Does it matter if the cat eats the dog’s food?

When you have both cats and dogs in the same household it can be difficult to keep the food separate. However it is important to try because both animals have different dietary requirements. Dogs can tolerate grain in their food as they are omnivores; they need to eat a certain amount of plant products. Cats are carnivores and the nutrients that they need are found only in meat.
The best example is taurine and without it cats can go blind, suffer from heart disease and types of respiratory failure. Taurine is not present at all in dog food. Vitamin A is essential to both cats and dogs but how the animals ingest it is very different. Dogs can convert beta carotene found in carrots to vitamin A within their body. Cats cannot they must have vitamin A already made and this is only present in animals tissues. Equally dogs can convert fatty acids such as linoleic acid to arachidonic acid, but cats cannot. Lastly the cats use protein sources for their energy requirements and they need a massive protein reserve which simply is not found in dog food. It is probably healthier for dogs to eat cat food and because cat food is denser has added fats and calories; it means dogs like it, but it can make them obese. It is too rich for dogs on a long term basis, if you must feed your cat food on another animal try a ferret t is the only other animal that is a true carnivore.

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