A Feline Biology Primer (It's short and sweet, I promise!)

A bit of basic biology:

All felines, as I'm sure you know, are carnivores. More specifically, though, they belong to a special group known as obligate carnivores, which means that they cannot survive on a diet that does not contain a certain quantity of animal protein. In this regard, they differ from canines, which can survive on a vegetarian diet (though I certainly wouldn't recommend it).

The house cats we have today evolved from a domesticated version of small desert felines in northern Africa. As desert creatures, cats developed only a minimal thirst drive because they derived most of their necessary fluids from prey animals.

Their dentition is is clearly that of a predator, as one can tell with but a glance at their long, sharp canines. Their molars follow the same pattern and are built for shearing meat off of bones rather than crushing and grinding (like a cow's or a human's are).

A cat's digestive system is short and very acidic (as compared to a human's). This protects them from many of the pathogens that can, potentially, be present in the raw meat their ancestral diets consisted of. It is also sensitive to changes in pH and it is an abnormally alkaline (high pH) urinary tract that leads to the dangerous crystals our pets can be prone to.

Now that we've established what most people probably already knew, that a cat's biology is designed for a very specific type of nutrition (raw meat), later blogs will be dedicated to exploring why on earth so many humans have decided that the healthiest cat food is a dry, cereal-like, grain-based product. But next, I want to clear up some issues regarding "veterinarian-recommended" foods.