8a Life Cycle Nutrition of Cats 2 Flashcards
What are the 4 objectives of a good feeding program for reproductive cats?
- good health and BC of queen throughout reproductive cycle
- optimal reproductive performance
- kitten health and development
- immune function of kittens
What are some of the negative effects of obesity during gestation?
- stillbirths
- dystocia
- cesareans
- queens weight must be corrected before pregnancy
What is unique about the queen’s energy requirement during gestation?
- loss of body weight after parturition even though feed intake is greatly increased
- due to lactation
How does weight gain differ between cats and dogs during gestation?
- dog: in last 4 weeks
- cat: linear weight gain from mating to parturition
How does weight loss differ between dogs and cats during gestation?
- dog: with giving birth
- cat: only 40% lost with birth, rest lost continuously during lactation
How much do you want weight to increase during gestation?
gain 40% of pre-mating weight
What does a linear weight increase do to energy requirement?
- increases linearly as well
Describe water requirement during gestation?
- increased need for water during pregnancy
- expansion of extracellular fluid compartments and maternal and fetal tissues
- also prepping for milk production
Describe protein requirement during gestation
- protein synthesis greatly increased (net tissue accretion and fetal tissue)
- protein quality and quantity important
- methionine first limiting amino acid
What are the effects of protein deficiency during gestation?
- decreased birth weight
- increased neonatal mortality
- decreased immunocompetence
What are the effects of severe protein deficiency during gestation?
- delayed home orientation in kittens
- aberant locomotor activity
- emotional responsiveness (cannot cry out)
Describe taurine requirement during gestation.
- required for normal reproduction and fetal development
What are the effects of taurine deficiency in gestation?
- delayed growth and development
- fetal death near 25th day of gestation
- abortions
- fetal deformities
Describe fat requirement during gestation
- high energy demand during gestation
- improves productive performance
- DHA: neural development
- arachidonic acid: important for vascular development and regulation of blood flow
Describe the Ca and P requirement during gestation.
- increased demands for fetal skeletal development
- eclampsia can occur in late gestation with Ca and P deficiency (seizures)
- ratio is 1.1 to 1.5:1
Describe the Mg and Cu requirement during gestation.
- no restriction of Mg in reproducing queens
- Cu is cofactor in many metabolic pathways
What are some effects of copper deficiency?
- fetal death, abortions, craniofacial deformities, cerebral dysgenesis, histochemical defects of the aorta
What is the most energy and nutrient demanding life stage?
- lactation
What does the nutrient requirements during lactation depend on?
- depends on number of kittens
How long do queens lactate for?
- 7-9 weeks depending on breed, kitten growth rate and management practices
What are the energy requirements during lactation?
maintenance + milk production
- energy content and yield changes weekly
When is peak milk production and peak energy demand?
3-4 weeks
What is there a discrepancy between at peak lactation?
- discrepancy in peak lactation and food intake
- can’t eat enough to meet energy requirements
- at 8 week, discrepancy between how much kittens need and how much queen can provide (when weaning occurs)
What is ‘L’ in the energy requirement equation for lactation?
- Factor for stage of lactation from week 1 to week 7 = 0.9, 0.9, 1.2, 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, 0.8
Describe protein requirement during lactation
- increased demand for milk protein synthesis
- protein source highly digestible and high biological value
animal tissue preferable
Describe the fat requirement during lactation
- increased energy demands best met by feeding energy dense foods
- moderate to high fat foods enhance lactation performance
- higher fat food increases kitten survival and growth rate
What kind of diet is recommended for gestating or lactating?
- kitten diet
- increased energy density and increased fat
Describe Ca and P requirements during lactation.
- increased demands due to milk production
- Ca:P ratio = 1.1 to 1.5:1
Describe the carb requirements during lactation.
- no true carb requirement
- carbs spare protein
- provide substrate for lactose production
- recommended >10% DM soluble carbs
