7b Life Cycle Nutrition of Cats 1 Flashcards
What are the 3 critical phases of growing cats during first year?
- nursing period
- weaning period
- post weaning period
Describe kittens at birth.
- immature
- depend on queen for food, Abs, warmth, hygiene
- strong suckling reflex
- will continuously cry in discomfort
What may happen if there is a poor queen kitten interaction?
- cannibalism
- neglect
How do kittens regulate temp during first month?
- poorly self regulate
- body temp > room temp
- queen maintains temp and humidity of nest box
- hyperthermia as bad as hypothermia
- humidity at 50%
Why is it difficult for kittens to regulate their own temp?
- don’t have much fat reserve
Describe colostrum.
- produced during first 24-72 hours
- high DM
- low lactose (3%)
- protein and lipid levels decline from day 1-3, but rebound after day 3
- energy content declines from day 1-3 but increases through lactation
- passive transfer of immunoglobulins
When should kittens receive colostrum?
- within 12 hours after birth
- 16 hours after birth, passive immunoglobulin transfer stops
What happens if kittens do not receive colostrum?
- kittens immunologically compromised
- susceptible to infections and sepsis
Does queen’s milk provide enough nutrition
it is the optimum nutrition!!!!!
What could happen if kittens are fed milk replacer?
- grow faster
- growing above normal growth rate may result in orthopaedic issues
What does cat milk contain high levels of?
- arginine and taurine
- DHA reflects queen’s intake
What are 3 non nutritive factors of milk?
- increased food digestion
- increased neonatal development
- increased immune protection
As lactation progresses, what happens to the milk?
- increase in milk energy, protein, lactose, Ca and P levels
- decrease in Cu, Fe and Mg
- Zn remains constant
How many days does it take to double the birth weight of a kitten?
9.5
What is the birth weight of kittens and what should their weekly weight gain be?
- birth 85-120g (<75g high mortality)
- 100g weekly weight gain
What is the energy requirement of nursing kittens?
20-25kcal/100g BW
Why are males kittens heavier than female kittens by 6 weeks of age?
- consume larger quantity of food
How many kcal/mL does milk contain?
0.85-1.6
What is the carb requirement of nursing kittens?
- no carb requirement, but lactose in milk
Why is lactase activity high during nursing, and declines quickly after weaning?
- lactose is preferential energy substrate
What would happen if you fed a kitten too much cow milk?
- diarrhea, bloating, abdominal discomfort in kittens
- bacterial metabolism of lactose in large intestine
What is the function of immunoglobulins in the gut?
- prevents invasion of microbes into blood stream (translocation)
- local immunity persists as long as kitten gets mil
- need milk until maturation of immune system
How and when does weaning occur?
- queen starts avoiding kittens
- kittens start eating increasing amounts of food
- creep feed at 2.5 weeks
- 3-4 weeks of age, complete at 6-10 weeks of age
Is early or late weaning better?
- later weaning allows for more time for immune system maturation
- decreased kitten mortality in post weaning phase
Why is weaning stressful for kittens?
- transition to independent feeding
- greater environmental exposure
- no maternal antibodies = reduced immune defines
- increased mortality in post weaning period
- stomach small so need energy dense food
What kind of food should you offer during weaning?
- first offer moist food with water or milk replacer
- by week 6-8, learn to eat dry food
Why is semi moist food bad?
- promotes highly acidic urinary pH
- metabolic acidosis
- impaired bone mineralization
How long do kittens grow?
- 8weeks - 10-12 months
What are the nutrient requirements of growing kittens?
- maintenance + growth
What is the equation for ME of growing cats after weaning?
ME (kcal) = ((100xBW^0.67)/MER) x 3.2 x ((e^-0.189p)-0.66)
Describe the protein requirements of growing kittens
- high at weaning and decrease gradually to adult level
- higher requirement for sulfur amino acids than other species
- essential amino acids: total protein ratio high for low protein levels and for very high CP levels
- high quality protein
Describe the fat requirement of growing kittens.
- greater than adult cat
- tolerate wide range of dietary fat (1-64%)
- fat digestibility >90%
- excessive fat intake predisposition to obesity
- DHA important for neural development (9% DM based on milk composition)
Where might a cat get DHA?
- animal tissue like fish or eggs
How does fat digestibility increase with age?
- increases with age between 9-17 weeks of age
- develop ability to digest fat (pancreatic lipase and bile acids)
Describe the Ca and P requirements of growing kittens?
- Ca: 440mg/ kg BW per day
- P: 400mg/kg BW per day
What can a Ca deficiency and P excess lead to?
- nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism -> osteitis fibrosa: limping and reluctance to move -> extra Ca not recommended
Describe the urinary pH of kittens
- urinary pH less than adults cars
- likely due to H+ released during bone formation
- kittens fed highly acidified food grow slower
- lower risk to develop struvite
Describe the carb requirements of growing kittens
- none known
- adequate supply of gluconeogenic amino acids
- can digest some starch in cereal grains
- excessive feeding of poorly digestible carbs can cause bloating, gas and diarrhea
