Cats might catch them but would only play with them rather than eat them as the orthen were poisonous. It is unclear if the latter was simply a popular superstition amongst the Tiste Edur or possibly orthen were poisonous just to cats given that humans were observed to eat orthen meat with varying degrees of enjoyment and no apparent side effects. Orthen had originally come from another world where larger versions had been bred for food. Some managed to escape their pens. Feral orthen thrived by virtue of profligate breeding.