What, exactly, is a nutrient?
It is a type of chemical that can be used as is to feed living cells and that can be absorbed without prior digestion (glucose, amino acids, etc.).A nutrient most often arrives in the digestive tract in the form of complex molecules that are separated during the digestive process and then absorbed as simpler elements.
Water is the foundation for all life, animal and plant alike. Though a cat can survive for several weeks without eating, he will die within two days without water. Water makes up two-thirds of a cat's body. The amount of water that an individual cat requires varies considerably, depending on the type of food (dry or moist) consumed.
They build bones, muscle tissue, and the nervous system.
Proteins are made up of chains of amino acid linked end to end. Some amino acids cannot be synthesized by the body. These are called essential amino acids and must be included in the diet. Deficiencies can result in serious medical conditions. Protein content of food is, of course, important, but even more so is the quality, or biological value, of those proteins. High-quality proteins include fish, eggs, and red meat. Tendons and connective tissues provide proteins of low quality.
An essential amino acid meriting closer attention is arginine. A cat lacking sufficient quantities of arginine in its diet is unable to convert ammonia to urea, resulting in dangerously high, and potentially deadly, levels of ammonia in the blood. Another essential amino acid for cats is taurine. Without adequate amounts of taurine, the retina of the eye atrophies, eventually resulting in total blindness if no steps are taken to correct the diet. Other problems arising from taurine deficiency include dilated cardiomyopathy and reproduction disorders.
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