L'il Bites 
Wee Little Digestible Factoids, Snippets,
and Insights About Cat Nutrition

Another "Fact O' the Day" borrowed from Dr. Pierson's magnificent catinfo.org site.  

Takeaway?  Dry kibble "light diets" are not the answer for a fat cat!

"Carbohydrates are minimally used for energy and those that are not used are converted to and stored as fat. The so called 'light' diets that are on the market have targeted the fat content as the nutrient to be decreased, but in doing so, the pet food manufacturers have increased the grain fraction, leading to a higher level of carbohydrates. 

Hence, many overweight cats eating these diets are still obese. These 'light' diets are among the most species-inappropriate, unhealthy diets available to cat caretakers. Many caretakers feed very small amounts of these diets hoping that their cat will lose weight but feeding a small amount of a diet that is inappropriate for the species is NOT the answer! The caretaker simply ends up with a crabby, overweight cat."

Thanks, Doc Lisa.




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Please oh please - never starve a fat cat. Getting a fat cat to lose weight isn't about taking away their food - it's about getting the RIGHT food into their diet.  

Hepatic lipidosis is a condition in which fat accumulates in individual liver cells - it's real risk for overweight cats that stop eating altogether. 

Without food, the body starts sending fat cells over to the liver to process lipoproteins for fuel. Lipoproteins are composed of a simple protein and a fat component that carry fats in the blood. Left untreated, the liver can fail and the cat can die. 

The veterinary literature suggests that about 70 percent of cats will recover from hepatic lipidosis if they are hospitalized and fed via tube feedings. Starving an overweight cat is not an option. They cannot 'live off their fat.' Their fat, in fact, can kill them. Ideally, your feline weight loss client should eat at least a little something every 12 hours. 

Be mindful of this as you approach a sensible weight loss program for your fat cat.  More on feline obesity and how to deal with it safely - http://bit.ly/16kO41R 


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A cat's pancreas has two main jobs: 1) making and storing digestive enzymes and fluids; 2) producing and releasing hormones that regulate blood sugar. 

The sugar released into the bloodstream from a a cat on a high-carbohydrate diet sends an alarm to the pancreas to produce insulin to lower the tide of sugar into a cat's system. A continual high level of insulin pumped into the cat's system causes an accumulation of fat in the cat's body - it's a natural response to an unnatural (for a carnivore) dietary situation. 

SO WHAT? Diets high in carbohydrates - such as dry kibble - raise a cat's risk for both obesity and feline type 2 diabetes.

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When it comes to obesity in cats? It's the carbohydrates that are the culprit. 

So what? It's not simply a matter of cutting calories or reducing fat to help an obese cat to trim down. Carbohydrates that are not used by carnivores are converted to and stored as fat. The so called 'light' diets that are on the market target the fat content as the nutrient to be decreased, but they've INCREASED the grain fraction, leading to a higher level of carbohydrates. That's why fat cats often don't trim down at all on the dry "light" diets.