Is the cat an omnivore or a carnivore? What do you think? The truth is that there are many doubts about this subject, and although I am not an expert, I will try to shed a little light on this controversial and interesting issue at the same time.
First, I will compare the cat's digestive system with ours, since humans are omnivorous, and finally, I will explain what a cat needs to eat so that it can have adequate growth and development. Let us begin.
The human, an omnivorous animal
The humans we eat everything: meat, vegetables, pasta ... Our digestion already begins in the mouth, when the teeth grind food and saliva, which eliminates bacteria and begins to separate chemicals. Once everything is well chewed, the now called bolus goes to the stomach where it finishes breaking down.
Then what is left goes to the small intestine, which is about 8 meters long, where the nutrients will be absorbed. As the nutrients are absorbed, they will pass to the large intestine, which is an organ that is responsible for absorbing vitamins and storing fecal matter in the rectum until it is finally expelled through the anus.
However, digestion lasts between 2 and 4 hours. But what about the cat?
The cat, a carnivorous animal
Image - InfoVisual.info
While the feline digestion is very similar to ours, there is a very important difference: their gastric juices are much more powerful than ours. Why? Because of the type of diet they have.
Since their origins, cats, like all felines, spend part of their time hunting. And it is that nature wanted them to have some fangs and teeth with which they could chew and crush bones of the animals they hunted, some claws with which to gut them, And a highly developed senses of sight and hearing, so that they could see and hear things that we are not able to perceive, such as the sound of a mouse that is 7 meters away.
So what does the cat have to eat? Carne. He needs it in order to grow, and in fact, if he is given a vegetarian diet, he will most likely end up having a very bad time. It can eat grass, but it only needs it to purge itself.
Therefore, for a furry to be happy, it is very important that it be given meat, or feed made with it.