Everyone has heard the phrase ‘the cat that got the cream’, and if your own feline pet has just enjoyed a saucer of the stuff you will see it licking its lips with a very satisfied expression indeed.
Therefore, the notion that the word cream could be substituted for clay may seem a rather novel one. The idea of clay for cats must sound odd to many; after all, turn on the cartoons on TV and Tom will be chasing Jerry, not devouring clay.
An obvious reason for this is that we tend to think of cats as carnivores, plain and simple. They don’t just consume the meat that lands in their bowl amid various begging meows; they will catch and eat mice, rats and birds. Despite usually being hydrophobic, they still somehow learned that they like fish.
To that extent, cats are indeed carnivorous. But that is not the whole story. After all, you will often see a cat eating plants, especially catnip. But that does not make cats omnivores, because an omnivore (such as a human) can survive without meat, which cat can’t because there are proteins they need that only meat includes.
Nonetheless, cats can benefit nutritionally from vitamins and minerals from non-meat sources. This can include digesting what is in the stomachs of freshly-caught prey as well as what it may nibble from the plant kingdom.
The role clay can play is not a matter of diet, however, as medicinal. Montmorillonite clay, when included in cat food, can provide nutrients and minerals that provide extra balance and help with digestion. Cats can be observed eating soil when ill with the runs or another stomach upset, because clay can help provide the mineral rebalancing needed in the digestive system.
All this means that clay plays an auxiliary role. Tom will indeed not be looking for clay while chasing Jerry, not least because he’d be too ill to pursue his best enemy if he needed the stuff. Instead, clay added to diet is a way that owners can help keep their pet’s digestive system running on all cylinders.
Key benefits of montmorillonite clay include the capacity to bind and remove toxins from the body, which is vial in overcoming a digestive illness. Coming from Sardinia, it is 100 per cent natural. It also provides a valuable source of clay for cats in urban areas, where it can be harder to come across naturally.
All this means that when your cat has had its food treated with clay, it can get itself back to normal very quickly. As a carnivore, a cat will get its energy swiftly from meat, so it will suffer badly if its digestive system goes wrong. Once restored to health, it will be a very happy cat indeed.
It will still love licking up cream more than clay, of course, as well as a bit of milk and the odd nibble of cheese (which can be good for the coat but should only be given in very small amounts). But while “meow” is the only word it knows, it will be thanking you for the steps you take to get its digestion working purrfectly again.
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