Sorry, that is a good question. Again these classifications are somewhat arbitrary.
Quote:
Some laboratories did indeed try to confirm Anitschkow's findings, but instead of using rabbits most of them used the laboratory animals they were familiar with, rats or dogs. Cholesterol feeding in these species failed to induce lesions. So, understandably, these investigators concluded that Anitschkow's results must reflect some peculiarity of the rabbit. After all, it is a strict herbivore that normally has zero cholesterol intake and a very low fat intake. The rabbit model was dismissed as irrelevant to human disease.
What was not appreciated was the fact that rats and dogs, unlike rabbits, are very efficient in converting cholesterol to bile acids.
|
J. Lipid Res. -- Search Result
Dogs are carnivores, but rats are certainly omnivores by almost any definition.