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Chris Fox's avatar

I wrote about something like this a few weeks ago; when one grows up a lot smarter and more knowledgable then everyone else one gets used to being right, and others wrong, almost all the time. My humbling has been gradual but even now I bristle when challenged, Just today I was telling some vegan that cats will go blind on a diet of vegetable protein he came back with "you're wrong," nothing more, I told him to google taurine and later he conceded. But that bland denial ticked me off.

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Peaceful Dave's avatar

It is amazing that so many people don't know what herbivore, omnivore and obligate carnivore mean. How can any cat owner not know that cats are obligate carnivores?

Years ago, I worked with a bunch of pranksters - serious pranks that would get you fired today. One of my over-the-top pranks got me paid back with my motorcycle on the roof. That was a good one. Nobody helped me get it down, I deserved that.

We had a guy with a MENSA coffee cup, proud of his IQ. Someone stuck a hose up his tailpipe and funneled a quart of motor oil into his muffler. When he left at the end of the day, he got about a quarter mile, and it looked like he was spraying for bugs. He pulled over and raised the hood. Engine running smoothly and no oil leaks in the engine compartment. The perpetrator followed him to make sure he didn't go to an auto repair shop and get ripped off. The next day was without mercy. "What was up with your car yesterday, GENIUS?" Anyone there other than Mr. MENSA would have said, "Which one of you assholes..." He never figured it out. IQ isn't everything. A really good prank, I wasn't the prankster.

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Chris Fox's avatar

"How can any cat owner not know that cats are obligate carnivores?"

Dogs are omnivorous but of course they can live on meat; most cats never eat anything else and their food is so loaded with protein that it will shorten a dog's life, to say nothing of ours. Cats make their own vitamin C, for example.

A few months ago I gave my torties a can of tuna. The next time I opened a can they came running over; they had only heard the opening sound once and that was several seconds before they had their first tuna. They remembered.

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