One nutrient necessary to a cat’s daily diet is taurine. Cats need taurine in their diet as they are unable produce sufficient amounts naturally. Taurine is primarily found in animal muscle meat. 

“Cats are a particular challenge because they cannot produce certain proteins such as taurine themselves. They instead have to absorb it from their food, with beef, chicken and fish being particularly rich sources. Cats that don’t have enough taurine are at risk of developing a potentially fatal condition called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)” – the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

“In cats with DCM, the heart muscle becomes very thin and weak, preventing them from pumping blood and supplying oxygen to the body normally. This is a fatal disease if not corrected early on.” – ASPCA

“Taurine deficiency in cats causes a host of metabolic and clinical problems, including feline central retinal degeneration and blindness, deafness, cardiomyopathy and heart failure, inadequate immune response, poor neonatal growth, reproductive failure, and congenital defects. Found abundantly in many fish, birds, and small rodents, taurine is either absent or present only in trace amounts in plants.” – Your Cat’s Nutritional Needs, published by the National Research Council of the National Academies, pg2