((I had been pondering this topic for a while but was unsure of how to do it. @Karn going all academic on us gave me the inspiration I needed. I actually had to do some research into this topic and real animals, which I thought was REALLY COOL! Recognizing that the ideas have potential for hugbox, neutralbox, abusebox, etc., I felt this was the best way to share the ideas while neither judging creators for how they use it nor pushing them down a particular path. If anything, I hope there are some viable tools for future stories! If not, feel free to ignore. This is not canon nor was meant to be canon. Its just a weird idea about poop))
Synopsis: It is a very well documented fact that the fluffy digestive system was incomplete when PETA released a whole generation of specimens upon the world. Due to various patent issues, litigation, the loss of human resources related to the project and simple corporate “its not our problem” mentality nothing can be done at the OEM/genetic level. The issues stemming from this pre-alpha system include sub-par nutritional absorption, vastly increased appetite due to increased volume required to satisfy the organism’s biological needs, and the infamous issues related to elimination of waste matter.
Chikahiro Multiversal wishes to provide the community with an option for tailoring their fluffies life-cycle using a simple to implement option: Assisted Rumination via fermentation. Recognizing that there is a diversity among fluffy caretakers for an equally diverse number of applications, the following is presented without judgement. We trust that you will find your ideal use for the information presented.
Rumination Is Not Possible
Ruminants are a type of animal that have multiple stomachs. This allows them to derive nutrition from what would ordinarily be considered poor food sources. The most famous ruminant in the Western world is none other than the cow. This is a good inspiration for the issues fluffies have with food but is not a solution. Fluffies have a monogastric digestive system.
Horses, believed to be one of the primary sources of DNA for the genengineers at Hasbio, are monogastric rather than ruminants. However, their size affords them a significantly larger digestive system including hindquarter fermentation to deal with excessive cellulose found in their diet. This cannot be duplicated in the fluffy.
Perhaps An Answer
Closer to the modern fluffy’s stature, the humble rabbit is monogastric and is a hindquarter fermenting animal. Indeed, it eats its food twice; once in its original form, then a second time as cecotrope. Cecotropes are reingested allowing it to maximize nutritional intake from its foraging.
It is a well known fact that fluffies will engage in coprophagia (consumption of feces) when food is extraordinarily scarce or when an individual fluffy is simply towards the bottom of its social ladder. While neither is seen as desirable, the species as a whole does recognize that its own fecal matter is a viable food source (whether it is greater than, equal to, or lesser than cannibalism is a different matter).
Data Summary
Fluffies fed raw, high-cellulose, whole food diets typically obtained x0% of bio-available nutrients. Simply steaming the foods saw a y0% increase in absorption, putting it roughly on par with kibble. Supplementation in any case is still advised depending on the health needs of an individual or herd. However, it is still very poor relative to comparable animals.
The infamous “poopie fluffy”, living off a purely fecal diet, absorbed a0% of the bio-available nutrients. While the overall nutritional value is lower compared to the baseline diet, it is still absorbing an equivalent amount of nutrition to kibble on a gram per gram basis. A key differentiator, however, is that such a fluffy will only eat a bare minimum needed to sustain itself rather than to thrive. Thus, despite the nutritional advantage of eating the fecal matter, it remains in often worse health.
Fermentative Pre-Digestion
Referenced studies show the benefits of a fermented forage for livestock along with supplementing them with pre-biotics. As illustrated, the fluffy digestive track lacks a healthy, mutually beneficial microbiome seen in virtually every multicellular organism on the planet. Whether this is due to the lack of time to establish and pass one on or it was another incomplete aspect of their design is purely speculative.
The bacteria found in cultured and fermented foods offer well established benefits for humans and livestock alike. Additionally, the fermentation process itself is a form of pre-digestion, breaking down cellulose, and aiding in nutritional absorption. Combining the two reduces the total cost per percent of nutrition absorbed.
Minimizing Waste Maximizes ROI
Regardless of scale, fluffy owners generally do not wish to waste their resources. Be it a simple house pet or a large-scale breeding/harvesting operation, the money spent on feed is money not doing something else. At a basic level we strongly recommend a diet that is 50% regular foods and 50% fermented foods. This combination will provide both nutritional benefits as well quality of life. This is readily done by home-, small-, and medium scale operations with minimal change to routine. While the cost per meal will go up our studies indicate it will generally be offset by improved health and viability of fluffies under the dietary regime.
For commercial operations starting from medium and leading to industrial breeding or food-fluffy raising, we recommend starting weanlings and adolescent fluffies (colts and fillies) at a supplemented 50%/50% mix as previously stated. However, upon maturing they can be moved to a variety of more flexible options. Each level recommended option has its own Misery Rating, however, that must be considered when implementing. There are diminishing returns at play with higher Misery Rating options that can negate financial savings. Diminishing returns must be considered. Some of the more notable examples:
- 50% regular food, 50% fermented foods (MR 1/10, ideal for most non-industrial applications including companion fluffies and food-grade fluffies)
- 40% regular food, 60% fermented foods (MR 1/10, ideal for most non-industrial applications including companion fluffies and food-grade fluffies)
- 40% regular food, 40% fermented foods, 20% pasteurized 1st generation fecal matter (MR 2/10, good for most non-industrial applications, minimum acceptable for food-grade fluffies)
- 30% regular food, 40% fermented foods, 30% pasteurized 1st generation fecal matter (MR 4/10, acceptable for companion fluffies, good for industrial applications)
- 20% regular food, 30% fermented foods, 50% pasteurized 1st generation fecal matter (MR 6/10, minimum acceptable for low-grade companion fluffies, acceptable for industrial applications
- 10% regular food, 30% fermented foods, 40% pasteurized 1st generation fecal matter, 10% pasteurized 2nd generation fecal matter (MR 8/10, minimum acceptable for industrial applications per US/EU standards)
- 5% regular food, 20% fermented foods, 40% pasteurized 1st generation fecal matter, 35% pasteurized 2nd generation fecal matter (MR 10/10, minimum acceptable for low-quality industrial applications)
Studies using the Misery Rating have noted a distinct correlation between the MR of a particular fluffy and its overall well-being. This translates into areas such as physical and mental health, emotional health, quality of harvested fluff, hides, and organs, plus taste and quality of meat. The lower the MR, the higher margin can be successfully obtained per fluffy regardless of intent. The higher the MR, the lower the margin that can be obtained per fluffy. In numerous studies MR5 is the break-even point for home to mid-size operations. MR7 essentially is the break-even point for any volume operation. MR 8 and higher will require financial subsidization, often from government grants or contracts for fluffy population control.
It is especially noteworthy that with this model that 2nd generation fecal matter loses the potency as fertilizer that 1st generation fecal matter is renowned for, being no better than most typical manures. 3rd generation fecal matter is, at best, a composting component.
Regardless Of Intent
The information herein is presented as a summary of many years of research regarding the fluffy digestive system. We here at Chikahiro Multiversal wish to distribute it as fodder for your various fluffy related projects regardless of scale or intent.
Earthie tend to have better absorption resulting in a larger size and strength. I also include an unintended Runt subtype that suffers from terrible nutritional absorption.