Hi, my name is Dr. Uri Burstyn
I'm a veterinarian in Vancouver BC
and I'd like to welcome you to my series of practical skills for pet owners.
I'm joined by Lancelot today
to talk to you guys about a topic that I get quite a few questions about
both in clinics and in the YouTube channel.
About cat eating behavior
and when to worry when not to worry what's normal, what's abnormal?
So before I get into that
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And now let's get into the video
as a veterinarian it is quite common for people to come to me with a concern
that their pet is not eating enough.
And of course anorexia, or inappetence
are a really common sign of disease in cats.
Most cat diseases present as loss of appetite
and loss of muscle mass or like anorexia wastage
getting skinny, whatever you want to call this.
Getting skinny, not eating enough.
Having said that,
quite commonly people will come to me
concerned that their cat's not eating as much as they used to
or that their dog is not eating as much as they used to.
And I look at them and they've actually-
and when we go look at them in the clinic
they've actually gained weight.
And what's happened there is
in those cases the cat or dog is completely fine,
but they've gained weight and they're using their nutritional intelligence
to say "Oh I'm getting a little chubby. I need to eat less"
and they know this and they just-
and they try and self-regulate and the owners get so concerned
that their poor pet isn't eating enough.
We often see this after a diet change
where we change their type of food for whatever reason.
And owners get very concerned that
"My dog's not eating enough" "My cat's not eating enough" and
of course it's always worth checking out but sometimes
It's just that they've gained a little few pounds
and they realize they're-- and they--
and they've used their nutritional intelligence to realize they need to eat less
and of course as- as owners,
we're always very concerned about our pets' feeding behavior.
So Lancelot here is a poster child for cat feeding
because he's been both
a self-regulating cat
and an overeating cat at different parts of his life.
And that is the two cat-
I guess eating attitudes that most people will encounter.
Some cats will be self regulators
and some cats will be greedy little eaters.
Yeah, right.
You might also notice Lancelot has a little shaved bit on his arm
he just gave blood recently.
So he's been eating very well since then
trying to make up for lost energy.
As you guys know from "The story of Lancelot" video
he is an occasional blood donor in our clinic. So this cat saves cat lives.
Don't you, sweetheart?
Cats differ from dogs in one important matter.
They are trickle feeders.
So to understand feeding behavior of cats
what you really need to do is look at
how they behave in the wild in nature.
And there's an important difference between cats and dogs in this regard
because cats are predators primarily
who hunt small prey.
Whereas dogs are really kind of scavengers, you know.
They can exhibit some pack-hunting behavior where they'll hunt large and larger animals.
They also hunt for smaller ones, but they're also very, very happy to scavenge.
Now cats are, in nature, will eat 14 to 16 small meals a day
because you know they'll be wandering around
and they'll eat a little bird, eat a mouse, eat a fish
depending on which food source is available to them in the environment
and which one they learn to feed on
because cats actually acquire feeding behaviors from their mothers
and typically a cat will eat whatever food source the mother eats.
So if you have a mother cat that's a bird hunter
Then the kittens will generally be bird hunters.
If you have a mother cat who's a rodent hunter
you'll have kittens who are rodent hunters.
Lancelot's gonna go hunt...
You know, his litter box probably because I think he's just eaten
I'm gonna- so...
*chuckles*
So when cats live with us
they are happiest generally when they can exhibit the same behavior
that they would in the wild, so trickle feeding.
So Lancelot had a little feed right before we started shooting this video
and now he's off and then he's gonna want to come back to his food.
Every so often and probably once every hour or so
have a little bit more of a feed and then walk away.
Like I said, we call that trickle feeding
and that is pretty much the optimal way for a cat to eat.
There are studies showing that cats who have food freely available to them
and eat multiple times a day
will have lower insulin levels
and are less likely to be obese than cats who are fed discreet meals
but of course this all depends on the cat's ability to self-regulate
and we call that nutritional intelligence.
Most cats exhibit very good nutritional intelligence
meaning that they know when they're hungry
and then when they're not hungry and they'll adjust accordingly.
Now one way we can help them in this regard
is by feeding food that is calorically appropriate to them because
different cat foods and whether it's dry or wet doesn't actually matter so much
but different cat foods will have different calorie contents per gram.
So when you're a young kitten you have a-
you need more calories than you do as an adult cat.
And an adult cat probably needs more calories than a senior cat
whose metabolism has slowed down a little bit.
Whereas a cat with a specific health issue may need-
they have very specific dietary requirements for that health issue, so
it's quite important to feed correctly for your cat's life stage
and your cat's metabolism which you will know because
if you feed your cat the wrong food and they're a trickle feeder.
They'll gain weight.
They'll become obese, and that's not ideal. Right?
There's also all sorts of health issues that come with being overweight, so...
Cats who're trickle- most cats are going to be trickle feeders
that's the natural way for them to eat.
And we can facilitate healthy trickle feeding
just by making sure that the food that we offer them is appropriate for them.
Now small proportion of cats will be what we call food obsessed
meaning that they, pretty much, you put food front of them
and they will eat it all, they'll just finish it.
And in those cases
we have to help them self-regulate because, again in the wild
they would never be in a situation where there's an unlimited food source.
Whereas in living with us,
they could potentially have that food dish that never runs out
or that automatic feeder that-
you know, that refills every hour.
And then they can just gorge themselves as much as they want
and these cats' mission in life is to get as fat as possible.
These cats are a little bit more like dogs. And in dogs
nutritional intelligence is a bit rarer.
Certainly, there's some breed predisposition where certain breeds
typically are pretty good at maintaining their own kind of caloric requirement
whereas other breeds and I'd say most Labradors and retrievers
which are, you know, obviously the most popular pets in North America
fall into the category where they'll just
basically eat until they throw it up and then eat it some more. So
in dogs, trickle feeding is a bit more of a rare phenomenon.
But in cats it's kind of the norm and-- but
some cats will become food obsessed
and what can lead to this?
I think there's a couple factors
I think breed does have some predisposition for this.
I've just made the duration throughout my career that
male orange cats tend to be
really, really into food and I think this is-
I always thought-- I don't have any factual evidence behind this
but I always thought that this is where the myth of Garfield came from.
Cause, you know, Garfield is the orange cat who loves lasagna
and will eat, and eat, and eat and is food obsessed
and I have a strong suspicion that Jim Davis the artist behind Garfield
has shared his life with an orange boy cat at some point.
Because it's just it's--
it's a recurring pattern, orange boy cats tend to be really, really obsessed.
Really into their- into their kibble and their wet food and
they tend to be quite fat, is what I'm gonna say right out there.
They're fat cats generally. Very rare to see a skinny orange boy out there.
So there's some breed predisposition. I also think that the experiences of the cat
particularly early in life how they live as kittens can influence this
certainly I've noticed that many cats who are rescues
have an increased risk of being food obsessed
particularly ones who's had a bit of a rough start in life,
maybe have undergone a period of starvation
they kind of learned that food is a rare commodity and when they're
in an environment where food becomes unlimited
so once they get adopted into a loving home.
They'll just eat, and eat, and eat and become completely food obsessed.
So it's something to watch out for maybe when you get an adoption cat
just keep an eye on the fact that-
just be aware of the fact that they may be food obsessed.
And you may need to regulate their food intake a little bit
and there's a number of tools for that
that I'm gonna probably talk about in a later video
when I talk about feline obesity.
So know your cat.
Do they have good nutritional intelligence? Are they trickle feeders?
Or... Are they food obsessed?
And they'll just eat, and eat, and eat as much as you'll give them.
Now there is another
very rare subset of cats
that is common enough for me to mention in this video, but is not overall.
This is quite a rare third group.
And these are cats who won't eat unless their owner is present
and this is both endearing and hilarious and a little bit sad,
but certain cats, and again, in my experience
this is mostly rescue cats who had a bit of a rough go of life
who maybe have been neglected or undergone periods of stress and starvation.
But certain cats just won't eat unless you're there.
A great example of this is a cat that my mother adopted
who, my mom worked as a home care aide,
and one of her clients had this orange-
orange boy named Joey. Big fat orange cat
and when she passed away
my mother adopted this cat he came to live in our home.
But this orange boy
was a stray who was found by the SPCA in our town.
I think he was, you know, he was in really rough shape. He was-
Had some pretty serious health issues. He was starving and...
Obviously, they took care of him he got adopted into a loving home.
He had unlimited food access, all of his health issues were resolved.
He was a happy orange boy, but this cat would not eat
unless his human was watching.
And it was just absolutely hilarious
that he would just stand there at the top of the stairs and meow at my mom
until she or, any other human around really, he preferred my mom,
but it'll be anyone around. He'd meow at you and
basically walk towards food dish, turn around, meow
walk towards his food dish, turn around, meow,
And he would lead you to his food there. So you could watch him eat.
Every single day for the rest of his life.
And this is- this happens with some regularity.
I think I shared some- I had a number of clients who experienced this.
And I don't really know what to say about that.
Other than that you just have to love them for who they are
and just have enjoyed a hilarious cat you have if that is the scenario.
I don't think these cats would necessarily starve themselves
to a point of being unhealthy if there wasn't a human around to follow them.
But they're certainly very insistent that a human watches them eat.
So it is important to know your cat's feeding patterns.
It's important-- I think it's really good to know whether they're a trickle feeder
or an obsessive feeder and adjust your feeding accordingly.
And if they are an obsessive feeder
then just to know that how many calories a day your cat needs
and break it up to two or three meals.
And not offer them any more
and certainly your veterinarian can do that. That's, you know-
We can calculate how many-
the caloric requirement of a cat based on their body weight
and figure out how much of a given food you need to feed for that.
That's very, very doable.
If you are gonna feed discrete meals to a cat,
it's good to break it up into as many meals as your lifestyle will let you
three or four, because again, we want to encourage them to trickle feed
and the more meals they have per day
the better they are gonna be at controlling their body weight
and controlling their insulin levels to reduce the chance of getting diabetes
and just keep them a little bit healthier.
And while it is very important to be aware of when your pet eats less
and know that that is a red flag that should-
should let you know that there may be something wrong
and that a vet visit is warranted.
It's also good to be aware that sometimes
particularly after you change a pet's food-
because again different foods will have different caloric densities.
Sometimes they will-
after a diet change they will eat less just because they've gained a little bit of weight
or the foods a little bit richer and their exercising their nutritional intelligence
to just take on less calories and maintain a healthy body weight.
Well, I hope you found that to be educational and helpful.
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