Why can't cats and dogs swap food?
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If you keep a cat and a dog, you've probably seen this: you turn around, and the dog has licked the cat's bowl clean, while the cat sits at the dog's bowl, happily eating. Aren't they both just little pellets of meat and grain? So why does the bag insist: don't swap? The story starts in 1987. Back then, vets in America kept seeing a strange illness: cats' hearts kept growing bigger, and beating weaker.
A vet at the University of California tested these cats' blood. They were all short of the same thing: taurine. It's a small building block that helps the heart and eyes work, found in meat and fish. Once it was added back, many of the cats' hearts slowly recovered. It turned out some cat foods back then didn't contain enough. Then makers topped it up. After that, the illness became rare. So why doesn't dog food need it? A dog's body has a little workshop, making taurine from other ingredients. A cat's workshop is too small to make enough. So it has to eat it.
And that's not the only gap. The orange stuff in carrots, a dog can turn into vitamin A, which protects the eyes. A cat can't. It needs vitamin A ready-made. So if a cat lives on dog food, over time its heart may weaken, and its eyesight may slowly fade, sometimes for good. What about the other way around? When a dog eats cat food, the trouble isn't too little. It's too much.
Under the American pet food standard, cat food must be at least 26 percent protein, while dog food only needs 18. Cat food's minimum for fat is higher too. For a dog, that's like eating braised pork belly at every meal. Once in a while, the worst is an upset stomach. Every day, it gets fat, and in some dogs all that fat can inflame the pancreas, which really hurts. So a stolen bite is nothing to panic about, either way. Neither food is poison. What to watch for is one eating the other's food for months and years.
A cat is a picky eater that can't do without meat. A dog has an easygoing stomach that can handle a bit of everything. One recipe can't feed two kinds of bodies. If you keep both, feed them separately, and put the cat's bowl somewhere high the dog can't reach. That's all it takes. Next time you buy food, flip the bag over and find the line for crude protein. Compare the cat food and the dog food. How many points apart are yours? Come back and tell me.
You turn around, and the bowls have swapped
The dog licks the cat's bowl clean; the cat happily eats from the dog's. Aren't they both just little pellets of meat and grain?
Yet the bag insists: don't swap. The answer is hidden in a story from almost forty years ago.
1987: the cats with swollen hearts
Back then, vets in America kept seeing a strange illness: cats' hearts grew bigger and bigger, and beat weaker and weaker.
A vet at the University of California tested their blood. They were all short of the same thing: taurine, a small building block that helps the heart and eyes do their work. Meat and fish are full of it.
Once it was added back, many of the cats' hearts slowly recovered. Some cat foods back then simply didn't contain enough. Makers topped it up, and the illness became rare.
Dogs have a little workshop. Cats' is too small
So why doesn't dog food need extra taurine? A dog's body has a kind of little workshop that makes its own from other ingredients. A cat's workshop is too small, so it has to get taurine from food.
That's not the only gap. The orange stuff in carrots, a dog can turn into vitamin A, which protects the eyes. A cat can't: it needs vitamin A ready-made.
A cat living on dog food, over time
This takes months of eating it every day, not a stolen bite.
Dogs eating cat food: not too little, too much
Minimum protein under the US pet food standard (percent, not counting water). Cat food's minimum for fat is higher too.
For a dog, that's like eating braised pork belly at every meal.
One recipe can't feed two kinds of bodies
A stolen bite is nothing to panic about, either way. Neither food is poison.
What to watch for is one eating the other's food for months and years. A cat is a picky eater that can't do without meat; a dog has an easygoing stomach that handles a bit of everything.
What dogs truly can't touch: chocolate, grapes and the like.
Quick check
What's the main problem if a cat lives on dog food?
A dog's little workshop makes its own taurine; a cat's is too small, so it must eat it, and dog food is built for the dog's workshop.
