It appears that offering excessive food to cats can put their lives at risk. cats at serious risk. At least, that's what a study carried out by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign claims.
According to research, providing cats with excess food promotes weight gain, which, in turn, unbalances the intestinal microbiota of these animals.
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Therefore, little furry friends can end up becoming malnourished. Contrary to what it seems, obesity is not synonymous with good nutrition. In fact, this condition makes the intestine unable to correctly collect the nutrients contained in food.
According to research, more than half of domestic cats in the United States are overweight, which is scary.
To achieve these results, Dr. Research author Kelly Swanson and her team followed 11 cats for a few weeks.
“We wanted to learn more about the metabolic and gastrointestinal changes that occur as a result of overeating and weight gain in cats,” said the expert.
For about 18 weeks, scientists observed the animals' behavior and maintained a very specific diet. At the same time, fecal and blood tests were carried out.
(Image: Freepik/reproduction)
As a result, Dr. Swanson found that cats that ate more were gaining weight, which was causing them to lose the ability to digest nutrients.
“When the body receives less food, it becomes more efficient at extracting nutrients. However, when the amount of food increases, it passes through the digestive system more quickly and fewer nutrients are extracted in the process,” explained Swanson.
In addition to low nutrient intake, researchers also noticed that the diversity of microbes responsible for digestion decreased in cats that were gaining weight.
Once the 18 weeks of study were over, Dr. Swanson and her team put the cats on a restrictive diet so they could lose weight.
Fortunately, the cats managed to return to their normal state, acquiring the health markers they once had.
For all these reasons, experts suggest that cat owners do not share “human food” with their pets.
In addition, the quantity and quality of the food must also be observed. The ideal is to keep them fed only with specific foods.
Additionally, it is also recommended to practice physical and mental exercises with cats, such as games and walks, for example.
Graduated in History and Human Resources Technology. Passionate about writing, today he lives the dream of working professionally as a Web Content Writer, writing articles in several different niches and formats.
