What is "taurine" in dog food?

Taurine is a water-soluble amino acid which has recently become quite a familiar name in discussions about nutrition. It is a colorless, crystalline substance that is found in fluids that are in the lungs and muscles of many species of animals, and its main purpose is to allow the flow and transfer of various essential elements (more well known names, like potassium, calcium, and sodium) to and from the relevant cells in the body.

Taurine used to be thought of as fairly unimportant, until recent studies proved that it actually has some metabolic properties which are highly beneficial to certain parts of a dog's body – in particular, the blood, heart, and kidneys. Previously, it was only included in cat food, not in dog food, because a deficiency in the amino acid had been conclusively linked to blindness in kittens. Tests showed that the blindness could actually be reversed by administering Taurine supplements, and so the importance of the amino acid was acknowledged, and it was included in cat foods from then on.

 

More recently, however, it has been discovered that Taurine can also be extremely beneficial for dogs, too. As well as being good for the blood, it helps to keep hearts healthy and strong. Its benefits are now generally accepted, and many manufacturers are now including it in dog food. However, the key word there is “many”. Not all manufacturers include Taurine in their products, because it is not an essential legal requirement as with various other common ingredients. It's a sad fact that a lot of commercial dog food producers are less interested in providing the best possible food (and thus earning a good and respectable reputation which would no doubt bring them a lot of faithful customers!), and more interested in keeping their costs low in order to be able to make more of a profit without raising prices. So, if you're convinced of the benefits of Taurine in dog food, it's necessary to make sure for yourself that it has been included in the food that you opt to buy, as there's no guarantee that it will be present.

Remember that it doesn't pay in the long run to just choose the cheapest economy brand of dog food. Even if you're on a really tight budget, it still doesn't make sense. Bear in mind that these foods tend to be bulked out with filler ingredients, many of which have little to no nutritional value whatsoever. What this means is that the high quality foods which you might thing of as more expensive are much more densely packed with nutrients. For this reason, the serving portions are much smaller, because your dog would have to eat much more of the lower quality food in order to get the same level of nutrition that a smaller portion of the high quality food provides. And in the long term, this means that you're going to have to buy food much more often if you choose a supposedly cheaper brand. It works out better for your pocket to buy the more expensive food and have it last for a period of time during which you would probably have to buy new supplies of the cheaper brand once, twice, or even more! So if cost is a reason for you opting to buy low quality dog food, think again.

High quality food really is much better for your dog, and will provide him with all the nutrients he needs to stay healthy and happy. The better manufacturers will therefore keep on track of any new discoveries such as the Taurine one, and will adapt their recipes in order to include everything that they're aware of as being important for or beneficial to dogs' health. Check the ingredients and make sure that your dog is getting what he needs from his food.

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