My vet thinks she needs more taurine. It is also one of only four calming neurotransmitters that balance dozens of stimulating neurotransmitters in the brain.
Taurine is an essential nutrient for cats.
Unlike most mammals, they cannot make their own. Taurine is usually provided by the meat that wild cats live on, but today's cat foods sometimes don't have enough meat. The situation is much like our need for vitamin C, which is essential for us but not for most animals. Although taurine is only essential for humans in infancy, there are times when taurine can help calm adults down, both by its direct effect as a calming neurotransmitter and by helping magnesium get into cells to do its job. Magnesium outside the cell really does us no good at all, so having enough taurine to move magnesium to the inside of the cell has about the same effect as taking a magnesium supplement.