Ammonia intoxication in the near-adult cat as a result of a dietary deficiency of arginine.

Near-adult cats, fasted overnight, and given a single meal of a complete amino acid diet without arginine, developed hyperammonemia and showed clinical symptoms of ammonia toxicity within 2 hours. One cat (2.7 kilograms) died 4.5 hours after ingesting only 8 grams of the diet. Since ornithine also prevented hyperammonemia, it appears that the domestic cat cannot synthesize ornithine.