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Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 22nd 09, 09:16 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
James
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Posts: 263
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? Or at least don't give food treats?
  #2  
Old April 22nd 09, 10:20 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Linda Boucher
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Posts: 39
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

NO
"James" wrote in message
...
There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? Or at least don't give food treats?



  #3  
Old April 22nd 09, 10:23 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
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Posts: 4,212
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?


"Linda Boucher" wrote in message
...
NO
"James" wrote in message
...
There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? Or at least don't give food treats?




Oh, my, this must be one of Pussyboy James worthwhile posts, eh Matthew?
It's not enough that he lets his cats roam where anything can happen to
them, now he wants to justify not feeding them enough. What's up, asshole,
are your utilities going to be cut off again?


  #4  
Old April 23rd 09, 01:33 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Matthew[_3_]
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Posts: 2,287
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?


"cybercat" wrote in message
...

"Linda Boucher" wrote in message
...
NO
"James" wrote in message
...
There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? Or at least don't give food treats?




Oh, my, this must be one of Pussyboy James worthwhile posts, eh Matthew?
It's not enough that he lets his cats roam where anything can happen to
them, now he wants to justify not feeding them enough. What's up, asshole,
are your utilities going to be cut off again?



Cyber easy girl don't make me get the whip chains and baby oil ;-)


  #5  
Old April 23rd 09, 01:15 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
[email protected]
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Posts: 126
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

On Apr 22, 4:16*pm, James wrote:
There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. *It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? *Or at least don't give food treats?


Define "Starve". Those who are "starving themselves" are hardly doing
that. What they are doing is eating a very carefully designed calorie-
restricted diet with intake below "averages".

Now, compare the typical US diet to most of the rest of the world, and
most of the rest of the world is 'starving itself' - and doing quite
well despite.

Our cats self-limit. There is always high-quality dry food available
and they are fed as much wet food as they will eat in about 30 minutes
twice a day. They get a great deal of exercise, have very low-stress
lives and lots of stimulation. Accordingly they are quite slender,
even the Maine Coon. We get 'excellent marks' from our vet for weight
and muscle-tone.

What it comes down to is that a healthy cat with a healthy life-style
and a healthy history will not get fat and will not 'pig out' - even
if altered. And if one observes the behavior of wild cats (as opposed
to stray domestic cats) even in situations where prey is plentiful,
neither do they get fat.

Domesticated cats get fat for several reasons, sometimes one at a
time, sometimes a combination of several. For the most part, the non-
physical reasons a

a) The cat once lived under near-starvation conditions. Such cats will
eat as much as they can whenever they can as they are never sure where
their next meal is coming from. They can be trained out of this
behavior, but it is very, very difficult.

b) They are bored. Much as people over-eat when they are bored, so
will cats - if food is available. If the boredom is addressed, they
will generally stop over-eating.

c) They are under stress - physical or emotional. Eating is
displacement behavior and reserve-building. As above.

And, of course, there are any number of physical/medical conditions
that can lead to obesity if not tended carefully.

We can control the first three to a degree with our cats - and that
will help greatly in preventing nutritional and diet-related diseases
in the future.

But, cutting to the chase - if you understand the analogy between the
US diet and the 'rest-of-the-world' diet, if we could provide a safe
and healthy venue for our cats to stalk, catch, kill and eat natural
prey under natural conditions they would be a great deal healthier for
it - and we certainly would not be 'starving' them. After all, that is
precisely what they have evolved to do for these last half-million
years or so - until we started messing about with their gene-pool.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
  #6  
Old April 23rd 09, 02:38 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
dgk
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Posts: 2,268
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:23:11 -0400, "cybercat"
wrote:


"Linda Boucher" wrote in message
.. .
NO
"James" wrote in message
...
There are people starving themselves in order to live longer. It's
been proven in rats that limited food resulted in longer life spans.
So would you? Or at least don't give food treats?




Oh, my, this must be one of Pussyboy James worthwhile posts, eh Matthew?
It's not enough that he lets his cats roam where anything can happen to
them, now he wants to justify not feeding them enough. What's up, asshole,
are your utilities going to be cut off again?



It's a legitimate question though and touches on the decisions we make
for our feline family members. Quality of life versus quantity of
life.

Let's say that I exercise at the gym four days a week for an hour each
day for the next 40 years (8320 hours total), Because of this, maybe
I'll live a year longer (8760 hours). But I just spent all that time
at the GYM, not to mention having to get there and back.Maybe I'll die
in a car accident on the way. I'd rather die a year earlier and keep
all that time.

What does this have to do with starvation diets and cats you ask? If I
starve Marlo and lock her in a room with no possible threats to her
health, maybe she'll live to 17. With no decent quality of life.

If I let her run all over the neighborhood risking fights and cars and
whatnot, but also enjoying the thrill of catching mice and birds, she
experiences much more that life has to offer but at much greater risk
of ending it quickly or suffering greatly.

So, it all boils down, once again, to doing the best we can for our
furkids. It's all a compromise.

So, the answer then is no, I would not starve my cats to maybe have
them live longer, nor will I do the same for myself. As for the 1000
or so folks living on that diet, have some chocolate.
  #7  
Old April 23rd 09, 03:39 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
[email protected]
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Posts: 126
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

On Apr 23, 9:38*am, dgk wrote:

So, the answer then is no, I would not starve my cats to maybe have
them live longer, nor will I do the same for myself. As for the 1000
or so folks living on that diet, have some chocolate.


Amen to that. Generally, if we take Hobbes' view on life in the
'natural state' (solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short), there
would be no reason to prolong it. All-and-at-the-same-time, those who
take that attitude tend also to be desparately fearful of death and so
would be the first to starve themselves to achieve more of that same
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short life.

Those who realize that a good life entails risks - and the goodness
*almost* has a linear relationship to those risks - understand the
epicurean approach - all things in moderation, free of fear.

Keeping cats as adjuncts to our egos without fully recognizing *AND*
providing for their natures and needs is first-order cruelty.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
  #8  
Old April 23rd 09, 04:34 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
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Posts: 4,212
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?


"dgk" wrote
So, the answer then is no, I would not starve my cats to maybe have
them live longer, nor will I do the same for myself. As for the 1000
or so folks living on that diet, have some chocolate.


Very nice discourse. James is still a sleazeball idiot, but I do see your
point.


  #9  
Old April 23rd 09, 05:32 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
dgk
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Posts: 2,268
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:34:33 -0400, "cybercat"
wrote:


"dgk" wrote
So, the answer then is no, I would not starve my cats to maybe have
them live longer, nor will I do the same for myself. As for the 1000
or so folks living on that diet, have some chocolate.


Very nice discourse. James is still a sleazeball idiot, but I do see your
point.


Not the mention that they'd rip me apart in my sleep if I denied them
their Temptations.
  #10  
Old April 23rd 09, 05:38 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
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Posts: 4,212
Default Would you starve your pet so it will live longer?


"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:34:33 -0400, "cybercat"
wrote:


"dgk" wrote
So, the answer then is no, I would not starve my cats to maybe have
them live longer, nor will I do the same for myself. As for the 1000
or so folks living on that diet, have some chocolate.


Very nice discourse. James is still a sleazeball idiot, but I do see your
point.


Not the mention that they'd rip me apart in my sleep if I denied them
their Temptations.


There is always that. The only treat Gracie likes it the dairy
Temptations, I think it is called. In the bluish-lavender bag.


 




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