[Shawna]

“There is one amino acid that cats require, which cannot be found in plants, as everyone here probably knows, Carnitine.”

The essential amino acids for cats are “arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, and taurine.

Carnitine is not an essential amino acid in cats. It is considered a conditionally essential amino acid. If there is enough lysine and methionine as well as iron and certain vitamins the cat can make carnitine. Both of these amino acids can be found in plant foods and plant foods can supply enough if properly combined. Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine https://books.google.com/books?id=4Qzau1jagOYC&pg=PA655&lpg=PA655&dq=is+carnitine+an+essential+amino+acid+for+cats&source=bl&ots=wXOzeKiQ2z&sig=RHBoMlYaLQ-rkbzeC59i_U3zRQg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizuf_jvN3MAhWD24MKHXIvBy44ChDoAQghMAE#v=onepage&q=is%20carnitine%20an%20essential%20amino%20acid%20for%20cats&f=false

Taurine is the amino acid cats require that is only found in animal sources of protein but you are correct that it can and is synthetically produced and used (in both vegan and many meat based diets alike).

What I find odd about your post is that you profess yourself, in a round about way, to be an authority on nutrition. If this were true, you would know that a highly processed, synthetically fortified diet is not healthy for any living being as he sole diet. Being as knowledgeable about nutrition as you profess to be you must also be aware that most plant based proteins come with negative consequences such as the anti-nutrients phytase, trypsin inhibitors, prolamins, lectins, agglutinins and such. How do you suggest dealing with these factors in the canine and feline diet?

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Shawna.