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餵食貓咪:了解貓咪所需的基本營養

 

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition

作者:Lisa A. Pierson, DVM

 

貓咪需要動物性蛋白質!

Cats Need Animal-Based Protein!

 

貓咪是非常嚴格的食肉動物,而且跟狗狗的營養需求非常不一樣.

Cats are obligate (strict) carnivores and are very different from dogs in their nutritional needs.

什麼叫做嚴格的食肉動物”?

What does it mean to be an ‘obligate carnivore’? 

這表示你的貓咪在被大自然創造出來的時候就被設計他的營養需求是大量的動物性蛋白質(/內臟)而且對植物性蛋白質(穀物/蔬菜)的需求非常的低.

It means that your cat was built by Mother Nature to get her nutritional needs met by the consumption of a large amount of animal-based proteins (meat/organs) and derives much less nutritional support from plant-based proteins (grains/vegetables).

這表示你的貓咪缺少專門消化植物性蛋白質的酵素,比較能夠消化動物性蛋白質.

It means that cats lack specific metabolic (enzymatic) pathways and cannot utilize plant proteins as efficiently as animal proteins.

你必須了解,不是所有蛋白質都是一樣的.

It is very important to understand that not all proteins are created equal.

從動物組織製造的蛋白質有完全的胺基酸(胺基酸組成蛋白質).

Proteins derived from animal tissues have a complete amino acid profile. (Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Think of them as pieces of a puzzle.) 

植物性蛋白質無法提供完全的胺基酸給嚴格的食肉動物.

Plant-based proteins do not contain the full compliment (puzzle pieces) of the critical amino acids required by an obligate carnivore. 

蛋白質的品質及組成也表示其生物價值.

The quality and composition of a protein (are all of the puzzle pieces present?) is also referred to as its biological value.

人類與狗狗能夠從植物性蛋白攝取到胺基酸.

Humans and dogs can take the pieces of the puzzle in the plant protein and, from those, make the missing pieces. 

貓咪不行.

Cats cannot do this. 

這就是為什麼人類跟狗狗可以吃素過活,而貓咪不行.(注意,我並不建議狗狗吃素)

This is why humans and dogs can live on a vegetarian diet but cats cannot. (Note

that I do not recommend vegetarian diets for dogs.)

牛磺酸是氨基酸中最重要的,而它只存在肉裡,植物沒有.

Taurine is one of the most important amino acids that is present in meat but is missing from plants. 

牛磺酸不足會造成貓咪眼盲及心臟問題.

Taurine deficiency will cause blindness and heart problems in cats.

乾乾裡的蛋白質很多都是植物性的,而罐罐裡的蛋白質為動物性的,這兩種蛋白質的品質不一樣

The protein in dry food, which is often heavily plant-based, is not equal in quality to the protein in canned food, which is meat-based. 

所以,乾乾裡蛋白質的生物價值是比較低的.

The protein in dry food, therefore, earns a lower biological value score.

因為植物性蛋白質比較便宜,寵物食品公司可以因為使用玉米,小麥,大豆或米等等而有較高的利潤.

Because plant proteins are cheaper than meat proteins, pet food companies will have a higher profit margin when using corn, wheat, soy, rice, etc.

獸醫營養學家及寵物食品公司代表會說他們夠聰明,知道植物性比動物性缺少的營養形式及量.

Veterinary nutritionists and pet food company representatives will argue that they are smart enough to know *exactly* what is missing from a plant in terms of nutrient forms and amounts - nutrients that would otherwise be in a meat-based diet. 

然後他們會聲稱這些不足的元素已經被額外加入食品裡,讓這些食品有完整且均衡的營養可提供給嚴格的肉食性動物.

They will then claim that these missing elements are added to their diets to make it

complete and balanced to sustain life in an obligate carnivore.

他們這樣的想法表現出人類真的沒有那麼聰明,而且在過去因為試圖猜想怎樣補償和大自然所需如此大的差異,而造成了一些致死的錯誤.

The problem with this way of thinking is that Man is just not that smart and has made fatal errors in the past when trying to guess how to compensate for such a drastic deviation from nature.  

不久以前(1980年代),很多貓咪因為人類的傲慢,而有眼盲且因為心臟的問題死亡.

Not all that long ago (1980s) cats were going blind and dying from heart problems due to Man's arrogance. 

1980年代晚期才被發現,貓咪對於牛磺酸缺失非常的敏感,而人類為了增加利潤而使貓咪有著如此偏差的飲食.

It was discovered in the late 1980s that cats are exquisitely sensitive to taurine deficiency and our cats were paying dearly for Man straying so far from nature in order to increase the profit margin of the pet food manufacturers. 

有很多種類的飲食會造成牛磺酸的不足,有一種是高度依賴植物做為蛋白質的來源.

There are several situations that can lead to a diet being deficient in taurine but one of them is using a diet that relies heavily on plants as its source of protein. 

寵物食品公司不藉由加入較多的肉到食品裡而回歸自然,卻一直想降低成本,他們就開始額外的在食品中加入牛磺酸.

Instead of lowering their profit margin and going back to nature by adding more meat to the diets, the pet food companies simple started supplementing their diets with taurine.

只針對這一個問題的話,這是可以的,但是我們怎麼知道人類不是盲目的又缺少了哪個重要的營養?

This is all well and good - for this particular problem - but how do we know that Man is not blindly going along unaware of another critical nutrient that is missing from a plant-based diet? 

為什麼人類如此的傲慢,以為自己可以如此偏離大自然設計貓咪應有的飲食.

Why is Man so arrogant that he thinks he can stray so far from what a cat is designed by nature to eat?

讓我們也問問自己下面這個問題:

Let's also ask ourselves the following question: 

有多少的貓咪因為這樣不適當的飲食而生病,甚至死亡? 而這樣的飲食卻從來不被認為是起因?

我們不能明確的回答這個問題,但是我可以毫不猶豫的回答:”有非常多的貓咪

How many cats become ill or die from these species-inappropriate diets yet the patient's diet is never even questioned as a possible cause of the illness or death?  

We cannot answer that question definitively but I have no doubt that the answer would be "many".

貓咪能以植物性的飲食而存活嗎是的,很多可以.

Do cats survive on these supplemented plant-based diets?  Yes, many of them do.

貓咪在這樣的飲食下能良好發育嗎,他們不行.

Do cats thrive on these diets?  No, they do not.

請特別注意這些字詞: “存活” vs “發育良好”,因為這兩個詞在健康程度上有相當大的不同.

Please pay special attention to the words *survive* versus *thrive* as there is a very big difference between the two states of health.

另一個很重要的事情是,乾乾裡的蛋白質已經在非常高溫且長時間下被烹煮過. 這樣長時間的烹煮是用來乾燥食物,但降低了這些蛋白質的生物價值.

Another important issue with regard to the protein contained in a dry food is that it has been cooked at very high temperatures for a long period of time.  The extensive cooking required to dry the product decreases the biological value of the protein sources.

這樣的烹煮會破壞其它的營養.

Harsh cooking also destroys other nutrients. 

然後人類得開始猜是哪些營養(形式及量)因為這樣的烹煮方式被破壞了,然後想辦法額外添加到飲食中.

Man then has to guess which nutrients – in what form and amounts – were destroyed by this cooking process and then try to add them back into the diet.

因為人類永遠不會比大自然聰明(因為他永遠不知道貓咪獵物的每個細節),這非常明顯,他的傲慢與貪婪會造成貓咪會非常偏離其自然應有飲食.

Given that Man will never be as ‘smart’ as nature – he will never know every detail of a cat’s normal prey - it is obvious that there is a risk when arrogance and greed cause humans to stray so far from a cat’s natural diet.

如果看食物中所含的總蛋白質含量,不用疑惑罐罐跟乾乾裡蛋白質占的比例不同.

With regard to the overall protein amounts contained in a food, do not be confused by the listing of the protein percentages in dry food compared to canned food. 

第一次看時,乾乾的蛋白質好像比罐罐多,但是要看食物的乾重才比較精準.

At first glance, it might appear that the dry food has a higher amount of protein than the canned food—but this is not true on a dry matter basis which is the accurate way to compare the two foods. 

大部分的罐罐.換算成乾重時,有比乾乾還多的蛋白質.

Most canned foods, when figured on a dry matter basis, have more protein than dry food. 

而且記得,如果不是這樣的話,上面顯示的百分比並不能代表所有,蛋白質的生物價值才是最重要的關鍵.

And remember, even if this was not the case, the percentage numbers do not tell the whole story. It is the protein’s biological value that is critical.

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