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FOOD FOR CAT FATTY LIVER

FOOD FOR CAT – FATTY LIVER IS NOT GOOD FOR LIVER HEALTH
By Tess Thompson

When you bring a cat home, your responsibility is to take care of the animal. Cat owners, who are busy, normally leave their pets alone at home free to eat whatever they like. By not taking enough care of what their pet eats and not exercising them properly they are actually doing them a disservice.

The liver processes fats, proteins and other nutrients to convert them to the relevant substances that the body requires to function properly. The liver also filters toxins that the cat may have consumed through food or drugs or paint scrapings.

The problem with a cat’s liver is that it is not very efficient and cannot process fats as it should. Too much of fat in a cat’s diet leads to accumulation of fats around the liver causing a common feline liver disease, hepatic lipidosis, commonly known as fatty liver disease.

Obese cats are more susceptible to fatty liver disease. Obesity in cats is dependent on various factors:

Breed, with mixed breeds being more prone to obesity.
The natural ageing process.
Genetic predisposition.
The sterilization of female as well as male cats.
Hypothyroidism.
Excess intake of calories.

Unlike fatty liver disease in dogs, fatty liver disease is the most common feline liver disease. Cats do not exercise like a dog and the only option left for cat owners to manage obesity in cats is to regulate food. Cats usually regulate their food and eat only as much as they require. However, if the cat is regularly exposed to large quantities of food there is a strong possibility of overeating.

Instead of frequent small meals, even if you regulate only the total quantity fed in 24 hours, you have to at least keep a watch on the amount of calories you are feeding. Kittens, on the other hand, should only be given small meals four to five times a day.

Feeding your cat spontaneously without prior preparation can do a lot of long term harm to your cat’s liver health. It is better to take care of the following:

Cats require a high protein diet and cannot adjust to a low protein diet. Cats are carnivores and must be fed with substantial quantities of meat.

The majority of calorie intake should come from non-protein sources.

Instead of depending upon commercial cat foods, try to prepare it yourself with eggs, cottage cheese, rice, meat and fish.

Cats are usually averse to diet changes and finicky about food. Add a dash of salt, meat chunks or fish, preferably salmon, mackerel or tuna, if you must feed a commercial diet.

The fundamental symptoms of fatty liver disease in dogs and cats are loss of appetite and weight loss although the cat may be apparently overweight. It is, however, not known whether the disease causes loss of appetite or the other round.

But once there is an accumulation of fats around the liver, the cat’s liver cannot metabolize and remove it. Cats need an amino acid called arginine for maintaining proper urea cycle for converting ammonia to urea. In a critical situation, the body consumes proteins from muscles for the requisite supply of arginine, which can prove to be fatal.

References:
http://my-pet-medicine.com/2007/02/09/is-my-cat-eating-correctly-part-one/
http://ezinearticles.com/
http://my-pet-medicine.com/2007/03/13/fatty-liver-disease-in-cats/
http://gcvs.com/imaging/ultrasound/lipidosis.htm