How long does it take for a cat to digest food?

It takes around 20 hours for food to move from the mouth to the anus of the cat. Cats have relatively short intestines and have difficulty extracting nutrition from plant materials.

The cat is an obligate carnivore, meaning that it needs to eat meat to survive. Cats tend to swallow chunks of food rather than chewing them. They have teeth that are designed for slicing meat, not chewing vegetables. The acid in a cat's stomach is very powerful and can break down bones and destroy bacteria. After being held in the stomach, the food moves into the small intestine for full digestion and extraction of nutrients.