If cats are true carnivores why do they eat grass at all ?

Question

Carnivore means meat/flesh eater so how is a cat a carnivore and not an omnivore since they do eat, consume and digest grass along wih meat.

If even its to help digestion problems wouldnt that make them omnivores; since you have to eat something to digest it and digesting grass would make them an omnivore

Answer 1

They could survive eating just meat. They could not, however, survive eating just grass.

A true omnivore, such as a human, could survive living on just vegetables or just meat.  

Answer 2

Even if they're eating the best cat food in the world, cats may need a little help with digestion. Tender green grasses help provide this assistance. Cats are actually biologically programmed to eat grass for this very reason. In other words they are taking medicine.

Answer 3

Cats eat grass like crocodiles eat rocks.  It's not for a nutritional purpose.  Crocs swallow stones to help them digest food (the stones sit in the gizzard and serve the purpose of teeth to grind food, since crocs don't chew.  When the stones get too smooth they are regurgitated) and possibly as ballast.  Cats eat grass to clean any swallowed fur out of their digestive tracts.  They do not digest the grass.  As a cat owner and cleaner of litter boxes, I know the grass comes out in the same shape it went in.

Cats are not just carnivores.  They are hyper carnivores.  Carnivores like dogs can eat plant matter and get some nutrition out of it.  Cats can not.  They are strictly meat eaters... at least in the wild.  With manufactured pet food we can give cats nutrition without actually giving them meat.  Pet food is in an artificial format that they can digest.

Really, what makes an animal a carnivore (mostly lives on meat), omnivore (can live on anything, has a varied diet), herbivore (mostly eats plants), or even a hyper carnivore (only lives on meat) is its digestive tract.  Meat is very easy to digest and dedicated carnivores have short guts that do not support a large bacterial ecosystem since they don't need the help in digesting food.  Plant matter is extremely hard to extract nutrition from, so herbivores have long gut systems and large bacterial communities living in them, some herbivores even have multiple stomachs to hit their vegetables with a whole battery of bacteria, acid baths, and chewing.

Answer 4

because spongebob said so

Answer 5

I think the point of being a carnivore is that they can only survive with meat in their diet, same thing as vegetarians can only survive with plants in their diets.  I think that they can survive completely without eating the grass but because they have it they use it to settle their stomachs.  

Answer 6

Two theories I've heard of are that it eases stomach upset and that it helps to eliminate hairballs.  This would classify the grass as medicine and not food, thus a cat could still be considered a carnivore.

Answer 7

The cat needs some fiber in its diet to clean the dead cells which accumulate on the inside surface of it's digestive tract. Humans require fiber for the same reason. Cattle are fattened on feedlots by feeding them corn. This high in fat but low in fiber. Some sort of rouhage is added and many feedlots use styrofoam. An even stranger example is the fact some species of young waterfowl eat feathers. They do this to protect their stomachs from the sharp bones of the fish they swallow.

Answer 8

They can't digest grass. Only bacteria and fungi have mastered the trick of breaking down cellulose. Any animal that eats low quality rough vegetation has to get bacteria or fungi to digest it for them. I mention fungus because leaf-cutter ants get fungus to digest plant matter for them in gardens. Other plant eaters need stomachs that hold onto their meals for longer digestion. Since cats don't have fermentation tank stomachs like proper grass eaters, they can't maintain the bacterial colonies needed to digest the grass for them.

Cats also lack the kind of teeth an omnivore or herbivore needs. They can't chew because they have very few tooth surfaces that come together parallel to each other. All their back teeth are for is shearing off chunks of flesh. To digest grass or straw it has to first be ground into a smooth paste. They haven't got the teeth for it, so they can't. some carnivores like dogs and bears have some opposing surfaces on their back teeth which allows them to eat high quality vegetable matter, but still not grass or straw.

Cats are frequently referred to as hyper-carnivores, meaning they get almost the entirety of their nutrition from eating flesh. (although I've seen an inexplicably disturbing video of a house cat eating a banana) Individuals will vary.

Both points are moot as they eat grass to trigger trigger vomiting to expel indigestible bits of prey animals, teeth claws, fur etc. They don't keep any significant amount of it in their bellies to be digested.

Carnivore omnivore and herbivore are general categories describing how an animal gets most of it's nutrients, not necessarily all of them.

Answer 9

cats cannot digest grass...they usually eat it to make themselves vomit.  

Answer 10

The word 'carnivore' has two meanings. One is simply any animal that feeds only on meat - for example, crocodiles. The other is mammals belonging to the order Carnivora, which are defined by their cheek teeth, called carnassials, which are designed for slicing flesh. Some members of this order, such as most species of the bear family, Ursidae, eat a large amount of plant matter, so they can be described as omnivorous by nature, but are still carnivores in taxonomic terms.

Cats, however, are true carnivores in every sense of the word. The cat family, Felidae, belongs to the order Carnivora, and they feed solely on meat. They cannot digest plant material, and because grass is indigestible to them, eating it makes them vomit. They do this on purpose to help them bring up fur they have swallowed whilst grooming themselves.

Omnivores are creatures which habitually feed on both meat and plant matter, have teeth adapted for eating both, and can digest both. Humans fit into this category.