7a Nutrient Requirements of Cats Flashcards
What is the definition of adult cats?
- reach adulthood within 10-12 months
- senior >7
- young to middle age 1-7
What are some general feeding goals?
- health longevity
- quality of life
- disease prevention
What are 3 things that affect water requirements?
- diet composition (DM content, protein, sodium)
- highly concentrated urine
- physiologic and environmental conditions
What are the 3 main ways how cats at maintenance will lose body water?
urine, feces, respiration
What is the recommended amount of water intake?
1mL per kcal ME
How do moist food affect water intake?
- increases water intake and urine volume
What can water help prevent?
- urinary problems
- struvite
- calcium oxalate
What are the 5 things that energy requirements depend on?
- gender and neuter status
- activity level
- age
- environment
- breed
What is the thermoneutral zone of cats?
35-38 C
- higher than humans (18-21)
Dietary thermogenesis uses how much ME?
10%
How much do the body weights of cats differ?
2-7kg
What is the most accurate interspecies metabolic body weight for cats?
BW^0.67
How much can energy requirements vary in cats?
50%
What is the MER equation for lean domestic cats?
100 kcal ME x kg BW^0.67
How do these numbers compare to dogs?
?
What might be reasons for the range in exotic cats?
- size difference?
- activity difference?
What is the BCS of an ideal cat and how is it described?
5
- well proportioned
- waist observed behind ribs
- ribs palpable with slight fat covering
- abdominal fat pad minimal
What is the range of BCS scores for adult cats?
1-9
Describe the capacity of cats for digestible carbs.
- toxicity with as little as 5.6g galactose/kg
- low adaptation of disaccharidases at brush border
- safe upper limits of selected CHOs
- lactase activity decreases with age
- no known optimal starch inclusion level
Do cats require dietary fibre? Why?
no
- short GI tract
- no functioning cecum
Why is a small amount of fibre recommended?
- stool bulking
- helps things move along
- butyrate preferential for colonocytes
- can help reduce hairballs
How much fibre is recommended?
less than or equal to 5%
What is fibre in some cat foods used for?
- weight management
Why is meeting minimal protein requirements critical?
- increased requirement for nitrogen because can’t down regulate enzymes for protein catabolism or urea cycle
What 3 things is protein in excess catabolized for?
- energy
- gluconeogenesis
- excess energy stored as fat
Why should protein derive from animal tissues?
- need arginine and taurine
- plant protein does not have correct profile of these AAs
Why is the endogenous urinary N excretion when fed a protein free diet in cats significantly higher than in other animals?
- cats support a higher N requirement than other species
- however, efficiency of utilization of protein is lower in cats due to lack of ability to conserve nitrogen and essential amino acids
Describe the nitrogen balance in cats compared to other species.
no clear plateau as intake of protein increases
Why are the protein recommendations for domestic cats so much lower than what feral cats actually eat?
- pets consume high quality digestible protein
- feral cats ingest low quality, low bioavailability protein
What are the functions of fat for cats?
- energy source
- fat soluble vitamins
- palatability
What are the 3 essential fatty acids for cats?
- linoleic
- arachidonic
- alpha-linolenic (EPA/DHA)
What percentage is a cat’s ability to digest fat?
84-99%
What effects can occur with lipid oxidation and how can it be prevented ?
- feline pansteatitis
- yellow fat disease
- feed high levels of vitamin E with high levels of poly unsaturated fatty acids to prevent oxidative damage
Describe vitamin A requirement.
- can’t convert beta carotene to vitamin A
- liver main storage site
Describe vitamin D requirement.
- low concentrations of 7-dehydrocholesterol
How can calcium deficiency occur?
- cats eating non supplemented meat (like bone meal)
What can P excess cause?
- lower urinary tract and renal disease
What is the recommended Ca:P ratio for cats?
0.9-1.1 : 1
What is the Mg requirement and why?
less than 1g/kg of diet
- prevent FLUTD
What can excess Mg cause?
- struvite crystals
- depends on urinary pH (occurs at high pH)
Describe the importance of urinary pH.
- increased pH related to increase in cations
- negative cation/anion balance = acidosis
- struvites reduced at pH < 6.5
- metabolic acidosis <6, and risk of calcium oxalate
What is the ideal urinary pH in cat?
6.2-6.4
How can urinary pH be controlled?
- free choice better than meals
What are some behavioural, physical and metabolic changes that occur in older cats?
- less active
- decreased lean body mass
- decreased basal metabolic rate
- decreased digestive function, immune response, glucose tolerance, renal function
- less adaptable to perturbations
What nutritional modification is needed to slow down aging and why is this difficult to achieve?
- decreased caloric intake
- adequate amounts of other nutrients
- increase in feed intake often accompanies increase in calories and nutrients
How does water requirements change in older cats?
- impaired thirst sensitivity
- decline in renal function (incapability to concentrate urine)
- reduced ability to thermoregulate
- change from dry to moist food
What do very old cats need with regards to energy requirement?
- weight loss so need energy dense diet
- significant reduction in fat digestibility
What are the protein requirements of older cats?
- reduction in lean body madd
- older cats need more protein than young cats to maintain lean tissue and maintain weight
What is the fat requirement of older cats?
- risk of death increases 3 fold in obese fats
- so feed moderate to low levels of highly digestible fat
What is the fibre requirement of cats?
- constipation is common in older cats
- fiber <5% can help
- > 10% fibre can reduce nutrient digestibility
What are the Ca and P requirements of older cats?
- bone mass declines
- moderate levels of Ca to maintain bone
- reduce P since 30% of cats have kidney disease
Describe urinary pH in older cats.
- reduced ability to compensate for acid-base alterations from diet
- food with less acidifying potential to avoid metabolic acidosis
- safe pH 6.2-6.5
