6 Cat and Dog Nutrition

Question 1

Dry Matter

Answer 1

Contains the remains after removal of water

Question 2

Why is it important to consider dry matter? Example

Answer 2

In terms of energy source, water provides nothing; so need to take it away to compare nutritional value

1 kg of grass will give less energy than 1 kg of hay

• the difference is due to the water dilution effect (grass holds more water, heavier than what it should be)
• cant compare wet pasture to dry hay

Question 3

Energy

Answer 3

baseline feed requirement in animal nutrition - measured as calories

Question 4

Calorie

Answer 4

amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1g water by 1C

Question 5

Why use calorie instead of DM?

Answer 5

When we dry food in industrial processes, things like fat which is quite sticky and has a high water content wont dry particularly well (meat too)

Question 6

1 Calorie to Joules

Answer 6

4.184J

Question 7

Crude protein

Answer 7

measure of how much protein is in food, based on laboratory tests studying the food’s chemical composition; protein content on label

Question 8

Ideal protein

Answer 8

How the protein maps to animal’s need (how useful it is to the animal)

*there can be a lot of protein in a specific food but if it doesnt map to the animals needs, food is considered empty

Question 9

Biological value (BV)

Answer 9

amount of absorbed protein that is retained by animal

Question 10

The order Carnivora contains animals that are:

Answer 10

carnivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous

• cats and dogs both belong to the Carnivora group but cats are an ‘obligatory carnivore’ and dogs will survive more readily on veg diet (more omnivorous)

Question 11

Differences between cats and dogs (3)

Answer 11

1) Teeth
2) Digestive tract
3) Dietary requirements

Question 12

Differences between cats and dogs: digestive tract

Answer 12

Cats shorter small intestine and caecum (pouch connected to the junction of the small and large intestines)

Question 13

Why are cats intestines short?

Answer 13

• small intestine for absorption
• the more complicated your diet, the longer the absorptive process is (herbivore who eats diet thats very different from it’s own body tissue has a very long set of intestines bc it needs a longer time to absorb all the plant materials)
• animal who eats something close to it’s own tissues (eg simple meat diet), much easier to absorb

Question 14

Differences between cats and dogs: dietary requirements (3)

Answer 14

Cats require dietary:

1) arachidonic acid
2) pre-formed vitamin A
3) taurine
* dogs can get from other sources

Question 15

Why does energy requirements vary according to the size of the animal?

Answer 15

• In these animals, the biggest driver of energy intake is maintaining a stable internal body temp.
• when you lose heat out of the body, have to replace it
• little animals get cold much more quickly bc it has a large SA:V ratio.
• bigger animal core is more enclosed; less SA so lose hear more slowly
• therefore lower energy intake per kilo

Question 16

Gigantothermy

Answer 16

As animal grows, though it’s bigger, it’s SA/V ratio decreases

Question 17

Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) elongation

Answer 17

Pathway by which short chain fatty acids are elongated by a series of enzymes

Question 18

Essential FA (Cats) (2)

Answer 18

Essential: must be supplied in diet, animal lacks the biochemistry to produce it

1) linoleic acid
2) arachidonic acid

Question 19

Why cant cats undergo EFA elongation

Answer 19

• Cats dont have delta 6 desaturase (enzyme which starts the chain conversion of SCFA to LCFA)
• All these amino acids are already present in their meat based diets so they dont need to waste energy on these biochem pathways

Question 20

EAAs difference between cats and dogs (1)

Answer 20

• taurine is essential for cats but not for dogs

- thats why dogs can survive on cat food but not vv

Question 21

Taurine requirements (cats)

Answer 21

• 400mg/kg for growth and maintenance

- 500mg/kg for reproduction

Question 22

Taurine deficiency (cats) (3)

Answer 22

side effects are seen very quickly

• retinal degeneration
• impaired vision and immune function
• cardiac abnormality

Question 23

Dietary requirement: Vitamin A (Cats)

Answer 23

• Important for vision; deficiency can lead to blindness
• cant synthesise from it’s precursors (beta carotene) bc meats are full of vitamin A (eyeballs, liver)
• dont need the biochemistry to convert one to another

Question 24

Vitamin A hypertoxicity

Answer 24

Too much vitamin A intake can lead to serious toxicity

• caused by eating too much organ meat, esp liver which contains high levels of vitamin A
• There seems to be considerable variability in how susceptible individual cats are to this problem. Some cats can eat large quantities of vitamin A and never develop problems while other cats seem much more prone to develop the problem. This condition is extremely unlikely to develop if you feed your cat a high-quality commercial cat diet produced by a reputable manufacturer.

Question 25

EAAs (cats) (3)

Answer 25

1) arginine
2) lysine
3) taurine

Question 26

Effect of arginine deficiency

Answer 26

1) lethargy
2) hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar)
3) rapid weight loss (in 24hrs)
4) inability to stand

Question 27

Senior cats diet

Answer 27

Requires lower energy diet that is highly palatable and digestible

• reduced physical activity
• reduced appetite and digestive capacity

Question 28

What happens when you feed senior cats a regular cats diet?

Answer 28

Will just accumulate, need to feed less as they dont require as much energy (become increasingly sedentary)

Question 29

Carbohydrate requirements (cats)

Answer 29

None; cats can form sugars that they dont need through their meat based diets

Question 30

Wean meaning

Answer 30

accustom (an infant or other young animal) to food other than it’s mothers milk

Question 31

Amount of food required as dogs grow

Answer 31

Increases than plateaus

• Over the first 2-6 months, amount of food increases (putting more energy in but animal is growing at the same time so less energy/kg BW)
• after 6 months, growth rate declines so less energy required

Question 32

Essential FA (dogs)

Answer 32

linoleic acid OR arachidonic acid (dont need both unlike cats)

Question 33

EAAs (dogs)

Answer 33

same as cats excluding taurine

Question 34

Carbohydrate req (dogs)

Answer 34

Like cats; Dont have dietary requirements for carbs