Thank you. Your thoughts are very much appreciated!

I did some research yesterday. It does sound like it's a thyroid problem OR it could be taurine related, but I've always fed my furbabies Hill's and they add taurine to their products + the furbabies get shrimp at least twice a week.

It really caught my eye as Beans has eye problems as well.








The Need for Taurine in Felines


What is "Taurine"??

Taurine is a colorless, crystalline compound which is found in the free form in invertebrates and in the bile of mammals. It promotes the intestinal absorption of lipids (fats) as cholesterol.


What does taurine do??

Taurine is an important part of the feline diet and is essential in preventing a disorder in cats called "dilated cardiomyopathy" (which is a failure of the heart muscle whereupon the heart tissue itself swells to try to meet the animal's circulatory needs), as well as being very significant in helping feline reproduction and prevention of a progressive retinal disease called "feline central retinal degeneration" (FCRD) which will cause blindness if left untreated. In queens that have taurine-deficient diets, we find more still births, fewer live kittens born, and ultimately fewer kittens that survive to the weaning stage.


Why is taurine deficiency such a big deal??

Should I be concerned about it?? In the wild, rodents formed a large part of the feline diet, and the rodents had significant levels of taurine in their brains. When we began to domesticate cats and feed them commercial cat foods instead of their wild diets, taurine deficiency started appearing. This was of great concern, especially in the 1970's, when it was proven that many commercial cat foods on the market at that time contained an inadequate amount of taurine. Cats are different from other animals in that they cannot make enough taurine internally to meet their needs, and they must have enough taurine supplied to them in their food. Since these studies came out, most major pet food companies revised their pet food formulas to include taurine. Interestingly enough, not all taurine is equal, and some commercial foods need to have even more taurine added to their formulas to allow for proper feline absorption and utilization of the taurine in their foods.

from here: http://www.hdw-inc.com/healthtaurine.htm