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  • AKICIF: Carbs and Cat Food

    From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Thu Dec 29 21:58:42 2022
    Why is it absolutely essential that starch be added to food for an
    obligate carnivore?

    At first glance, it seems obvious: roots and rice and guar gum are
    much cheaper than meat.

    But the least carby cat food in the supermarket is also the cheapest
    cat food in the supermarket.

    --
    Joy Beeson, U.S.A.
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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  • From Tim Merrigan@21:1/5 to jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid on Thu Dec 29 19:22:47 2022
    On Thu, 29 Dec 2022 21:58:42 -0500, Joy Beeson
    <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:


    Why is it absolutely essential that starch be added to food for an
    obligate carnivore?

    At first glance, it seems obvious: roots and rice and guar gum are
    much cheaper than meat.

    But the least carby cat food in the supermarket is also the cheapest
    cat food in the supermarket.

    In the thousands of years that cats have been domesticated, people
    have been adding some grain to their diets, so that they've evolved
    guts slightly longer than their wild cousins, so that they can get
    some nutritional value from grains. So while they don't need grain in
    their diet, they can digest it somewhat, and they won't starve on a
    diet of grain, unlike their wild cousins.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Tim Merrigan on Fri Dec 30 03:47:35 2022
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    So while they don't need grain in their diet, they can digest it
    somewhat, and they won't starve on a diet of grain, unlike their
    wild cousins.

    They (cats) would starve on a diet of nothing but grain, as they're
    unable to synthesize essential nutrients such as retinol, arginine,
    taurine, and arachidonic acid, which aren't found in plants. But
    all cats can benefit from small amounts of vegetable matter.

    Few wild animals eat either absolutely nothing but animals or
    absolutely nothing but plants, since animals don't have ideologies,
    religions, or rule books. Cows and horses, for instance, eat plenty
    of bugs, mice, and anything else small that doesn't get out of their
    way in time.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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