Abstract
Taurine is an essential dietary constituent for cats because in vivo synthesis is limited, and cats have an obligatory requirement for taurine for the conjugation of bile salts. Dogs and cats use only taurine to conjugate bile acids, but dogs unlike cats, appear to have a rate of synthesis adequate to meet their needs. The basis for the lower synthetic capacity in cats than in dogs and other animals has not been fully elucidated. The activity of cysteine dioxygenase is low in the liver of cats which results in limited production of cysteine sulfinate and synthesis of taurine. Other contributing factors are the low activity of cysteine sulfinate decarboxylase and the high activity of aspartate aminotransferase which transaminates cysteine sulfinate to pyruvate, rather than allowing it to be decarboxylated to hypotaurine and hence to taurine (29).
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