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BSC Zoology - Nutrition and Digestion > Lecture 14- Cat nutrition > Flashcards

Lecture 14- Cat nutrition Flashcards

1
Q

What are the differences in feeding production vs. companion animals?

A
  • feeding mature vs growing animals
  • inactive vs production animals
  • maintenance vs growth/production + maintenance • can live into old age
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2
Q

What are the requirements of companion and farm animals?

A 
-Companion animals:
 • mature
• inactive
• live to old age
-Farm animals:
• growing
• production
• live to maturity
• ....to end of productive life
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3
Q

What are the specific dietary requirements for cats?

A
  • Cats require dietary - • arachadonic acid
  • pre-formed vitamin A • Taurine and felidine
  • All are obtained from meat
  • Cats = obligate carnivores • Dogs are more omnivore
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4
Q

What are the characteristics of cats?

A
  • adult domestic cat • 2to6kg
  • kitten
  • rapid growth in first 6 months • to 3/4 of mature size
  • Domestic cats remain the least changed domesticated species • Behaviour
  • Nutrition etc.
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5
Q

What are cat teeth like?

A
  • specific to being carnivorous

- tear meat

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6
Q

What is cats’ feeding behaviour like?

A

• Cats are solitary hunters (except lion)
• Domestic cats will search out wild prey (insects, rodents etc) more often when meat is not
included in the diet
• 1 mouse or small bird = 30 kcal
• Thus need 8-12 per day!
• Cats will voluntarily eat 12-20 meals per day
• Cats do not have clear cut circadian rhythms
• Core temperature is not circadian
• Both diurnal & nocturnal
• Some cats do not adapt well to once daily feeding
• Not so in dogs
• Can become ‘fixed’ on one diet type
• Generally select wet over dry foods

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7
Q

What affects the way they like some foods?

A
  • Sugar will not increase the palatability of cat diets • Cats will not eat powdered diets
  • Will eat pellets, mash or gels
  • Hydrogenated fats (such as coconut oil) that contain medium-chain fatty acids have negative palatability in cats
  • As little as 5% can cause avoidance • Not true for dogs
  • Cats are more sensitive to bitter tastes than other species
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8
Q

What are metabolism peculiarities in cats?

A
  • Most animals will adjust the activity of enzymes involved in protein digestion to suit protein intake
  • Cat’s DO NOT adjust
  • Permanently set to ‘high activity’= energy expensive
  • BUT cats can conserve nitrogen and adapt protein oxidation to match diet provided their maintenance requirements are met
  • Protein turnover rate in cats is slow but requirements are high • Paradox
  • Believed to be due to the large brain of the cat demanding that protein > gluconeogenesis > glucose
  • High requirement for sulphur containing AA’s • ???
  • High requirement for B vitamins
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9
Q

Do cats control feed intake?

A
  • There are reports of cats not regulating body weight • Contentious
  • Regulated by palatability & energy loss in urine
  • Interestingly, predatory behaviour takes precedence over eating
  • Cats will stop eating to kill a rodent then return to their food without eating the rodent
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10
Q

What types of food there are for cats?

A
  • Cat food needs to be processed properly so that the cat can chew it
  • Cats lack molar teeth
  • Need to incise rather than grind food
  • Food needs to be appropriate size/shape
  • Dry
  • 6-10% water
  • Semi-moist
  • 15-30% water
  • Canned
  • 75% water
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11
Q

What is water consumption like for cats?

A

• Cats can concentrate urine more than dogs or humans • Slow to rehydrate after dehydration (weak thirst)
• Evolution as desert animals? • Can drink saltwater!
-prefer running water

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12
Q

What are the energy requirements of catsM

A

• maintenance (4 kg)
• adult, active - 335
• adult, inactive - 293
• kitten
• 10 weeks - 1046 (1 kg) • 30 weeks - 484 (3 kg)
-adjust for body size and life stage, when old similar to a kitten

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13
Q

What are the essential amino acids?

A
  • arginine
  • histadine • isoleucine • lysine
  • leucine
  • methionine
  • phenylalanine
  • threonine
  • tryptophan
  • valine
  • Taurine & felidine
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14
Q

Why the high AA requirement?

A

-Possible reasons:
• High requirement for one or more EAA
• Higher than normal requirement for N

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15
Q

What is the case with enzyme adaptation in most animals?

A
  • Most mammals have the ability to adapt enzyme activity to protein intake
  • Conservation of AA when consuming low-protein diets • Catabolism of AA when consuming high-protein diets • Rat enzyme activity can increase 2.75 to 13.0 fold
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16
Q

What is the enzyme adaptation like normally?

A
  • Ammonia resulting from AA deamination is continually diverted to urea and lost from the body pool
  • Cat cannot conserve N from the body pool
  • Must consume high levels of protein to maintain body N pool
  • Lack of enzymatic adaptation due to carnivorous nature of cats
  • High obligatory N loss regardless of protein intake
17
Q

What is urinary nitrogen excretion in cats?

A
  • Cats excrete 360 mg urinary nitrogen/kg body weight -0.75 per day • Excretion of dogs is 110 mg/kg BW -0.75/d
  • Protein utilization in the cat is not efficient
  • Cats need excess protein to provide substrate for hepatic enzymes
18
Q

What is the importance of Arginine?

A
  • Essential amino acid
  • Can be synthesized by animals.
  • But required for growth in rat, chick, dog.
  • NOT required for maintenance of most species. • Exceptions: cat, ferret, dog
19
Q

What happens to cats if they don’t have Arginine in their diet?

A
  • After fed a single arginine-free meal: • Cats had severe hyperammonemia
  • Lethargy
  • Emesis
  • Hyperglycemia
  • Hypersalivation
  • Inability to stand
  • Rapid weight loss (5-10% BW in 24h)
20
Q

Why did increased NH3 produce hyperglycemia?

A
  • Increased plasma NH3 leads to:
  • Increased glucagon release by pancreas causing: • Decreasedglucoseutilization
  • Blood glucose does not respond to insulin
  • Seen in other species (humans, rats) with ammonia intoxication
21
Q

Why such drastic response to NH3?

A
  • Does not occur with other amino acid deficiencies

* Most result in decreased feed intake, weight loss, but take days to weeks for death

22
Q

What happens when arginine is deficient?

A
  • Less ornithine available to condense with NH3
  • NH3 builds up in blood
  • In most animals Ornithine synthesized in intestinal mucosa from glutamine and glutamic acid
  • Using enzymes, pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase and ornithine amino transferase
  • These enzymes not active
  • So, little endogenous ornithine synthesized.
23
Q

What are the reasons for Arginine requirement in cats?

A
  • Extreme sensitivity to deficiency

* Constitutively high AA catabolism and high NH3 production • Limited capacity to synthesize ornithine

24
Q

What is taurine?

A

• Sulphur amino acid
• Not found in plant proteins
• Synthesized from methionine or cysteine
• Limited array of enzymes for conversion of methionine to taurine
-this is why cats have to eat meat!

25
Q

What is taurine needed for?

A
  • Taurine used in bile acid conjugation
  • Cats can only use taurine (taurocholic acid)
  • carnivores
  • Cats can not conjugate with glycine (glycocholic acid) • Herbivores
  • Both found in omnivores
26
Q

What are some other functions of taurine?

A
  • Retinal function
  • Normal myocardial function
  • Retina and myocardium contain 300-400x the taurine found in plasma • Necessary for normal reproduction in queens
27
Q

What happens to cats that are taurine deficiency?

A
  • FCRD – feline central retinal degeneration
  • Cats fed low protein/vitamin A deficient diet had retinal and corneal lesions
  • Vitamin A corrected corneal lesions
  • Taurine deficiency caused retinal lesions
  • Taurine deficiency can cause blindness within 9 months
28
Q

What is the role of taurine in retinal tissue?

A
  • Taurine regulates Ca2+ /K+ flux in retina
  • Without taurine,
  • Photoreceptors are disrupted/ dysfunctional • Degeneration of retina tissue
  • Abnormal electroretinograms at 5-6 months • Blindness at 9-12 months
29
Q

What else happens when taurine deficient?

A
  • DCM – dialated cardiomyopathy
  • Without taurine, decreased myocardial contractivity
  • Cardiac failure
  • Reversible with taurine re-supplementation
  • May play role in Ca2+ /K+ flux in myocardial cells (improves membrane integrity)
30
Q

What are the practical concerns with Taurine?

A
  • Taurine sources:
  • Plant-based feedstuff sources do not contain taurine
  • Animal products (meat, poultry, fish) contain 0.1 – 0.2% taurine (DM basis) • Crystalline taurine
31
Q

What is catnip?

A
  • Nepetacataria
  • Native to parts of Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and parts of China
  • Naturalized to New Zealand and North America • Looks like mint
  • Made into tea, used as a herb, smoked
  • Contains feline attractant nepetalactone-hallucinogen
  • Causes cats (domestic and others) to “get high” for ~15 mins
  • Rubbing on the plant
  • Drooling
  • Sleeping
  • Anxiety
  • Purring
  • Erratic hyperactive behaviour (leaping)
  • Growling, meowing, biting
32
Q

Summary?

A
  • Cats are obligate carnivores
  • No requirement for carbohydrates
  • Need to consume most of their water from food • Low drive for drinking water
  • Specific requirement for AA’s • Taurine
  • Arginine

BSC Zoology - Nutrition and Digestion (24 decks)

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