When buying cat and dog food, we all see a hint on the packaging that it is forbidden to feed ruminants.
Ruminants are mainly animals with ruminant digestion methods, rumination digestion refers to the fact that after the animal eats for a period of time, the semi-digested food can be returned to the mouth to continue chewing, cattle, breeding, deer and other herbivores will use ruminant digestion to chew additionally to improve the digestion efficiency of food.
Cats and dogs are also animals, so why can't their food raise ruminants?
In cat and dog food, the flesh and bone components of ruminants are added:
Ruminants are mainly herbivores, because the food of herbivores is mainly forage, tree roots and other indigestible plant fibers, so ruminants will first simply chew the food and swallow it into the stomach.
After waiting for these foods to soak and soften in the stomach, the semi-digested food is sent back to the mouth and chewed again, thus forming a process of rumination digestion.
In this process, ruminants undergo very complex digestion, obtaining the required nutrients from the basic hay and tree roots, so many ruminants have multiple stomachs and can perform complex digestions in the stomach.
Cats and dogs are not herbivores, but omnivores and have only one stomach.
Compared with the multi-stomach digestive system of ruminants, single-stomach digestion is simpler, and as an omnivorous animal, the composition of cat food and dog food is also more complex, and a lot of meat is added while adding various grains.
Chicken is the main ingredient in pet food, but many pet food will also add beef and mutton, or there will be residues of beef and mutton on the production line.
Cannibalism occurs when pet food is fed to ruminants, and for ruminants, cannibalism has the potential to spread prions and induce diseases such as mad cow disease.
Why cannibalism among ruminants spreads prions:
"Cannibalism spreads prions", this phrase is just one expression that is easier to understand.
Biologically, prions are not viruses in the traditional sense, but a special protein, but the protein of prions, unlike ordinary proteins, is an abnormal protein based on β-folding.
Ordinary proteins are mainly α-helix, supplemented by β-folding, and the abnormal form of prion will change the spatial structure of other proteins by contacting normal proteins, and assimilate with the protein form of prions.
Prions entering the body of any animal may spread prions, but each organism has its own immunity, so prions enter the organism and can resist to a certain extent through their own immune system. The immune system is not omnipotent, and historically, prions have been transmitted to humans through animal meat.
Scientists have found in experiments that prions are more infectious to homologous proteins. If prions originate from the same species or species, the chance of transmission of infection increases, and the closer they are related, the greater the chance of infection.
Therefore, cat food and dog food will prohibit feeding ruminants, so as to avoid cannibalism of ruminants and reduce the chance of infection of prions.
summary:
Cats and dogs, as pets, are omnivorous animals, so cat food and dog food often have a small amount of beef and mutton, and beef and mutton are ruminants.
In the body of animals, special prions may be produced due to genetic mutations and other conditions, and prions have stronger infectivity and transmission of homologous proteins, so cat food and dog food are prohibited from feeding ruminants, avoiding cannibalism and reducing the risk of spreading prions.