There are several differences between the diet and digestive system of ruminant and non-ruminant animals. Ruminant animals obtain most of their nutrients through bacteria in the stomach. This is a benefit because it allows them to live off a diet of mostly grass and hay, which is far more convenient than having to hunt or scavenge for food like non-ruminants. It could be a problem however if the animals diet is changed and the microbes cannot use the new food to survive. These bacteria and protozoa digest about 70 to 80% of the digestible dry matter in the rumen. The downside to this is they have to take in extra nutrients to keep the bacteria alive. Ruminants require a huge amount of water compared to non-ruminants, this could be a problem if clean water is not easily accessible. Other problems could arise if the grass and hay they are eating is not high quality, this means the animal would have to consume far more food than normal to keep it nourished. When the feed is fermented by the bacteria it will not provide the animal with enough nutrients to keep it healthy. Another benefit from having a rumen is that the urea produced can be recycled and used again. Ammonia form the urea can be absorbed in the large intestine and put back into the rumen. The microbes then use this ammonia to make protein by making amino acids directly. In non-ruminant animals this doesn't happen and the ammonia is wasted. . Ruminant animals get carbohydrates easily because plant matter is 75% carbohydrate. The fermentation process breaks carbohydrates into simple sugars, the microbes use these sugars as an energy sources, then make end products that are used by the cow. The downside of this is that one of the end products created are gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane. An advantage is that another product of these carbohydrates is volatile fatty acids. They are a major source of energy for non-ruminants and make up 70% of the animals energy. Amino acids and vitamins are also provided by these microbes which is far harder to obtain for non ruminants. Relying on microbes to do the digestion is also a problem because it takes longer to digest and gain nutrients than it does for a non-ruminant. They can immediately start breaking down and absorbing the food they intake but ruminants must wait for the fermentation process and by products to be created to get most of their nutrients. They also have to continuously regurgitate and chew their food to make it small enough for the microbes to digest. This wouldn't be necessary for a non ruminant and they could spend that time doing other things.