Raw meats in general are great sources of B complex vitamins and oil soluble vitamins. Oil soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D and E.
Vitamin A's cousin beta carotene which is found in vegetables cannot be utilized by cats. Therefore, all vegetables should be considered as a poor source of vitamin A for cats. Dogs can, however, convert beta carotene into vitamin A.
All raw meats are a good source of taurine which is an essential amino acid. Taurine is said to help with problems like epilepsy. On page 129 of The Healing Nutrients Within, the authors state that taurine has a potent and long lasting anticonvulsant action
.
Raw meats in general contain taurine. Chicken is said to be the best source in terms of muscle meats, but since taurine is more liberally found in areas of the body where there is electrical activity, the heart, eyes and brains are a better source of taurine. Since I have never seen eyes being sold a butcher shop (although some Asian stores may sell fish eyes), I tend to feed either brains or heart. When feeding organ meat, please remember to read my notes about organ meats which can be found in Part 2 of my book.
Taurine also plays an important role in maintaining the health of the brain, heart, breast, gall bladder, and kidney. A deficiency of taurine can also be a factor in inflammation or swelling; hyperactivity, hypoglycemia, blindness and death.
In 1957, Dr. Francis Pottenger had an article published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition entitled Therapeutic Effect of Lamb Fat in the Dietary
. Dr. Pottenger noted that raw lamb fat was extremely beneficial in cases of dry skin or dry hair.
Choline is defined by Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary as a base C5H15NO2 that occurs in many animal and plant products and is a vitamin of the B complex essential to the liver function. Choline is found in egg yolk, the richest known source, and helps emulsify and disperse cholesterol throughout the body. Therefore, eggs may be beneficial if your pet has high cholesterol and if your pet's liver needs help.
Your pet may benefit from turkey if they are hyperactive or need relaxing. Turkey contains an amino acid called L-tryptophan. Conversely, if your pet is overweight or lethargic, then turkey is probably not the best food to be fed at the moment. It might be better to feed turkey once the extra weight and lethargy disappears.