🚀 go-pugleaf

In rec.pets.cats.anecdotes Joe K. Bevilacqua <joekbev@nospamcomedyorama.com> wrote:
: My cats are quite happy and healthy. And cats are really omnivores not
: carnivores. They love greens--cat grass (usually barley grass), cat nip,

Um... Now here is where you are dead wrong. Cats are true carnivores. You
may be thinking about dogs (in fact hte only dog that is a true carnivore 
is the wolf, all others will use both animal and plant in their diet, but 
even wolves have not totally specialized their digestive system towards
meat, just instinct they will only eat meat), but cats are *not*
omnivores. Just cause they like grass does not make them omnivores (grass 
helps them throw up stuff that is upsetting their stomach. Cat nip is
like kitty marijuana, and broccoli and whatever are eccentricities of
pet cats being around humans a lot). Ok, here it is, cats do eat some
vegetables, not much (usually the contents of their preys stomach
every now and then) but what makes them carnivores and not omnivores
is omnivores can do without one or the other, carnivores cannot. Why
do you think cat food is richer in protein and fat then dog food?
Partly cause cats need that more than dogs (which are more omnivorous
than a cat)Read any book about cats. Some will specifically outright say
cats are "true" carnivores (as opposed to dogs which I already stated why
they aren't "true" carnivores) and point out all the reasons why cats are
true carnivores. Try learning some facts before making way off based
remarks like cats are omnivores.

Here is a few quotes:
From _Clan_of_the_Wild_Cat (Publisher: The Nature Company. It is a
compilation of Essays on cats):
" Because, unlike the diets of other animals, the diet of cat's didn't
change. {list of vegetarian diets and how each plant is different} but the
cat menu listed only one item: meat."
"Hence meat-eating has formed cat bodies, beginning in the mouth with
daggerlike eyeteeth {list of stuff}". 
"Meat-eating has caused the shortness of the cat's intestine, since meat
is easy to digest and doesn't require a long, heavy gut that would weight
a cat down." 
All this is on page 119 of this book (a quote though from Elizabeth
Marshall Thomas in her book _The_Tribe_of_Tiger, an excellent book I have
also read about both wild cats and domestic cats and the relation between
the two. Can't tell you what page to look in that book cause I left that
book at home instead of taking it to the dorm with me).

From _We're_Having_a_Kitten by Eric Swanson
"The modern carnivore family includes a number of distinctive branches,
including walruses, seals, bears, dogs, weasels,raccoons, and cats. Yet
while many of these animals have adapted to a wider diet, only cats and
polar bears remain staunchly carnivorous. Even dogs can subsist on a more
geriegated diet, and thei back teeth include molars as well as
carnassials. For sixty million years, while herbivores and omnivores
adjusted their diets in accordance with ssometimes devestation climatic
changes, cats have kept troth with meat." ... pg 131.

I could list many many more references but I think the idea has been well
pointed out by now (well I would have to go home and get some more of my
cat books, I *love* cats and have done a lot of reading on them over the
years).

Tigress

-- 
These opinions are mine, not those of Georgia Tech.  It is the opinion of
Tech that I should be writing a paper on some topic or another.
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