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[JReynolds]

I checked out the new t-shirt that's coming out: http://www.questionablecontent.net/merch.php

It probably says something about my thought processes that my first thought was: "I hope that those are raisins in the cookie that the cat is eating. Chocolate is poisonous to cats."

Then I thought: is chocolate poison to cats? I think I read it somewhere, but I'm not 100% on it.

Then I thought: since the cat is wearing safety goggles and a lab coat, and is standing up, perhaps this is a sapient cat, genetic-engineered to tolerate, or even enjoy, chocolate.

Thus did I muse. Also: cute t-shirt design.

[Vendetagainst]

Chocolate is quite toxic to almost all animals, including the closely-related great apes.

[mustang6172]

My first thought is that it's a not so subtle Garfield reference.

[Mad Cat]

Chocolate only kills... those between me and it.

Honestly, the question is not whether or not chocolate is toxic to animals. It's toxic to EVERYTHING. The question is, to a given animal, it's toxic in what dosage?

Humans have the right enzymes to break it down rather effectively, so it takes an ungodly amount to kill us. I know. I've tried.

Dogs, cats, and other vermin lack those enzymes and so can only survive rather small doses.

[Tybalt]

OP, I want to have your brain.  That is just the weirdest reaction.

[danjc2]

I thought i'd post and say Chocolate is poisonous to the vast majority of animals, ost famously dogs. It mostly has to do with their inability to process the caffiene and other chemicals within the chocolate goodness 

However, as dogs are stupid enough to eat pretty much anything, you gotta be careful. Cats wont eat chocolate the vast majority of the time, because they're smart. A cat wearing a labcoat must be smart enough to avoid it. Or maybe he just developed the non-lethal chocolate cookie. who knows.

Anyway, i just wanted to post and say that this shirt is my new favourite. is it just me, or is that tiger almost too cute to exist? he looks so cuddly and adorable 

[Pelay]

hmm whilst I LOOOVE the shirt, am I missing something...I think therefor I nom?  Whats nom?  Am I internet illiterate?  Either way I'm getting one I just don't want to be wearing it around and have people all asking "what does that mean" and then I have no answer....sad.

[Rocketman]

Humans have the right enzymes to break it down rather effectively, so it takes an ungodly amount to kill us. I know. I've tried.

That's pretty neat, actually. We eat poison and enjoy it. 

[BankHoldUp]

hmm whilst I LOOOVE the shirt, am I missing something...I think therefor I nom?  Whats nom?  Am I internet illiterate?  Either way I'm getting one I just don't want to be wearing it around and have people all asking "what does that mean" and then I have no answer....sad.

I guess the simplest explanation is that "nom" is an onomatopoeia relating to act of eating something. Try this: grab a muffin, take a bite, and say "OM NOM NOM NOM" as you chew. I guarantee that you will giggle. 

[Muppet King]

Actually you need quite a bit of chocolate to kill a dog.  My girlfriend's dog grabbed a Snickers bar out of a grocery bag one day; she freaked out and called an emergency vet and they said it would take the equivalent of ten snickers bars in one sitting to make the dog horribly ill and possibly kill him.  If your dog gets a hold of a brownie or a candy bar just give it a slice or two of bread and the bread will keep it from getting too sick.

[Mad Cat]

Humans have the right enzymes to break it down rather effectively, so it takes an ungodly amount to kill us. I know. I've tried.

That's pretty neat, actually. We eat poison and enjoy it. 

The entire brewing and bottling industry is predicated on that fact.

[Surgoshan]

Actually you need quite a bit of chocolate to kill a dog.  My girlfriend's dog grabbed a Snickers bar out of a grocery bag one day; she freaked out and called an emergency vet and they said it would take the equivalent of ten snickers bars in one sitting to make the dog horribly ill and possibly kill him.  If your dog gets a hold of a brownie or a candy bar just give it a slice or two of bread and the bread will keep it from getting too sick.

The reason you have to worry about dogs is because they're gluttons.  They'll eat and eat and eat.  Put ten pounds of chocolate where a dog can get to it and he'll eat himself to death.

Cats, on the other hand, won't.  It's not because they're smart (though they undoubtedly are and my kitties are adorable proof of this), but because it doesn't taste good to them.  Dogs aren't obligate carnivores.  Cats are.  An obligate carnivore is one that can only survive on a diet of meat.  The internal biology of the cat reflects this; it's intestines are much, much shorter than non-obligate-carnivorous animals.  The digestion of proteins takes place primarily in the stomach and their absorption by the body happens almost immediately afterward in the intestines.  Most of the rest of the length of the intestines is devoted to the breakdown of carbohydrates by the parasites that rent space in our intestines.  Cats, not having those intestines, can't benefit from non-protein foodstuffs.  Therefor, they've evolved not to even taste other foodstuffs. 

We taste "salt", "sweet", "sour", "bitter", and "umami".  Cats don't taste "sweet", and are rather lean for "sour" and "bitter".  They're loaded with tastebuds for "umami".  "Umami" is, I believe, Japanese for "satisfaction" or "satiation" and is the taste we associate with meat and protein.  Cats are loaded for bear when it comes to savoring the delicious taste of flesh.  And good thing, too, because it's the only thing they can eat.

Since they don't taste sweet, however, most of the rest of the things we eat are wholly unappetizing to them.  They won't eat chocolate because all they can taste is its bitterness.

Dogs, with their longer intestines, can eat non-protein foods and benefit from them.  They can also taste "sweet".  And they're also terrible gluttons.  So they'll devour chocolate until the chemicals it contains kill them.

[tuna ketchup x]

That is a great shirt. And um, cats rule!

[Vendetagainst]

Surgoshan, I think you are my favorite poster.

[Surgoshan]

What can I say?  I like knowing random shit. 

A few weeks back I went to DC with the 8th grade.  My students mostly bought trash that would help them listen to their ipods.  I bought $100 in books.

[ThePQ4]

An obligate carnivore is one that can only survive on a diet of meat. 

...It is a wonder that my sister's cat is still alive then. She looooves eating vegetables --especially broccoli and lettuce...and she tends to get rather bitchy when she eats too much meat. How weird is that?

[tuna ketchup x]

An obligate carnivore is one that can only survive on a diet of meat. 

...It is a wonder that my sister's cat is still alive then. She looooves eating vegetables --especially broccoli and lettuce...and she tends to get rather bitchy when she eats too much meat. How weird is that?

Some cats eat vegetation for roughage, but derive no nutrition from it.

[pwhodges]

The reason you have to worry about dogs is because they're gluttons.

Many are - my younger one at present is - but not all.  My older dog and her predecessor were both fine with open feeding - a bowl of dry complete food down at all times, and they took just what they needed.  The older one (now) when younger once even dropped a piece of raw beef steak on the floor when I said "walk" - the then senior one came too, but carried her steak with her

[deadline]

My mom's dog once got her paws on an entire box of brandy-filled chocolates, and she seemed fine.

[Surgoshan]

An obligate carnivore is one that can only survive on a diet of meat. 

...It is a wonder that my sister's cat is still alive then. She looooves eating vegetables --especially broccoli and lettuce...and she tends to get rather bitchy when she eats too much meat. How weird is that?

Some cats eat vegetation for roughage, but derive no nutrition from it.

True.  As I recall, they like the texture.

[pwhodges]

Dogs do that just the same.

[billiumbean]

Jeph never makes mistakes.

The cat is studying the effects of theobromine in its immune system by "applying" a small dose of this toxic substance to its own body.  This is because a) As a cat, it is conscientious of animal testing and would much rather suffer ill effects in the name of science than live with knowing it is negating natural selection, b) It is also studying the internal ramifications that building immunities requires, and c) Finds this to be best, as it knows one can not document internal affliction as comprehensively if it were not personally felt by the one conducting the survey.

By waning, and possibly getting rid of, the ill effects of chocolate, and convincing others to do so, it ensures the survival of the species.

So, by employing a medically-geared scientific method, and by being willing to personally endure whatever negative symptoms may and probably will occur, it eats the chocolate-chip cookie for the empowerment of its race.

Cogito Ergo Nom.  It's really quite simple when you think it over a lot.

[Dazed]

It's possible, just possible, that people may be overthinking this a little bit.

[Surgoshan]

Dude, this is the internet; quit not overthinking it.

[JD]

Dogs aren't dumb, just single minded. Cats can be distracted by a ball of yarn.

[Tybalt]

they are not distracted, they just have very specific priorities.

[JD]

Like gnawing my arm off, though i deserved it.

[lyra]

it is a cute shirt, and if i wasn't so cheap, i'd buy one

[billiumbean]

Like gnawing my arm off, though i deserved it.

Yeah, that.

[satsugaikaze]

I fed my pet duck sugar water once.

I was a bit scared of what exactly it was doing by pulling its head backwards with its mouth open in a jerking motion. I thought I'd poisoned it or something.
But anywho, does 'Cogito Ergo Nom' stand for anything significant?

[raoullefere]

Chocolate versus raisins. I'm wondering how good raisins are for kitty? I mean, given the shortness of the feline intestine, it looks to me as though it was pass through intact. Ouch.

Also, some cats are definitely gluttons. I checked in on a friend's cat once while he was out of town for a couple of days. My friend had left a small mountain of food out for his cat, so kitty wouldn't get hungry before I could provide a refill. That cat had eaten until he had the scours (yellow, liquidy waste) and yet when I arrived was dragging himself back from the litterbox directly to the food dish for another serving.

As for dogs, I never heard all this stuff 'bout no chocolate. "Round here, what you don't want to feed yore dawg is some sweet pataters. It will kill him, graveyard ded."

Phonetic exaggerations aside, it turns out dogs are nomming sweet potatoes all over the place and very ungratefully staying perfectly healthy, despite the warnings that say they should not. Apparently, no matter the human food, somewhere there is a dog that will thrive on it. My aunt's husky gorges herself on chocolate every December because my aunt cannot seem to grasp the idea that, no matter how deeply she buries the two or three pound box of chocolates in piles of other stuff, the dog can still smell it. For that matter, this same dog once ate a half-pound peppermint candle my aunt had left out on a counter 'safely out of the dog's reach.' And still it lives. I know I don't want to think about what my stool would be like if I ate eight ounces of peppermint-impregnated parafin.

Edit:  it was pass through intact/ it would pass through intact; after all, all your base, they belong to us.

[Surrah_tarrest]

Chocolate isn't poisonous to rats. When my rat Sabina had an upper respiratory infection I gave her some semi sweet chocolate to help clear it up.

[LegendaryPancake]

Chocolate is quite toxic to almost all animals, including the closely-related great apes.

What's wrong with us then?

[JD]

Superior Evolution, I suppose

[Aurjay]

Ok so here is my take on the shirt...

The cat knows thats eating chocolate could be deadly or at the very least bowel exploding. Now the phrase Congito Ergo Nom to me means that even though he knows all this he doesn't care cuz cookies are just soo damn good. The cat is basically performing a Social Scientific experiment on himself, hence the goggles and lab jacket. Knowing the possibility of bad effects does one still attempt to enjoy the things they love.

K there was my attempt at overthinking.

[LittleKey]

Cogito Ergo Nom.  It's really quite simple when you think it over a lot.

hahaha isn't it simple when you DON'T have to think over it a lot? And yeah, maybe the shirt is just referring to the fact that cookies are irresistible, so anything that's capable of thought will eat them. And I'm sure the cat made a nonpoisonous chocolate, that won't hurt hum.

[Covetous]

Problem with chocolate is that it is piousness to dogs (and most possibly cats and any other animal earlier mentioned in the thread). But most dogs can withstand quite a lot of regular chocolate; this is due to 2 reasons. First being there is quite a lot of milk in most chocolate sold. Second is that there is most of the time a silly little amount of actual chocolate in the regular chocolate we buy.
The biggest problem with chocolate and dogs is the fact that there is an increased amount of dogs that are allergic to chocolate and then a very small amount of chocolate might hurt or kill them.


Edit: corrected and copy and paste error after spell check.

[Rocketman]

Chocolate is that it is piousness to dogs

Well, it will send them to Heaven.

[La]

1) Raisins and grapes will destroy a kitty's kidneys, so it's probably better if it's chocolate...

2) I have to disagree with the poster that says cats won't eat human foods, or that they don't taste sweet things. My cat begs for food constantly and we have to be especially careful with sweet stuff because he definitely has a sweet tooth. When we first got him we accidentally left our breakfast plates (pancakes) where he could reach it and when we were in the other room he licked them clean and then subsequently threw up (it is undetermined whether that was caused by the syrup).

As I speak he has just been punished by my boyfriend for licking his cupcake and then sticking his head in his glass of coke... I'd say he enjoys sweets.

[Surgoshan]

Cats can taste other things, and they love the texture of ruffage.

However, the notion that cats don't taste sweet isn't based on tests wherein they offer cats candy.  It's based on actual, unpleasant as it may seem, dissection and analysis of cats.  The domestic feline is the best understood of all mammals; they've been thoroughly dissected and examined in every fashion possible, as well as being subjected to numerous tests while alive.  They simply do not have taste receptors for sweet. 

And there are other things in syrup besides sugar.  Have you never wondered why syrup is brown?

[raoullefere]

No, and I fear to ask now. But I need to avoid it anyway, so enlighten us.

[Surgoshan]

A whole mess of crap.  Truly, it's mostly sugar, but there are other things there to give it flavor the cat can detect.  To the cat, the syrup will taste a little bitter, a little sour, and have a nice texture.

[pointy sextant]

Chocolate is quite toxic to almost all animals, including the closely-related great apes.

What's wrong with us then?

Technically speaking in biological sciences we are dealing with three different concepts. Poison, Toxins, and Venoms.

Poisons are those chemicals that trigger biological reactions in the body of an organism that result in the production of a toxin when dosed in the proper amount, or by there very presence in sufficient amount muck up the works to a fatal degree. Usually however that process is described as a toxic one.

A Toxin is an organic chemical that can cause disease, impede biological processes, and generally muck things up, but is produced by the body itself in response to the presence of a poisonous level of a chemical.

Venom is a chemical entered into a biological system from the outside that produces the same general and deleterious effects of a Toxin, but requires no local accomplice in the organic systems processes.

Chocolate, like alcohol, and every single other element, chemical, and material in existence, is poisonous to any organic system in sufficient quantity. The advantage, as well developed wide ranging omnivores, that humans posses is that we can process, with a wide variety of enzymes and proteins and so on, what would be lethal doses of these chemicals in any other animal. We can eat everything because we are so bad at surviving on any one source of nutrients, unlike most animals that depend on a primary source of nutrients rather than eat anything that stops moving long enough to stick a fork in it like we do because of our many physical failings.

[Alex C]

Yep, it's amazing how much a body can specialize towards functioning with a particular diet. It's even possible for a species to never develop the ability to synthesize essential compounds; after all, if their standard diet always supplies the necessary amount of a compound, then there's no real evolutionary pressure forcing the species to develop the capacity. Cats are yet again an obvious example of this; beyond even the sharp teeth and short intestines, cats cannot synthesize taurine. They typically don't need to since it is present in the flesh of animals who can synthesize it, particularly within the intestines.

[raoullefere]

Intestines! Oh, Yum! Maybe Jeph should put those on the T-shirt instead of the cookie.

[Surgoshan]

When it comes to food, "intestines" can be called "chitlins" or "haggis".

[raoullefere]

My response stands. I live in the land o' chitlins and have never eaten any, nor do I plan to outside of famine conditions. Anything that smells that horrible while cooking has to be bad for you. Same thing's true of boiled greens.

[Surgoshan]

I read your post and was thinking "What about spinach?  Collard Greens?"

Then you went and mentioned greens...

You realize, of course, this means war.

[kafromet]

I once ate a chunk of fudge the size of a softball.







For breakfast.

[Alex C]

Man, that's not even a chunk anymore at that point. That's more like a boulder of fudge.