Dietary taurine content and feline reproduction and outcome.

The reproductive performance and the outcome of the kittens was determined for female cats fed 0, 0.01, 0.02 or 0.05% taurine. Reproductive performance and outcome in the 0.02% group was substantially better than in the 0 and 0.01% groups but not as good as in the 0.05% group. Kittens in the 0.05% group had higher body weights and brain weights at birth and at 8 wk after birth than did kittens in the other groups. The concentration of taurine in milk was much higher in females fed 0.05% taurine (approximately 1.9 mmol/L) compared with females fed 0.02% taurine (approximately 0.55 mmol/L) or females fed 0 or 0.01% taurine (approximately 0.2 mmol/L). The concentration of taurine in tissues and fluids of adult females, newborn kittens and 8-wk-old kittens in the 0.05% group was significantly higher than in all other groups. In general, the concentration of taurine in tissues and fluids of the 0.02% group were not significantly different than in the 0 or 0.01% groups, with the exception of 8-wk-old kittens, in which several values, including retina and five brain regions, were significantly higher than in the 0 and 0.01% groups. These results indicate that the postnatal supply of taurine in the mother's milk had a greater impact than the intrauterine environment on the taurine concentration of the offspring in the 0.02% group; this amount of dietary taurine is still insufficient for a normal reproductive performance and resulted in significantly smaller taurine concentrations in adults and offspring.