Digestive System

Answer:

None of my Cat books are closely available, but note these traits.

My son's cat Gertie, only drinks from his toilet, and randomly eats wild mice we think. Plus when she was a kitten last year ate Japanese Beetles whole as well as crickets! She is very healthy and this diet is by choice not convenience. She is indoors around 14 hours daily and also has upgrade dry food and nice cat treats. She has never been sick yet and is 18 months old in human years. My own male cat Houston, also adds strange supplements to his regular catfood and Fancy Feast Delicacies. He eats any type of chameleon, almost whole, small snakes, small frogs, dragonflies, chlorine pool water (sanitized water), pond water, large insects and rarely- birds. To offset this somewhat treacherous diet, he adores dairy foods like yogurt. skim milk, etc. and leads a pampered virtually safe life indoors- around 20 hours a day or more. Again,

other undesirable foods ingested are by his choice-not ours-and he is the healthiest cat we have ever owned. If a cat is outdoors as much as Gertie or even like Houston, they should have about every Vaccination that exists, to offset the dangers that lurk in all neighborhoods - you never know what is hiding outside nowadays - rabies, feline leukemia, etc. Also, we own a very large female cat who is not allowed anywhere outdoors except an occasional front porch sit with mom. To supplement her diet, she is allowed to eat real growing catnip, grassy type porch plants, celery leaves, banana, pea soup, pizza sauce and loves to sniff strawberrries. She does not tolerate any milk

products since they seem to be unhealthy believe it or not, on most cats tummies. All three cats are very healthy-rating them by most healthy is 1) Houston (10 yrs old)

2) Gertie (1 1/2 yrs) 3) Macy ( 12 yrs). Unsure if Macy is just showing her age now, but if diet were measured it sure is interesting!

Answer:

A cat's digestive system and a human's digestive system differ greatly. Human beings are omnivores, so have evolved to gain nutrients from both meat and plant matter. Cats on the other hand, are obligate carnivores. This means they only get their nutrients from meat including organs and bone.

There are many amino acids and vitamins raw meat supply that cats cannot synthesise in their bodies. The best-known of all is Taurine. A cat that doesn't get enough taurine for instance will eventually develop heart and eye problems.

Humans get a lot of essential vitamins and other nutrients from plants such as vegetables and fruits. Cats do not need plant matter at all. In fact, cats actually have trouble digesting foods high in carbohydrate such as grains, which are sadly abundant in many brands and types of cat food. That being said, cats that have access to outside will readily eat grass on occasion. This isn't for nutritional reasons, but to help aid digestion. Grass helps a cat regurgitate hairballs or other undesired food that the cat has ingested.

However, some cats do like to nibble on raw vegetables on occasion. There isn't a clear reason for this, but it could be that they like the taste, or it contains some nutrient that they are lacking.

Because of a human's and cat's digestive systems, a cat's system is perfectly designed to handle raw meat. It is fast and efficient at breaking down meat and bone - something humans have difficulty doing with our broad diet. Because of this super fast system, a healthy cat will unlikely become sick from potential bacteria found in meat such as salmonella; food does not stay in the tract long enough for bacteria to multiply to harmful levels. Humans on the other hand, have much slower digestive systems which makes us more susceptible to harmful bacteria in food - which is why we cook out meat as it destroys any bacteria (but also kills nutrients that cats need), therefore making it easier to digest.