 A cat 's gastrointestinal tract is adapted to meat eating , being much shorter than that of omnivores and having low levels of several of the digestive enzymes needed to digest carbohydrates . These traits severely limit the cat 's ability to digest and use plant @-@ derived nutrients , as well as certain fatty acids . Despite the cat 's meat @-@ oriented physiology , several vegetarian or vegan cat foods have been marketed that are supplemented with chemically synthesized taurine and other nutrients , in attempts to produce a complete diet . However , some of these products still fail to provide all the nutrients cats require , and diets containing no animal products pose the risk of causing severe nutritional deficiencies . 
