Amanda Hayward-Lester wrote:

> I think I read somewhere a while back that cats fed exclusively on canned
> tuna get a taurine deficiency. Does anyone have any info on this? My cat
> loves tuna but I have been wary since reading this and so am still feeding
> him science diet.

Although Science Diet is a highly hyped food (especially through
veterinarians), it actually is not much better than the regular brands
(Purina, Friskies, etc.) found in supermarkets.  Like Purina and other
common brands, it contains the chemical preservatives BHA, propyl gallate,
and ethoxyquin, all of which have been shown to be carcinogenic.  See, eg,
http://www.thegrid.net/reba/frr/toxicity.htm
Science Diet also uses very low grade protein and other food sources.

I would highly suggest reading "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural
Health for Dogs and Cats" by Richard Pitcairn, DMV, which discusses dog and
cat nutrition in detail.  AltVetMed at http://www.altvetmed.com/ also has
information on animal nutrition, as does the Animal Connection at
http://www.cyberark.com/.  An email list which usually has a great deal of
discussion about paleo (especially raw food) diets for dogs and cats is
WellPet (homepage is http://www.listservice.net/wellpet/welcome.htm)

All good medicine,
Tracker (owned by Mumsey and Freddy Cougar)