43 lb cat is a potato trying to become fries

Axel, aka Biggie Smalls is as you might expect a social media star because he is enormous. Sad really but I have to admit he does look amazing. Amazingly enormous. Health problems come to mind (diabetes, hypertension etc.) and how to lose weight gently to avoid hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). Fast weight loss can cause this serious disease. I trust the owners of this cat are aware of that and that the weight loss drug for humans is going to be marketed for use by pets but the problem with Ozempic (Wegovy) is that is can cause blindness under certain conditions. Very serious. I have written about this drug - click here.

"Just a potato trying to become fries. Starting weight 43lbs."

Heavyweight lifting competition. Screenshot.

Here is a video from TikTok of this star. He is on a weight-loss diet. Slowly please. He'll get there. He lives in Ottawa I understand and is a rescue cat. He likes his food! And it is difficult for the caregivers to diet him. He probably got into the habit of eating for pleasure. Cats can do that in my view. It is the product of boredom. Good luck on his diet.

@axel.biggiesmalls Morning brush and rubs with that wide stance 😂 living his best life. #chonkycat #chonk #orangecatbehavior #fatcatsoftiktok #weightlossprogress ♬ original sound - ✨Walter the Catt✨

Some thoughts on excess weight in cats.

Amir Anwary a TikTok veterinarian gives us three vital tips on cat caregiving

It is always nice to have a veterinarian provide cat caregivers with useful tips on how to improve cat ownership. There is always a need to improve it although I think we can argue that the Internet has been incredibly useful in educating millions of caregivers.

Amir. Screenshot.

Amir Anwary says that three important cat caregiving tips would be to (1) if you need to change your cat's diet do it slowly to avoid stomach upset and (2) watch out for your cat's changes in behaviour as it might point to a severe disease and (3) know the signs of kidney disease because this is a very common disease in older cats.

@amirthevet Must know for all Cat owners !! The advice you needed to hear ! #catowners #catlovers #veterinarian #learning #vet #cats #catlearning #kidneydiseasecat #fyp ♬ original sound - Amir Anwary

I will briefly touch on these three points.

Changing diet slowly

For me, this applies mostly to reducing your cat's food intake because they are obese. There is an obesity epidemic according to veterinarians amongst the cat population in the West and therefore a lot of cat caregivers will be considering reducing their cat's diet. It should be gradual in order to avoid hepatic lipidosis which is fatty liver disease, a serious disease. You can read about that disease and how it develops by clicking on this link.

As to changing a cat's diet by changing the wet cat food you provide them, I don't think that will cause upset. I am presuming that you buy decent or high quality commercially prepared wet cat food. They are very similar if they are balanced and complete. Your cat will like the food or possibly reject it. You are currently giving them a food they like. If you give them new cat food which they reject then there is no change in diet! Problem solved.

Changing from a good quality wet food diet to a full-time low quality dry food diet will probably cause stomach upsets and may well affect a cat's health detrimentally. There are strong arguments for not providing dry cat food as the sole diet for a domestic cat because it's too unnatural and cats don't compensate sufficiently by drinking more water. 

It's been argued that this kind of diet can lead to cystitis if the environment in which the cat's lives is also stressful. Stressing cats is probably more common than people think particularly in multi-cat homes. Cat caregivers should look out for signs of stress particularly in timid cats who might be prone to hide and are being bullied.

Changes in behaviour

If everything else has stayed as normal by which I mean the environment in which the cat lives, and the cat suddenly starts to behave differently by hiding or becomes lethargic and losses appetite (common signs of illness) then a caregiver might presume there cat is ill. It might be a serious illness. There would be a need to take him or her to a veterinarian for diagnosis.

These changes should be pretty apparent to an observant and reasonable cat owner. Amir Anwary is simply reminding cat caregivers to be aware of these changes in order to allow a veterinarian to tackle any underlying health problems promptly. That I think is the message he is trying to deliver in his TikTok video. A good one.

Kidney disease

As Amir Anwary states this is a very prevalent disease in elderly cats in the West and is probably due to cats living longer (as occurs in humans) and the environment in which they live which may contain pollutants which are hidden or unknown by the owner and thirdly the diet might predispose the cat to this particular health problem. More work needs to be done on this in my view. There may be an inherited genetic element too.

Diabetes can damage the kidneys and diabetes is a growing disease in our feline companions. The increase in kidney disease may be linked to the increase in feline diabetes. Diabetes in fact has a severe negative impact on health in various ways so it's important that caregivers ensure that their cat maintains a healthy weight.

The biggest sign of kidney disease in elderly cat would be drinking a lot more water and urinating more and more often. That's because the kidneys are malfunctioning and not processing the liquid and so it passes straight through them. This means they're more thirsty and so they drink more and then pee more. Watch out for that particular sign as it will pretty well certainly be kidney disease if your cat is elderly. There is no cure the kidney disease and it often leads, sadly, to humane euthanasia.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cats on a dry food diet intake more 'dry matter' and intake less water than when on a wet diet

It might be common sense to many people but when a cat is fed on a dry food diet all the time, their 'dry matter' intake is greater than when fed on a wet food diet i.e. canned food. In effect this means that they eat more; they ingest more solid foods.

The phrase "dry matter" means wet cat food reduced to dry matter so that it can be compared to dry cat food.

And secondly, when cats are fed on a wet food diet they ingest (intake) more water even if they don't drink any water because wet cat food is about 80% water.

And it won't surprise you to know that when cats eat dry cat food they drink more water than they would if they were on a wet food diet. However, as mentioned in the above paragraph, they still intake more water on a wet diet than on a dry cat.

I hope I haven't confused anybody. The point here is that dry cat food is perhaps, in general, more appetising because of the fatty flavour enhancers with which dry food pellets are sprayed. These can make dry cat food pellets very attractive and almost addictive to some domestic cats.

Wet cat food of a low quality can be less than attractive depending on how hungry the cat is. Which tells us that, subject to affordability, a high quality wet cat food is the best and this should contain as much genuine "meat" as possible. It shouldn't be padded out with grain another nonmeat constituents.

The information comes from a study from as long ago as 1981: Feeding behavior of the cat fed laboratory and commercial diets. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5317(81)80053-X

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Are domestic cats genuinely picky about food?

I'm one of those cat caregivers who is unsure whether domestic cats are genuinely picky about their food. I think we can do a little test in our minds. We don't have to do it with our cat. We can just think about this. Let's say a domestic cat hasn't eaten all day for whatever reason. Perhaps for two days. You give them some lousy cat food and they gobble it up because they are starving. If a cat is hungry they will eat the decent food you give them. And leave the bowl empty.

If, by contrast, you give them a nice treat perhaps a little too often, they will be waiting for that treat the next time. If you give them some standard cat food in its place they might not be inclined to eat it but rather wait for the treat that they know is coming in the not too distant future, or so they think.

I have a feeling that many of us - and I am probably equally guilty on this - tend to give our cats too many treats because we love them so much. We want to please them. We might give them really high quality cat food which is expensive from time to time and they wait for that next high quality meal. They might turn up their noses at food which is of a lesser quality.

This is not being picky as such. It is simply being rational and sensible. To be "picky" is to be fussy and difficult to please. To be overly fussy. When a cat turns down food I don't believe they are being difficult to please or fussy. They simply believe that there's something better for them in the kitchen and, in addition, they aren't particularly hungry.

The key is probably to feed your cat a bit less. This would square up nicely with information that we know is true namely that there is pet obesity epidemic in America and the UK and perhaps other Western countries. Around 40% of cats and dogs are assessed as being obese by veterinarians. They are being fed too much. That's the simple cause so feeding less to make them a little hungrier will have two benefits (1) lose some weight (2) be less picky! No, they aren't picky, just sensible.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

How do you define "cat obesity"?

When you think of the word "obesity" you think of very fat people or sometimes very fat cats (and I don't mean the human fat cat namely the greedy, alpha male smoking a cigar happy in the knowledge that they have ripped off people to make a large profit).

Just 15% above the normal

But it might surprise people that feline obesity refers to cats with a weight which is 15% above the ideal. That's not much more than 10% above the ideal. You might think that is acceptable. You might not even really notice it and I wouldn't blame you. That's because people, including me, tend to normalise weight gain. You gradually lose your bearings as to what is the correct weight both for yourself and for your companion animal. The problem creeps up on you almost invisibly sometimes.

So, a weight gain of 15% in your cat might not be noticed but a veterinarian would describe your cat as obese. And it might not surprise you that the most prevalent nutritional problem for domestic cats and dogs in Western Europe and the United States is obesity!

You may have heard about the obesity epidemic both in humans and cats and I suspect dogs as well. It affects between 10 and 20% of pet cats but that figure is probably out of date as it is constantly climbing. The figure relates to a book published in 2007. That's long enough ago for the obesity epidemic to become much worse.

Infographic

Overfeeding

The reason for cat obesity might be a medical condition and it should be ruled out before a weight loss program is started. However, in the vast majority of cases weight gain is associated with over-nutrition i.e. feeding too much. The cat is taking in an increased calorific intake or there is a reduced requirement for the body to burn up those calories. The infographic above mentions other issues.

To put it another way, the cat is either eating too much or not burning off enough calories or both. My mind immediately turns to the trend which I believe is taking place in America and in the UK to keep cats indoors full-time. This restricts activity. Cats become bored and they eat addictive foods for pleasure. This is a formula for obesity.

Health problems as a result of feline obesity

And the problems associated with obesity include:

• Respiratory difficulties
• decreased cardiac reserve
• insulin resistance and the development of diabetes
• poor response to infectious diseases
• fatty infiltration of the liver
• increased surgical risk due to increased risk of anaesthesia, fat necrosis, slow wound healing, technical difficulty in performing surgery and
• feline lower urinary tract disease.

A quite comprehensive list which comes from (verbatim) NUTRITION AND WELFARE in my book The Welfare of Cats Edited by Irene Rochlitz.

Slow weight loss

Veterinarians would provide a word of warning about reducing a cat's weight. It should not be done too fast as this can lead to hepatic lipidosis which itself is a serious disease which can, unless it is turned around, lead to the death of the cat.

Clearly, for an obese cat to lose weight requires self-discipline on the part of the cat's caregiver. It's probably wise to obtain veterinary support to encourage the owner to follow dietary recommendations. This may be crucial to success on occasions.

Eating less is more effective than exercising

In respect of people becoming obese and desiring to lose weight, my personal research indicates that the strongest way to lose weight is to reduce food intake compared to doing more exercise. The latter will certainly help but the former will have a more dramatic effect and it should be a permanent change in diet for the lifetime of the person and the cat!

Novel and amusing way to categorise domestic cats by their body shape

Category 1: Fine boi. Screenshot from video below.

I love this amusing video. The vet clinic who made it are, I believe, trying to get a message across to cat owners but doing it in a funny way. It's probably the best way to tell cat owners to 'please watch your cat's weight'. You must have heard about the 'cat obesity epidemic'. Yep, it exists. When humans become obese there is a tendency for their cats to follow. It's about normalisation. Although my neighbours are obese and their cats aren't! 

So many health problems start with obesity both in humans and our feline friends. We really have to be self-disciplined. It can be tough but the rewards are high. My philosophy is that we owe it to ourselves to be as happy as possible. That's our target while respecting others and society. 

It is near impossible to be happy when unhealthy. Poor health causes distress at least and pain at worst. The same applies to cats. Obesity causes ill-health. QED. Keep cats healthy!

Link to the Alicia Pet Care Center TikTok page.

I do not want to be a spoiler; spoiling the fun of this video but a serious point has been made in the video. An estimated 40% of all domestic cats are obese. I suspect that that figure relates to the West i.e. developed countries.

Obesity contributes to arthritis, a fourfold increase in type II diabetes among domestic cats, poor hair coat, and hepatic lipidosis; a potentially life-threatening health problem.

A frequent error is feeding dog food to cats. Never do this! Cats require twice as much protein and B vitamins as do dogs. And they can't convert certain dietary precursors into necessary amino acids and water-soluble vitamins. A cat given dog food over a long period can develop taurine deficiency. They can also develop vitamin A deficiency, niacin deficiency, retinal degeneration and other serious or fatal issues.

Typical day in Djokovic's diet plan. Banish obesity. Feel well.

This is not directly about cats either wild or domestic! But it is indirectly about them because it is important that cat caregivers remain healthy in order to discharge their solemn duty to care for their cats to a high standard 💔. And we know that there is a human obesity epidemic in America (too much great, cheap food!) and in the UK both among cat owners and even their cats.

Typical day in Djokovic's diet plan. Banish obesity. Feel well. Image: MikeB

This is why it is interesting and useful to study Novak Djokovic's diet. He is the GOAT of the tennis world. He's just won his 23rd major championship, the French Open. You must have heard about it. He is indestructible. I don't like him but I admire him.

It would seem that his great self-discipline as demonstrated in his amazing diet is one of his important attributes which have led him to becoming the GOAT of the tennis world.

He is very into ensuring that his body remains healthy for obvious reasons. He refused the Covid-19 vaccine for that reason, which probably cost him a couple of major championships. He was prepared to forfeit them in order to protect his body as he sees it.

He appears to be a vegetarian. Here is his diet as set out by The Times today, Tuesday, June 13, 2023:

Typical day in Djokovic's diet plan

Breakfast: warm water with lemon first thing out of bed. Followed later by two tablespoons of honey, muesli (including organic gluten-free rolled oats, cranberries, raisins, pumpkin or sunflower seeds and almonds).

Mid-morning snack: gluten-free bread or crackers with avocado and tuna.

Lunch: mixed-greens salad, gluten-free pasta primavera (including rice pasta, summer squash, courgettes, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes and optional vegan cheese).

Mid-afternoon snack: apple with cashew butter; melon.

Dinner: kale caesar salad (kale, fennel, quinoa and pine nuts) plus dressing (including anchovies or sardines); minestrone soup; salmon fillets (skin on) with roasted tomatoes and marinade.

In addition to his amazing diet, Djokovic's training regime out of competition is as follows:

• 20 minutes of yoga or tai chi
• 60-90 minutes of tennis practice with a hitting partner
• stretching and sports massage
• lunch: 60-minute workout in the gym, using weights, resistance bands and roller exercises.

How about that! 👍😃.

The man is amazing. At 36 he is incredibly healthy despite the enormous stresses he puts his body through when competing. His game is partly dependent on great defensive play which entails fast running with stamina.

Subject to being injury-free he plans to go on until his late 30s and win a few more major championships. His obsession with diet and protecting his body has been a big part of his success.

Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking

NEWS AND COMMENT: The RSPCA have named her Big Bertha. She is a young two years old tabby cat. The past owner appears to have grossly overfed her and then abandoned her. She was dumped in Calthorpe Park, Birmingham, UK and weighed 11.8 kg in pounds (26 pounds). The average domestic cat might way around 8-10 pounds.

Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking. Image: RSPCA.

The Birmingham Animal Center's supervisor, Emma Finnimore was shocked. She said that "This is the largest cat I have seen in my 22 years working for the RSPCA".

They found her in this bag:

The bag in which Bertha was found. Picture: RSPCA.

So, what did they do? The only thing they could do was to clip off all her matted fur and put her on a gradual weight, reduction diet. The clipped off fur weighed 0.3 of a kilogram incidentally. Dieting of this sort needs to be gradual to avoid fatty liver disease.

She was too large to go through a cat flap and the RSPCA had to adapt a cat run for her until she went to a foster home.

Foster carer Emma Cureton, said:

 "The weight has gradually come off and she's already lost an amazing 3.82kg - which is a third of her body weight. She's still got a little way to go but she'll get there and will soon be ready to find a new home. She was in such a sorry state when she arrived at the rescue centre with her matting pulling on her skin. We don't know how she got so large as she is only a young cat. We think maybe someone had been constantly feeding her as she was so large, she was left unable to groom herself."

Pretty well everybody knows that this kind of obesity is a major health problem leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, problems with the liver, skin and heat tolerance and damaging the joints.

Separately, the RSPCA said that there has been a 25% rise in the number of abandonment incidents. In 2021 there were 10,519 abandonments of pets while in the year up to October 2022 there has been 13,159.

The report does not say why, but I think I know and other reports have confirmed this namely that there were too many self-indulgent pet adoptions during Covid-19 in order to keep people company and to entertain them during those long lockdowns. 

Many of these adoptions have now gone wrong and the owners are either abandoning their cats and dogs or selling them on the Internet through social media.

Incidentally, there has been a worrying upward trend in harassment of farm animals by badly trained dogs in the countryside. This, too, has been put down to the same root cause namely adoptions by people who do not have sufficient knowledge about dog welfare and behaviour during the pandemic.

So, we are, in the UK, feeling the effects in a very major way, not only in respect of pet ownership but in many other areas of Covid-19 and its legacy.

Man who owns the world's tallest domestic cat spends almost $500 per month on pet food

Physician, Dr. William Powers, is known for being the man who owns two world record domestic cats: the domestic cat with the world's longest tail and the domestic cat who is the tallest to the shoulder. The former is a silver tabby Maine Coon and the latter is an F2 Savannah cat whose name is Fenrir Antares Powers. The Maine Coon's name is Altair Cygnus Powers. He is also known for losing 2 world record-holding domestic cats in a devastating house fire.

Powers and his overweight world record holding F2 Savannah cat. Image: Photo: Guinness World Records 

When I read that he spent upwards of $500 per month on pet food it made me perk up a little bit and I ask myself why and how because it seems to me to be an enormous amount of money.

And the reason is this: firstly, he has six cats in all including the two mentioned. And perhaps more importantly, he prepares a special diet for his F2 Savannah cat who is always hungry. 

The last point is an important one because not that long ago, I wrote an article stating that in my opinion this F2 Savannah cat was overweight at that time. It appears that Dr. Powers has been giving in to his Savannah cat's demands for more food. 

And I wonder whether he is having trouble keeping his Savannah cat entertained and stimulated. Perhaps the cat is bored but I feel fairly certain that he was overweight and at 36 pounds that, too, would seem to be excessive even for such a large domestic cat.

Apparently, he's a very friendly and outgoing Savannah cat but he is very big, as expected, for a domestic cat. And no doubt he is active because Savannah cats are active or more so than typical domestic cats. They are also more intelligent and therefore need more stimulation which in turn results in more activity.

He makes a custom diet made out of raw meat, mainly chicken but sometimes other animal sources. And he adds supplements like essential amino acids, long chain fatty acids, porcine bonemeal and other additives such as nutritional yeast flavour.

So, seems that he provides a raw diet for a Savannah cat as the main diet. This doesn't surprise me at all. He probably feels that it is necessary as this cat has a lot of serval DNA in him and a well-prepared raw diet containing all the nutrients that a domestic cat requires plus excellent storage is probably going to be better than standard high quality wet cat food. 

But that is a matter of debate and most veterinarians recommend that cat owners do not prepare a raw diet for their cat.

Of course, this doctor is going to be more critical about food preparation and so on which is why he is probably well-qualified to do what he does.

We don't know what the other cats get but I suspect that it is more of a standard commercially prepared cat food diet.

How often should domestic cats be fed in 24 hours?

 A lot has been said about the frequency and number of meals over 24 hours. I think 2 meals a day is too low a number (but Cornell, VCA Hospitals and most other sources disagree with me 😢 - they advocate 2x). 

There could/should be more meals but less quantity in each meal I believe. I believe this to be more natural but it is up for debate (definitely). Although the domestic cat's wild ancestor, the North African wildcat, eats 7-20 small meals over 24 hours according to Science Direct. The domestic cat has inherited all of the wildcats attributes. We follow the ancestor to figure out these issues.

How often should domestic cats be fed in 24 hours? Image: MikeB

RELATED: Some more on the topic.

I also believe that the typical sachet of wet cat food contains too much at one sitting. In my experience cats are more inclined to eat all of their food if the sachet is small. They tend to leave some otherwise which is annoying for a number of reasons including where do you put it and it is a waste of money. I believe that larger amounts can be too much for the domestic cat's stomach which is the size of a ping pong ball!

RELATED: How big is a cat’s stomach? And are we feeding our cats all wrong?

I also think that wet cat food should be the default selection (to replicate the rodent as the classic meal) and dry should be for night time grazing. Dry has to contain a lot of carbs to make it. And it is addictive because of the flavourings. 

If your cat is obese and, on a diet, has he lost weight? If not, he'll need to be more active, I am afraid. I sense that this is a problem as many cat owners are working and out all day. Not enough play time for full-time indoor cats. And he'll have to eat less. No magic formula. No treats too! 😊. Tough love comes to mind. 

But it should be a gradual change in food reduction as quick change can cause hepatic lipidosis. Sorry if this sounds too tough. One last point: dry cat food + stress can = cystitis. I am not saying this alaays happens but it can occur. Inappropriate elimination is quite a big issue with cat ownership and not infrequently it is for the above reason.

Can and do domestic cats eat dragon fruit (video)?

Yes, on both counts according to one cat who was caught on video making the mess of a lifetime when eating brightly coloured dragon fruit. Unless this was set up which it very much looks like to me. It makes a good video though. It seems extraordinary to me that a domestic cat would want to eat dragon fruit. I can't see any reason why a domestic cat should want to eat dragon fruit as it is so far from their natural diet which is a mouse!

Can and do domestic cats eat dragon fruit (video)? Yes, but do they want to!! Almost never I'd think.

But dragon fruit is apparently non-toxic to domestic cats and, I suppose, if a cat wanted to nibble a bit of dragon fruit to entertain themselves then there is no reason why they should not. However, the video is misleading. I am convinced that the cat's owner smeared the fruit over their cat! It seems that there is a bit of a trend on social media of videoing cats eating dragon fruit because it creates a lot of bright colour and plenty of mess; good visually.

@xlcr6 Lol I don’t know how to react 😂#cutecat #kitty #funnycat #fyp ♬ OWN BRAND FREESTYLE X DRILLA by JVKE - JVKE

It is definitely contrived and created to make a successful video because dragon fruit is a bright pink colour which covers this cute cat. The idea was to create an image, if you like, of a child eating in their baby chair with their face covered in chocolate or baby food. 

This video conjures up that kind of image in my mind. And I am sure that the video maker wanted to create a scene along those lines. It is anthropomorphising the cat which hundreds of millions of people do every day including me.

RELATED: Can cats eat cucumber? Is cucumber safe for cats to eat?

One last point which is irrelevant really but it irritates me slightly. The woman who made the video reprimands her cat. This is punishing a cat. Nobody should punish a cat at any time for any reason because they do not understand it. It won't do any good but it may do some bad.

Dragon fruit is high in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which are good for your immune system. However, that does not make it any more acceptable to a domestic cat. When do you last see a cat eating any kind of fruit? 

Microwave 4 king prawns for 5 seconds for a delicious cat treat

Each cat has their own individual preferences but I would be surprised if this treat fails to please your cat. It is my cat's favourite. He requests it when I come in from buying the newspaper. It is one of those routines we all set up when living with a domestic cat. Don't overdo treats. If you do, they are no longer treats and your cat will be less interested.

Microwave for 4 king prawns four 5 seconds for a cat treat. Pic in the public domain.

I use cooked king prawns bought from a local supermarket. You might think that the price is high but with the cost of high-quality cat food equalling on a pound-for-pound basis that of human food I don't think the cost of king prawns is particularly high particularly when it is used as a treat.

I take 3-4 out of the packet and spread them out on a plate. I put the plate into my microwave and microwave them for a maximum of five seconds. This warms them up nicely. It is not essential to warm up the prawns because cats love the taste of prawns normally. But if you do warm them up it's a bonus for your cat because they absolutely love the smell and taste.

Warming up any cat food is a good idea when feeding your cat particularly when they have lost their appetite. But in the case of prawns, it must be done very gently to an absolute minimum otherwise you destroy the product. 

I then break each prawn into two pieces leaving eight small pieces of prawn on the plate. I deliver these to my cat. The reason why I break them apart is because it lets out more of that aroma which he loves and which in turn encourages him to eat. It also makes them slightly easier to get into his mouth. I have watched him push around whole prawns trying to get a grip of them.

Shrimp is a healthy product that it is high in several vitamins and minerals and is a rich source of protein. It has a high content of omega-3 fatty acids and the antioxidant astaxanthin. Antioxidants are good for health as they mop up free radicals which can damage the cells of the body. 

Free radicals can contribute to health problems such as cardiovascular and inflammatory disease, cataracts and cancer. One website calls free radicals "unstable atoms that can damage cells, causing illness and ageing."

That's my personal tip for a treat for your beloved cat companion. What about the downside? You can't feed your cat prawns all the time. They must only be a treat because they are not a balanced diet. Your cat will miss essential nutrients such as taurine and arginine.

As for environmental issues, it is said that shrimp farms tend to occupy coastal land which used to be covered by mangroves. The mangroves are drained to make way for aquaculture. This is harmful to the atmosphere because the farmers destroy the trees and vegetation of the mangrove swamp. It is akin to clearing forest for cattle to provide meat for humans. This is an environmental downside of giving shrimp treat to your cat.

2 nutritional advantages cats have over humans

There are 2 nutritional advantages that cats have over humans. The domestic cat does not require vitamin C. This is because it is synthesized in their livers. Humans don't have this ability. Apparently this deficiency in human biology is due to "a mutation in the GULO (gulonolactone oxidase) gene, which results in the inability to synthesize the protein" (stackexchange.com). 

2 nutritional advantages cats have over humans. Cat drinking. Domestic cats are in general poor drinkers because of their wildcat inheritance. Photo: in public domain.

The second advantage cats have over us in terms of nutritional requirements is that their kidneys are very efficient. This is because their ancestors (North African wildcat) lived on the edge of deserts. They get most of their water from the prey animals they eat. Mice are 70% water. This is why domestic cats are poor drinkers, which is also why they tend not to drink enough water to make up for the lack of water in dry cat food. This arguably leaves them mildly dehydrated if they are on an exclusively dry diet.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Do older cats need vitamins?

Both these nutritional advantages proved very useful to ships' cats. We've all heard of scurvy due to the lack of vitamin C in a sailor's diet. That health problem does not exist for ships' cats. And if water is scarce onboard ship, the frugal water requirements of ships' cats leaves more for the sailors.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Link between fish-based foods and chronic kidney disease in domestic cats?

If you throw in polydactyl ships' cats so they can maintain their balance while at sea (thanks to the extra toe!), you have a very useful working animal on board ship. It is said that polydactyl cats were preferred over standard cats because sailors believed that they could keep their balance better. I doubt the story but it makes a bit of sense.

Do tigers and lions eat the same food?

Tigers, lions, domestic cats and all the other cat species (about 36) have the same nutritional needs and therefore at a fundamental level, in terms of nutrients, they eat the same food. What is different is the way the food is packaged. We know that domestic cats eat mice (primary prey) and commercial cat food together with the odd treat of human food. 

Lion and tiger. Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay 

We know that tigers will kill any animal that puts itself in a vulnerable position. Few animals appear to be immune to tiger predation. Few animals are off the tiger menu. The same can be said about the lion. However, there will be differences in the prey animals that they eat because of availability.

The lion and tiger live in different places on the planet and the availability of prey animals differs in these places. Also, both these big cats require large animals to successfully feed adequately. The tiger, for instance, will hunt chital in the Royal Badia National Park, Nepal as a primary prey animal. Across their distribution, primarily in India, they will hunt barking deer, sambar, gaur, hog deer, chital, wild pig to name some animals but there will also attack and eat small mammals, primates, badgers and porcupines for example. 

The lion will eat fish sometimes and impala, waterbuck, springbok, zebra, eland, warthog, giraffe, buffalo, bushbuck, ostrich to name some examples including the porcupine and other small animals. It's a huge range of animals. It has to be because they take what's available and the same goes for tigers.

To recap, the lion and tiger prey on different animals but there is an overlap and at heart these big cats have exactly the same nutrients in their make up and so, yes, tigers and lions eat the same food.

Before and after pictures of a cat who lost a lot of weight

Here is a nice montage of a couple of side-by-side, before and after photographs of a cat who lost a lot of weight. His owner praised his cat. I praised his owner! It takes persistence to get this effect and it should be a slow process to avoid the possibility of feline hepatitic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). Slow cat dieting is the order of the day if it has to be done.

Before and after pictures of a cat who lost a lot of weight. Photo: Reddit.

Senior cats should be on a reduced calorie diet. Before dieting a cat it may be wise to consult your veterinarian in case there are no medical reasons for the obesity. An estimated 40% of cats are obese. As many cats turn carbohydrates into fat, a low carb, high protein and high fat diet will help her lose weight. This sort of diet may be more effective than a low calorie, high fibre diet. A high protein diet takes a domestic cat back to her natural diet.

Food should be provided in a measured way 2 or 3 times per day and no more. No gourmet foods, human scraps and treats. Perhaps a limited amount of treats! Make sure she is not scrumping food elsewhere such as from a neighbour. Chart the weight loss. She should lose one percent of body weight per week and no quicker to avoid hepatic lipidosis.

Provide some exercise daily. Try and make the food harder to access by moving it around. Lean body mass may be enhanced with a supplement called L-carnitine. Seek your vet's advice on feeding it at 250-500 mg per day.

The diet should be complete after about eight weeks. Then maintain the correct weight using the tools and methods that you have learned in getting her weight down.

Picture of overweight, startled gray cat tells a story

You know the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' well this picture of a badly overweight gray, startled cat being carried by a smiling woman got me thinking about the backstory. Is the young woman the cat's owner? Is the room a kitchen in a residential home or is the woman a veterinarian or vet tech and is the room a part of a veterinary clinic? Or, an animal shelter - my preferred choice. You can see how pictures can also mislead. They don't always tell the truth even if they are worth a thousand words. Fake news comes to mind.

Is this a vet clinic or a kitchen in a residential home? Pic: Reddit.com

Looking at what is on the counter (medical stuff?) and the general layout and functionality of the place, this looks like an animal shelter of veterinary clinic. The cat might have been brought into the clinic for a health check and to start a diet which is sorely needed. The diet should be immediate, gradual and permanent to avoid hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease being started). But he is probably an abandoned cat at a cat shelter or the owner has died leaving behind this chonky feline.

Putting aside the cat's obesity, which is unpleasant to see, the cats' face is cute. Startled and bemused. Domestic cats do pull some funny faces but they are fleeting moments captured by the camera.

Someone commented that the cat could be pregnant too. I think this is just good old, plain obesity. Killing by kidness. It is ironic that some cat owners give their cats treats because they feel it is the kind thing to do, as it pleases their pleading cat, but in truth it is a silent form of cat abuse.

Feline obesity causes real harm to health over time. Type II diabetes immediately comes to mind as a consequence of obesity just as it is for humans. There is an epidemic of obese domestic cats just as there is an epidemic of obese humans in the greedy (metaphorically and actually) West. Obesity has become somewhat normalised. People can no longer tell what it is to be overweight and they pass this failing onto their poor cat who loves those threats.

Perhaps the obese cat owner wants to be loved but is deprived of it because they are obese. They make up for this hole in their lives by seeking the love and approval of their cat companion. Result? Too many treats and feline obesity.

I'd bet that almost all obese cats live with obese cat owners.

P.S. The fact that domestic cats can overeat is interesting. You would have thought that they would self-regulate better. In the wild, the wild cat species don't become overweight even if there is an abundance of prey animals to kill and eat. They self-regulate. I can only conclude that the reason why domestic cats do not sometimes successfully self-regulate their diet is because they are bored. They eat for pleasure when offered a treat. They enjoy treats so they ask for more and the owner gives it to them. It's a sort of toxic partnership.

One of our two-year-old cats, Monty, has developed a liking for Weetabix and scones. Why?

A visitor to The Sun newspaper asked the question: "ONE of our two-year-old cats, Monty, has developed a liking for Weetabix and scones". The veterinarian employed to provide the answer said that the reason is that sometimes cats like sweet foods, "It’s not that unusual for a cat to develop a sweet tooth". Well, I disagree completely. Cats can't taste sweetness. There is no attraction in it.

The probable reason why this person's cat likes to eat scones and Weetabix is because (1) the scones were buttered and (2) the Weetabix had milk impregnated in it.

Both butter and milk contain fat and cats like fat. I believe that this is a better and more likely answer. Sometimes cats do eat human foods, which on the face of it are odd. But cats eating cereal is quite common because there is invarably milk mixed with it.

So Mr Vet I am sorry that your answer is not that good. Mine is better. I know that sounds arrogant but it true. The vet concerned is Sean McCormack, head veterinarian at tails.com.

P.S. The video is not of the cat concerned. Sometimes cats do eat dry cereal because it contains somthing which they find attractive. It should not harm them if it is the odd nibble.  It is hard to see the milk in the cereal in the video but I think it is there.

P.P.S. Sometimes YouTube videos stop working over time because the administrators delete it from YouTube or the owner of the video deletes their YouTube account. Sorry if that has happened.

Feeding your cat once a day improves their health

You may have heard about the study from the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada). The researchers say that feeding your cat once a day with the same quantity of food that you would have given them over the entire 24 hours, improves their health. They suggest that a once-a-day feeding to some extent mimics a mild form of fasting and fasting improves health. This is a known benefit in people. So I think that this one meal a day suggestion is partly based upon the concept of intermittent fasting to improve health.

Does once a day feeding mimic wild and feral cat feeding? I think not.
Photo in public domain.

The researchers say that when you feed a domestic cat once-a-day they have higher levels of protein in their blood, leaner bodies and higher levels of hormones which are linked to appetite regulation. The regime allows cats to build more protein and improve muscle mass. The cats are more satisfied with their food and they are less likely to beg for food throughout the day.

The once-a-day feeding goes against the general consensus of all cat experts. The general feeling is that domestic should be fed several times a day with small amounts. The stomach is small and therefore small and frequent amounts is the better policy. I would suggest that the stomach size of cat is a barrier to feeding one large meal in 24 hours. A domestic cat's stomach is the size of a ping-pong ball approximately. How can you provide them with 24-hours of nutrients with a stomach that size?

I get the message about fasting and the improvements that it might bring but I think in practical terms and in the sense that it goes against the general consensus, this advice is probably a nonstarter. It may apply to certain cats and it certainly may help obese cats. We know that obesity is widespread amongst the domestic population in the West.

Another practical aspect of this advice is that the majority of cat owners, I would suggest, allow their cats to free feed on dry cat food. This is not good but it happens. It is convenient. To ask these cat owners to go to once-a-day feeding with wet cat food may be too big a call. The transference from dry to wet would benefit their cats, however. There are health negatives associated with dry cat food and health positives linked to wet cat food. Some of the current major feline health problems are arguably linked to their diet and obesity.

The study concerned 80 healthy cats. One group was fed four times a day for three weeks. A second group was fed just once a day with the same amount of food. For another three weeks the participants were switched over. The researchers monitored their health outcomes, metabolism, physical activity and body weight. The admit that their suggestion goes against the grain and say that the regime should be considered on an individual cat basis.

Most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America

The most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America in 2018 were reported as: undiagnosed diarrhoea and vomiting, urinary tract diseases, kidney diseases, gastrointestinal conditions, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, periodontitis and general oral health problems. This information comes from five different pet insurance companies: Trupanion, ASPCA, Pets Best, Nationwide and Embrace. 

You can see a trend there or at least I can. Urinary tract problems including kidney disease are a major issue in domestic cats and also it seems are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. These would appear to be related to diet because what goes in has to be digested and waste is expelled. Both ends of the food processing channel are affected.

Photo: Pixabay.

I have this feeling that there is something hidden is going on in homes in the West which is affecting the health of domestic cats. The high incidents of kidney disease is unacceptable. And I don't think anything is being done about it. I'm referring to food and the chemicals in the home such as fire retardants and carpet chemicals. These are volatile chemicals which give off fumes and these fumes linger in the atmosphere inside the home. I wonder whether the air quality inside homes is sufficiently good for domestic gas. If it isn't it can't be good for people either but cats are nearer the surfaces.

Cats lie on sofas. If that sofa has a fire retardant inside it then the cat is more likely to absorb these chemicals. The same goes for carpet chemicals. These are examples. And as for cat food, I think we know now that the cheap dry cat food is simply not good enough. A lot of people rely on it because it is cheap and convenient. They allow their cat to graze at any time day or night. Arguably this is overly convenient.

You add to poor quality dry cat food the extended daytime absence of solme human caregivers and you create a slightly toxic world for the domestic cat which can result in urinary tract health problems such as cystitis, a bacterial infection of the bladder, exacerbated by stress.

If there is a high predominance of gastrointestinal diseases causing vomiting and diarrhoea then surely this points to food. Doesn't it? Shouldn't veterinarians be looking at the quality of food provided to domestic cats? Perhaps they don't want to look at it because they want a huge number of cats coming through their doors vomiting and shitting diarrhoea. I am too cynical. One pet insurance company said that they paid out US$9,650 to treat a cat with a gastrointestinal condition.

They also said that they paid out US$40,000 to treat a cat with kidney disease. Do the insurance companies investigate the cause of these diseases? Do they dig around and try and prevent the diseases happening? Do they have a vested interest in doing nothing about these diseases? Do they work together with veterinarians and pet food manufacturers to try and eliminate them? I know there are lots of questions but can you find the answers? I don't think you can. I know that the pet food manufacturers work with veterinarians and this to my mind creates a conflict of interest.

Two pet insurance companies rated diabetes as their third most common cat illness claim. Arguably, feline diabetes, which I presume refers to type II diabetes or sugar diabetes, might be caused by the high carbohydrate content in dry cat food. Dry cat food has to have a high carbohydrate content in order to make it. It is there simply as a manufacturing necessity. Domestic cats don't need this sort of carbohydrate level in their food. It is unnatural to them and it is causing, it is argued, hypoglycaemic cats and overburdening the pancreas which produces insulin. This upsets the insulin/sugar balance in domestic cats which can lead to type II diabetes. This is the argument of a well-known veterinarian in America called Elizabeth M Hodgkins DVM.

I am harping on about cat food. And I do give my cat dry cat food although it is the highest quality I can find. And I also feed him lots of high quality wet cat food. But I am dissatisfied in general with the quality of cat food. It does not reflect accurately enough the perfect domestic cat diet which is the mouse which is 40% protein, 50% fat and only 3% carbohydrates. The average dry cat food for cats contains 35-50% carbohydrate calories according to the catinfo.org website. Do you see the massive difference and how that could impact a cat's metabolism and ability to cope with it?

Do Cats Fart?

Domestic cats do fart but, in my experience, it is silent. Put it this way, all the cats that I have looked after have passed wind at sometime or other but not very often and I've never heard the process taking place.



There is no reason why a domestic cat should not pass wind just like humans. Their anatomy is very similar to ours. In fact, I am sure that most cat owners have smelt the effects of their cat passing wind. If it happens a lot I would ask questions such as whether your cat might be ill or whether the diet is correct. A cat should not pass wind regularly or to the point where it becomes an issue or noticeable.

The reason why I have written this very short post is because people search for the phrase: “Do Cats Fart?". I'm not sure why people are so interested in that particular aspect of the domestic cat's anatomy but there it is. It just goes to prove that the domestic cat is very similar to the human in many areas.