# Why aren't obligate carnivores all constipated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626 "2018-07-10T00:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/1 "2018-07-10T00:50:39Z")
That is to say, what biological mechanisms to they have that humans don’t, that allows them to forgo roughage? ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/2 "2018-07-10T01:33:43Z")
Same as me. Their intestinal tracts are shorter. They do not retain the contents as long and not nearly as long in the last portion, the colon. Mine has been removed along with a portion of the small intestines. I have a very carnivorous diet now and never have constipation. Quite the opposite. They evolved. Probably due to the available food sources. The ones that happened to have shorter tracts were more likely to survive on the diet and passed on their genes. I am not passing my likely faulty ones forward. Snip. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/3 "2018-07-10T01:37:07Z")
Also, carnivores ain’t eating steaks. The gut contents, the fur, the bones, all act as roughage. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/4 "2018-07-10T02:09:06Z")
I’m with **Kedikat**. There’s nothing that passes through my intestine quicker than a can of sardines or a bowl of oxtail stew (both of which I find delicious)! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/5 "2018-07-10T03:15:11Z")
They drink a lot of coffee, particularly the nocturnal ones. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/6 "2018-07-10T03:24:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > They drink a lot of coffee, particularly the nocturnal ones. And you’ll find that very few carnivores are heroin users. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/7 "2018-07-10T03:31:58Z")
My obligate carnivore also gets Miralax in her water, on the advice of my vet. On a more serious note, their bodies are designed for eating and digesting meat, and only meat, with a bit of vegetable matter that comes with it. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/8 "2018-07-10T16:12:39Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My obligate carnivore also gets Miralax in her water, on the advice of my vet. > > On a more serious note, their bodies are designed for eating and digesting meat, and only meat, with a bit of vegetable matter that comes with it. Designed by whom? I’m being facetious, but I always avoid this phrasology. For obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/9 "2018-07-10T16:43:37Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > That is to say, what biological mechanisms to they have that humans don’t, that allows them to forgo roughage? Constipation is not an inevitable consequence of lack of roughage, even for humans. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/10 "2018-07-10T17:40:11Z")
Cats and dogs both eat grass when they need the roughage. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/11 "2018-07-10T19:26:09Z")
Maybe they are constipated. That could be why many of them are so cranky. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/12 "2018-07-10T19:27:37Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Designed by whom? > > I’m being facetious, but I always avoid this phrasology. For obvious reasons. Why whom? Why not what? Designed by evolution. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/13 "2018-07-10T19:35:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My obligate carnivore also gets Miralax in her water, on the advice of my vet. > > On a more serious note, their bodies are designed for eating and digesting meat, and only meat, with a bit of vegetable matter that comes with it. Whereas human beings are designed to eat lots of fiber. It’s why we have three stomachs and chew our cuds. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/14 "2018-07-10T20:13:35Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Why whom? Why not what? Designed by evolution. The word “designed” implies a designer. Or at least, a purpose or intention. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/15 "2018-07-10T20:50:35Z")
**Moderator Note** I don’t think that anyone in this thread is actually proposing a “designer” for digestive systems. Since this is turning into a bit of a hijack, let’s drop the design/designer discussion and focus on the actual OP, which is carnivores and constipation. Those who wish to discuss design/designer issues are free to start a new thread. ETA: Evolutionary processes such as selection are of course relevant to the discussion, so things that are relevant to the OP are of course still welcome in this thread. Let’s just avoid the hijack that is mostly a matter of semantics. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/16 "2018-07-10T21:19:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And you’ll find that very few carnivores are heroin users. Imagine some poor cat having to dive into the Worst Litter Box in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/17 "2018-07-10T21:43:18Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Constipation is not an inevitable consequence of lack of roughage, even for humans. Huh, really? I’d always heard that you need to eat enough fruits and vegetables or else you’ll get stopped up. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/18 "2018-07-10T21:50:59Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Huh, really? I’d always heard that you need to eat enough fruits and vegetables or else you’ll get stopped up. That’s not my experience. Sure, my kid sister ate nothing but one hot dog one summers day, and was in crying pain that night with constipation. But if I eat several slices of a roast, rare, and nothing else, I will still defecate without a problem. It amazes even me, the volume produced, when I believed what you believed. OK. That could be: connective tissue, undigested meat, fats that I can’t utilize rapidly enough, bacterial mass, excess water, and the remains of some vegetable roughage I had before that day. All of which, has been established, obligate carnivores have access to. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/19 "2018-07-10T21:53:54Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Huh, really? I’d always heard that you need to eat enough fruits and vegetables or else you’ll get stopped up. That’s a common idea. And some people might get relief from constipation by increasing fiber intake, but it is definitely not universal. Here’s a study where participants improved when reducing fiber intake: [https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v18/i33/4593.htm](https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v18/i33/4593.htm) And the information I can find for all meat diets indicate that constipation _might_ be a problem, but not that it is guaranteed. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-obligate-carnivores-all-constipated/817626/20 "2018-07-10T23:37:08Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > I don’t think that anyone in this thread is actually proposing a “designer” for digestive systems. Since this is turning into a bit of a hijack, let’s drop the design/designer discussion and focus on the actual OP, which is carnivores and constipation. > > Those who wish to discuss design/designer issues are free to start a new thread. > > ETA: Evolutionary processes such as selection are of course relevant to the discussion, so things that are relevant to the OP are of course still welcome in this thread. Let’s just avoid the hijack that is mostly a matter of semantics. Sorry, my fault. A pet peeve in science communication fields!