Maybe I am doing it wrong
My cat ( she had her first birthday, no longer a kitten) is a picky eater. I have tried several brands of dry food and she will nibble some but turns her nose up most of the time. I give her a smal...
Forum Discussion
darsben1 wrote:
CAT will not starve itself. Put out food leave it there if cat is hungry it will either eat or hunt.
I disagree with this philosophy or feeding technique in cats.
Fatty Liver (Hepatic Lipidosis)
A fatty liver can develop in as soon as two weeks with an appetite reduction of 50-75 percent.
The so-called fatty liver is one of the most common causes of liver failure in cats and it stems from the basic design of the cat. Cats evolved as predators of small birds and rodents, eating multiple small meals throughout the day. Their physiology is geared towards a completely carnivorous diet and with the presupposition that cats would live lean and never have the opportunity to develop extensive fat stores.
Of course this all changed when cats become domestic. The modern housecat has every opportunity to become overweight and while this may not be of disastrous consequence on a day to day basis, should the cat get sick or lost and stop eating, a big problem erupts. The fat stores mobilize. Normally, in starvation, fat is moved from the body's storage depots to the liver for processing into lipoproteins but the feline liver was never intended to handle huge amounts of mobilized fat. The liver becomes infiltrated with fat and fails. Complicating matters are the high dietary protein requirement that is unique to cats; protein malnutrition develops very fast when cats do not eat.
The real question, is the cat maintaining weight and otherwise normal. If so, your expectations regarding feeding may be off.
Doug, DVM
