Lecture 5 - Cat nutrition

Question 1

Diet of cats.

Answer 1

obligate carnivores!

Question 2

1 mouse = approximately how many kcal ME

Answer 2

approximately 30 kcal ME

cats can eat 10-15 mice a day.

Question 3

Cat prefer food at what temp.

Answer 3

38,5’C

warm up food for convalescent cats

Question 4

Cats should NOT be fed what alone?

Answer 4

dry food

min. 60% of calories should come from wet food or feed solely wet food.

Question 5

Cat saliva does not contain

Answer 5

amylase.

Question 6

Fructose is not what for cats?

Answer 6

harmful, but it will just be excreted in urine, they cannot digest it.

No fructokinase in liver – feeding sucrose is pointless and leads to fructosuria (which is not a problem actually).

Question 7

Cats have less digestive juices than

Answer 7

dogs

◼ No amylase
◼ Pepsin and lipase are present in cats.

Question 8

Cat Small intestine in comparison to dogs.

Answer 8

Shorter than in dogs, greater villus height.

Higher villi increase absorptive surface area but absorptive capacity still 10% less than of dogs.

Question 9

Cats’ Pancreatic amylase production in comparison to dogs.

Answer 9

Pancreatic amylase production 5% of that in dogs

Question 10

Describe the cat large intestine.

Answer 10

◼ Short! Approximately 40 cm
◼ Limited microbial fermentation
◼ VFAs present and at high levels
◼ Microbial fermentation IS important!

Question 11

Most important amino acids to cats: (4)

Answer 11

arginine, cystine, methionine, taurine

Question 12

Why do cats need arginine?

Answer 12

Arginine needed in the urea cycle.
◼ Ammonia cannot be converted to urea if A is missing.

Even 1 meal without A can result in hyperammonemia in less than 1 hour, dead 2-5 hours.

Question 13

the first limiting AA tends to be

Answer 13

methionine

Question 14

what is felinine

Answer 14

is an amino acid found in cat urine.
is a pheromone.
gives tomcat urine that strong smell.

Question 15

Which B vitamins are important for cats?

Answer 15

B6, needed for transaminases, energy from
protein, requirement 1,7x higher than of dogs.

B12, B3/niacin; problematic in vegan feeds (duh)

Question 16

Cats can not cleave β-carotene to

Answer 16

retinol

Cats need vitamin A only from animal sources! (e.g. liver)

Question 17

Cats and vitamin D

Answer 17

Cannot produce in skin, they need it from a dietary source.

Vit D Abundant in liver but may even be too much.

If enough animal origin feed is fed, cats get enough D.

Question 18

Cats and vitamin E

Answer 18

necessary when feed contains a lot of fish because they can develop a lot of free radicals in their abdominal fat. (yellow fat disease in cats)

Unsaturated FA means that antioxidants (vit E) needed!

Question 19

yellow fat disease in cats

Answer 19

characterized by a marked inflammation of adipose tissue

It is believed that an overabundance of unsaturated fatty acids in the ration, together with a deficiency of vitamin E or other antioxidants, results in lipid peroxidation and deposition of “ceroid” pigment in the adipose tissue.

Most cases have been in animals that have had fish or fish by-products as all or part of the diet.

The specific cause is believed to be related jointly to the high unsaturation of the fish oil fatty acids and their lack of protection with vitamin E or other antioxidants.

Question 20

Most common uroliths in cats.

Answer 20

Struvite – magnesium ammonium phosphate
◼ When urinary pH is >7 (6,5)
(too high for cats, needs acidification)

Calcium oxalate
◼ When urinary pH is <6

Question 21

Feline Urinary pH is what when eating mice and rats?

Answer 21

pH 6,2-6,4

(calcium oxalate uroliths when pH less than 6)

Question 22

In omnivores, maximal gluconeogenesis occurs in the post-absorptive phase. How about in cats?

Answer 22

gluconeogenesis is at its max in the absorptive phase in cats.

Question 23

For cats, dog feeds lack:

Answer 23

protein, taurine, niacin, vitamin B6, methionine, choline

Question 24

FEDIAF formula for cat’s

Answer 24

metabolic body weight = kgBW^0,67

Question 25

Cats MER (maintenance energy requirement)

Answer 25

Active cat = 100 x kgBW^0,67
Sedentary cat = 75 x kgBW^0,67

Question 26

What percentage of dry matter can cats tolerate in feed?

Answer 26

30-35%

10 - 22% of ME should be obtained from carbohydrates.

Question 27

Recommended protein percentage of food DM for cats

Answer 27

Recommended 25…45% of food DM to be protein.

◼ Minimum 16% of the food with energy density 4,0 kcal/g.
◼ 30% - >50% of ME should be obtained from protein.

Question 28

Recommended minimum fat percentage of feed dry matter for cats?

Answer 28

minimum 9,0% fat of feed dry matter

Palatability is better if 25% of feed dry matter is fat.

At least 30% of ME should be obtained from fat.

Question 29

Recommended crude fiber percentage in DM for cats.

Answer 29

Recommended less than 5% crude fiber in DM.

• Less than 1% crude fiber in DM of natural feed.
• 5-15% DM in obese cat’s feed.