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Adding liver to kibble diet

I adopted F3 and F5 spayed females as a bonded pair last year from a SV rescue group. Their first 6 months of life they were in a kitty mill type of situation and then lived with a foster caretaker from the SV rescue. They are estimated to be about 18 -21 months old at this point . Due to their bad start in life they are still quite skittish and will not allow me to pick them up. They have played with the feather wand and will retrieve stuffed toys since day 1 but only within the last month have they allowed me to pet them.

They are still attached at the hip which is great for the most part except they like to roughhouse. I find clumps of fur around the house but neither cat has war wounds. I thought it might be stress from moving to my house but it has been nearly a year and I have a very quiet stress-free house. The F5 has a short thick coat similar to my Bengal (but not as plush) whereas the F3's fur is longer but sparser. I think it is the F3 who is losing hair as opposed to the F5

I have been feeding kibble (the same brand we fed our Bengal until she died of old age) but after reading about why the cats might be losing clumps of fur, I am thinking they need some taurine in their diet. Because they don't allow me to hold them, "pilling" them would be a no-go at this point.

Can I add a chicken liver about once a week or so to their dry food? Is organ meat that is sold at the supermarket butcher department okay for them since the majority of their nutrients are coming from their kibble? Is it okay truly raw or should I cook it a little. I was also reading that too much liver can be detrimental so is 1 liver per week an appropriate amount so should only the F3 get some?
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
It's even simpler to add taurine powder to their kibble. Kibble generally has a spray coating of fat to make it more palatable and it will actually allow the powder to adhere quite well. Taurine is pretty harmless, so if you add too much it's just wasted but won't harm the cats.
http://www.revivalanimal.com/product/fel-o-taurine?sku=23320-275

Chicken hearts and gizzards would actually deliver more taurine, and you can also source these at the supermarket. And I've found my cats will more readily eat it, while they won't touch liver. I feel a bit more uneasy about adding liver as it is the organ of the body that traps and keeps the toxins that animal ingests... so you would want to be very sure of the source of that liver imho. I don't know how much you would need to feed to help your cat and I also doubt that a cat used to eating kibble might readily take to eating liver...

Was it Savannah Rescue you adopted your girls from? Otherwise, what other "SV rescue group" as I don't know of any other!
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Chicken livers are quite large. You can feed about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of liver 1x per week. However, I think it's easier to buy powered taurine from a health food/vitamin shop and sprinkle it over the food. Because 1) they are still kittens; 2) are on a kibble diet (low meat protein, high plant protein, too many carbs and over-processed) and 3) came from a stressful situation, I also recommend giving them a vitamin supplement such as Mazuri (without calcium) daily for a few months and skip the taurine because the vitamin powder will have it.
 
Yes it was Savannah Rescue. My cats' trust issues with humans aren't due to the rescue foster family rather to the bad breeder situation during their babyhood. I am not complaining about their aloofness: I knew it would be a long process for them to be comfortable and that they may never want to cuddle.

Thanks for the tips regarding the liver vs other organ meat (makes perfect sense as livers are cleansers) and the idea of taurine powder.
 

John Popp

Site Supporter
My boys dislike liver as well, but eat hearts just fine. I hit them in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 degrees to reduce the chances of bacteria.

500mg of Taurine a day was what I got the green light on when piecing together one of our cats diets. Easy if you buy capsules, but in powder form, make sure it's not flavored. By itself, taurine is both odorless and tastless
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
Yes it was Savannah Rescue. My cats' trust issues with humans aren't due to the rescue foster family rather to the bad breeder situation during their babyhood. I am not complaining about their aloofness: I knew it would be a long process for them to be comfortable and that they may never want to cuddle.

Thanks for the tips regarding the liver vs other organ meat (makes perfect sense as livers are cleansers) and the idea of taurine powder.
I couldn't tell as you didn't use the cats' names nor give your's!
 

SavannahLuv

Site Supporter
This is the taurine powder I use after reading about it on another thread. I also give Fresh is Best duck & chicken hearts as treats, they are Shango's favorite and also a good source of taurine. I don't use the powder daily, just every once in a while depending on what he's been eating.

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SavannahLuv

Site Supporter
Also wanted to mention I've read sometimes allergies can be the cause of hair loss. Might be worth looking into changing to a different animal protein if the hair loss continues and nothing else appears to be the culprit.


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