physiological processes.

One user commented on the post saying, “And yet somehow the non vegs will be up in arms still, because vegans found a way for cats to get all of their nutritional needs without killing other animals.”

Another user explained that they have a plant-based cat and said “I’ll chime in as someone with a plant based cat on our vet’s advice (and our vet isn’t vegan).”

“Cats need nutrients not ingredients, same humans. Most cat kibble is macronutrients fortified with a bunch of micronutrients. If you read the label, you’ll see that conventional cat kibble also includes vegetable macronutrients. Plant based cat kibble is the same, just slightly different macronutrient sources.”

“It’s actually very easy to have a plant based cat. 1. Buy commercially available plant based cat kibble like Ami, Benovo, Evolution, etc. There’s lots. 2. Monitor your cat’s urine pH every now and then, because realistically the only risk to a plant based cat on pre-made kibble is higher urine pH. If the urine pH is too high, switch brands or add an acidifier like Vitamin C or Methionine (which no coincidence is also an essential amino acid).”

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!