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...a pure vegetarian pet cat... How does the cat obtain whatever missing nutrients cause most cats to be obligate carnivores?

semi-extrinsic 9y ago
Probably eats mice/birds/etc. or the food of other cats when the owner isn't looking.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
It seems plausible that those nutrients might be found in certain plants, and could be identified and concentrated. I wouldn't risk it with my cats, but plenty of people do feed their cats veggie kibble and I haven't heard of them dying of malnutrition in droves.
- ben_w 9y ago
  IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. Although it can be found in seaweed, or synthesised in a lab, cats and water makes me think this is unlikely in nature. (That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    > IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. > That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert Or energy drinks.
    - ben_w 9y ago
      Stimulants — or drugs in general, legal or not — should definitely not be assumed safe on a different species. (Also: not all energy drinks are vegetarian, so wouldn’t always solve the diet puzzle even if you confirmed it as safe).
    - 220V_USKettle 9y ago
      My cat refuses to drink Monster, but insists on Red Bull Blueberry. They are finicky creatures.
lovelearning 9y ago
I'm not sure actually. In many videos, he offers it things like fish and chicken and wet cat food but that cat doesn't touch them. It does eat some dry kibbles - maybe that's enough? Now that I think about it, calling it "pure vegetarian" was my mistake because it does eat those kibbles which probably contain non-vegetarian nutrients.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Yes, dry kibble certainly contains meat (fish, poultry or even red meat).
- celticninja 9y ago
  also, unless it is an indoor only cat you cannot determine what it actually eats.
YesNoYesNoNo101 9y ago
Probably it doesn't and will die early.
cimmanom 9y ago
And it's not just that cats have to eat meat to get nutrients they need. Their systems aren't able to process significant amounts of carbohydrates at all. A cat consuming more than a couple grams of carbs per day will develop kidney disease extremely quickly.
- blacksmith_tb 9y ago
  That seems too low a threshold - lots of cheap cat food (esp. chow/kibble) has much higher levels of carbs, and while I am sure they aren't great for cats, there also doesn't seem to be an epidemic of feline kidney failure...
  - cimmanom 9y ago
    Actually, there is. It's among the most common causes of death for domestic cats ([1] says the second most common). It's been what killed most of the cats I've ever known (notable exceptions being two that got hit by cars and the one who, no kidding, died of mercury poisoning after being fed nothing but canned tuna her entire life). [1] http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/03/longevity-causes-of-death-in-pet-cats/ http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/03/longevity-causes-of-death-i...
LarryL 9y ago
I've been told that the cats of a great-grandparent were only fed pastas... I've always wondered how they could survive on that! But I suspect that since those cats lived mostly outside, they probably ate many other things, including small animals they caught in gardens, sheds, etc.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  Can confirm, in rural southern Europe cats were (and still are were I live ATM) fed scraps and leftovers (if any); if they don't like that the fields outside are an excellent training ground for their primal instincts
Ensorceled 9y ago
If it goes outside at all ... it doesn't. We had a cat that didn't eat cat food from May until October, we didn't assume it was a breatharian during that time. When our cat disappeared (we assume a fox or wolf got her) after almost a decade of this, the farmers to either side of us started having mice and rat problems again :-)

semi-extrinsic 9y ago

Probably eats mice/birds/etc. or the food of other cats when the owner isn't looking.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago

It seems plausible that those nutrients might be found in certain plants, and could be identified and concentrated. I wouldn't risk it with my cats, but plenty of people do feed their cats veggie kibble and I haven't heard of them dying of malnutrition in droves.

ben_w 9y ago
IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. Although it can be found in seaweed, or synthesised in a lab, cats and water makes me think this is unlikely in nature. (That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  > IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. > That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert Or energy drinks.
  - ben_w 9y ago
    Stimulants — or drugs in general, legal or not — should definitely not be assumed safe on a different species. (Also: not all energy drinks are vegetarian, so wouldn’t always solve the diet puzzle even if you confirmed it as safe).
  - 220V_USKettle 9y ago
    My cat refuses to drink Monster, but insists on Red Bull Blueberry. They are finicky creatures.

lovelearning 9y ago

I'm not sure actually. In many videos, he offers it things like fish and chicken and wet cat food but that cat doesn't touch them. It does eat some dry kibbles - maybe that's enough? Now that I think about it, calling it "pure vegetarian" was my mistake because it does eat those kibbles which probably contain non-vegetarian nutrients.

icebraining 9y ago
Yes, dry kibble certainly contains meat (fish, poultry or even red meat).
celticninja 9y ago
also, unless it is an indoor only cat you cannot determine what it actually eats.

YesNoYesNoNo101 9y ago

Probably it doesn't and will die early.

cimmanom 9y ago

And it's not just that cats have to eat meat to get nutrients they need. Their systems aren't able to process significant amounts of carbohydrates at all. A cat consuming more than a couple grams of carbs per day will develop kidney disease extremely quickly.

blacksmith_tb 9y ago
That seems too low a threshold - lots of cheap cat food (esp. chow/kibble) has much higher levels of carbs, and while I am sure they aren't great for cats, there also doesn't seem to be an epidemic of feline kidney failure...
- cimmanom 9y ago
  Actually, there is. It's among the most common causes of death for domestic cats ([1] says the second most common). It's been what killed most of the cats I've ever known (notable exceptions being two that got hit by cars and the one who, no kidding, died of mercury poisoning after being fed nothing but canned tuna her entire life). [1] http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/03/longevity-causes-of-death-in-pet-cats/ http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/03/longevity-causes-of-death-i...

LarryL 9y ago

I've been told that the cats of a great-grandparent were only fed pastas... I've always wondered how they could survive on that! But I suspect that since those cats lived mostly outside, they probably ate many other things, including small animals they caught in gardens, sheds, etc.

tomcooks 9y ago
Can confirm, in rural southern Europe cats were (and still are were I live ATM) fed scraps and leftovers (if any); if they don't like that the fields outside are an excellent training ground for their primal instincts

Ensorceled 9y ago

If it goes outside at all ... it doesn't. We had a cat that didn't eat cat food from May until October, we didn't assume it was a breatharian during that time. When our cat disappeared (we assume a fox or wolf got her) after almost a decade of this, the farmers to either side of us started having mice and rat problems again :-)