Optymalizacja życia kotów domowych

Indoor life and obesity

Indoor confinement predisposes to obesity. There are numerous reasons for this, including the most obvious one, i.e., ingesting more calories than they are utilizing. However, it is more complicated than this. In nature, cats do not have ad libitum food intake. To avoid starvation, the drive to eye, stalk, pounce and kill is permanently active, and a cat makes numerous hunting attempts for every successful kill (19). Mostly, prey are small mammals or birds, and a cat may hunt 100 times each day to meet its caloric requirements (10-20 small prey), an intellectually stimulating and physically active endeavor.

Our cats receive food with minimal effort, becoming overweight because they eat too much, and their food is often caloriedense. One mouse (= 30 kcal) meal is approximately 10 pieces of an average maintenance dry food; even eating 10 extra pieces per day can result in a 10% weight gain over a year. Owners like to see their cats eat and may interpret inquisitive, verbal or rubbing cues from a cat as a request to be fed; rewarding such actions with food reinforces the cat’s behavior, and the owner feels needed and cared for. We inadvertently train cats to ask for food, and they train us to respond to their boredom or other unmet needs by feeding them.

Neutering (males and females) reduces energy requirements [...]

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