Occasional fasting a good idea or not?

AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

"Ajanta" wrote in message
...
AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

Its never a good a idea to fast a cat unless she's vomiting (e.g.,
pancreatitis), going in for surgery or blood tests. Cats don't have the
capability to conserve nitrogen from the body's general nitrogen pool- so if
they don't consume protein every day they'll catabolize their body protein
to meet their protein needs.

Phil

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 16:34:59 GMT, Ajanta wrote:

AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

Are you out of your mind? Before you do anything stupid like that,
check with your feline family member's vet., ok?

Ajanta wrote in message
...
AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

Definitely not a good idea, Ajanta. Cats need their high-protein diet
pretty much full-time, unless contrary advice is given by a vet due to
illness/surgery.

In an extreme case, I knew of a feral rescue cat who was self-fasting due to
the stress of captivity. Cat rescue had taken her in because she was
heavily pregnant and needed help. Unfortunately, due to this self-induced
fast, the mother cat re-absorbed her litter. So tragic... and potentially
dangerous.

I'm well aware that wild exotic cats fast - or seem to fast. When food is
scarce, fasting is hardly a choice. I even know of a zoo which includes a
'fast day' into their big cat feeding regime. However, I'm sure this
zoologicial case is carefully controlled by an exotic species vet.

On a personal level, I have a female cat (Panther) who has put on extra
weight since her spaying. To deal with this, I changed her biscuits (she
also has wet food) to a 'light' menu. This is gradually helping. When she
heard of this, my vet was very pleased that I had taken this step. If
you're thinking about fasting as away of dealing with an overweight cat, try
a 'light' menu. Please don't risk fasting your cat without consulting your
vet.

Spider

"Spider" wrote in message
...

On a personal level, I have a female cat (Panther) who has put on extra
weight since her spaying.

Neutered cats have a lower daily energy requirement and require about 1/3
less calories.

Phil

Spider wrote:

: Definitely not a good idea, Ajanta. Cats need their high-protein diet
: pretty much full-time, unless contrary advice is given by a vet due to
: illness/surgery.
:
: In an extreme case, I knew of a feral rescue cat who was self-fasting due to
: the stress of captivity. Cat rescue had taken her in because she was
: heavily pregnant and needed help. Unfortunately, due to this self-induced
: fast, the mother cat re-absorbed her litter. So tragic... and potentially
: dangerous.
:
: I'm well aware that wild exotic cats fast - or seem to fast. When food is
: scarce, fasting is hardly a choice. I even know of a zoo which includes a
: 'fast day' into their big cat feeding regime. However, I'm sure this
: zoologicial case is carefully controlled by an exotic species vet.
:
: On a personal level, I have a female cat (Panther) who has put on extra
: weight since her spaying. To deal with this, I changed her biscuits (she
: also has wet food) to a 'light' menu. This is gradually helping. When she
: heard of this, my vet was very pleased that I had taken this step. If
: you're thinking about fasting as away of dealing with an overweight cat, try
: a 'light' menu. Please don't risk fasting your cat without consulting your
: vet.

Let me explain where I am coming from. If I ate just the right meals
all the time, there should be no need to fast. However, in America
people as well as cats tend to be overfed rather than underfed. If you
skip one meal every 15-20 meals, that's not fasting really, it just
corrects for all the overeating, treats, snacks.

I understand Phil when he said cats can't store food. But I am not
talking about going days without food. Some cats are fed once a day, so
they can certaonly go 24 hours. Most feed every 12 hours. I am talking
about making the gap 24 hours just once a week.

BTW, rest assured I am not doing anything rash. This whole discussion
is theoretical, trying to understand how best to integrate cats with
modern industrial-food environment.

Ajanta wrote:
AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

NO!! Even when my cat was overweight, the vet said not to cut his
intake by more than 10% and that it would take months before any
results were seen.

wrote in message
ups.com...

Ajanta wrote:
AS with people, is it a good thing for cats too to skip a meal once in
a while, say once a week (which is what I tend to do myself)?

NO!! Even when my cat was overweight, the vet said not to cut his
intake by more than 10% and that it would take months before any
results were seen.


My vet said for weight loss 25% reduction was fine. We did that
with no ill effects.

But why anyone would think a cat should "fast" is beyond me.

"Ajanta" wrote in message
...

I understand Phil when he said cats can't store food.

That's not exactly what I meant. I was referring to their inability to
store protein not actual food. The cat's protein-catabolizing enzymes
operate at relatively high rates of activity and don't decrease when the
cat consumes low or no protein. So if the cat doesn't consume high amounts
of protein daily, she'll start to catabolize her own body protein to meet
her needs. Cat's
can't conserve protein, so every time a cat reuses her protein she loses
some of it. This is one of the reasons why cats have a higher protein
requirement
than the dog and other mammals.

Phil.

"Ajanta" wrote in message
...
Spider wrote:
Let me explain where I am coming from. If I ate just the right meals
all the time, there should be no need to fast. However, in America
people as well as cats tend to be overfed rather than underfed.

First of all, cat food is specially formulated to be "the right meal" so
it's good to give it all the time. Secondly, your cat will only be overfed
if you feed him/her too much. If you're worried that the cat is eating too
much you need to switch to diet food, cut back a bit on portion size, or,
better yet, talk to a veterinarian for a body evaluation and then make
dietary changes accordingly.

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