Maggie Mae, Margaret, Marie, Margie, you know...
HER (sorry, I couldn't resist :-) wrote:
>On Taurine- actually, taurine (and the other amino acids) are a COMPOUND of
>protien, not protien itself.
 
Right you are!  I always think of amino acids as being 'simple proteins' the
way glucose is a simple sugar, but that's not technically correct.  The
point I was trying to make in my note was that it was in the protein family
rather than the vitamin or fat family.
 
Taurine is also linked to cardiomyopathy in cats, but the link is not
established to it in ferrets.  (I think it's suspected, but not studied
scientifically.  At
 
least that's the impression I got from the FAQ on cardiac problems.)
 
>I have asked the folks on this forum if you can overdose on amino acids,but
>got no answer.
 
Interesting question.  People routinely eat more protein than they need; the
excess gets processed by our bodies.  If there is a problem with kidney
function, excreting the extra nitrogen from the protein could be an issue,
regardless of whether it came from one amino acid or a variety of them.  If
that's not an issue, I'd guess that you'd have to look at the chemical
structure of the amino acid in question to see if there are other compounds
that would build up as a side effect.  I think you'd have to *really* overdo
it before any problems resulted in an animal with normal kidney function.
 
>And remember something a rather prominent Houston vet is complaining about,
>not everyone on the internet is what they claim, nor do they have the
>knowledge they appear to.
 
If that last remark was aimed at me, I'm not sure where it came from.  I'd
prefer to discuss this privately, rather than subjecting nearly 3000 FML
subscribers to it.  (M.started filtering my email a few days ago, due to
an unrelated matter, so I couldn't send this part direct to her, sorry
folks.  *sigh*)
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2305]