I don't really understand how cats even can get this large. I've kept a number of cats and always just fed them dry food in big bowls or auto-feed dispensers where they could eat as much as they wanted whenever they wanted it, and they always stayed a normal weight.

[-] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Probably a similar reason to humans. A cat in a healthy environment will regulate itself, but when stressed it may form eating disorders from using food as a coping mechanism. Or when given unhealthy food that has imbalanced nutrition

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 8 points 3 months ago

Cats will actually eat until they get the necessary nutrients from their food, unlike us where we stop when we’re full, regardless of how good the food actually is. So a cat free feeding terrible food can become obese fairly easily.

Kibble is the absolute worst thing you can feed cats. It’s usually at least half fillers and binders. They’re obligate carnivores so raw meat or high quality canned food where it’s mostly meat with some hydrating broth or something is as good as it gets for them.

[-] ArtemisimetrA@lemmy.duck.cafe 2 points 3 months ago

A fellow ZeFrank enjoyer, perhaps? The obligate carnivore thing is so important to remember. I have a vegan friend who feeds her animals plant-based foods and her dog is underweight and her cat is overweight. Absolutely hate to see it, but adults apparently don't respond well to being told that their pets with completely different physiology and no choice in what they're fed won't live their best lives on a vegan diet.

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

I actually don’t know what that is! I got all this knowledge working in the pet food industry. Vegetarian diets are such a bummer. Like, if you get an animal, it’s on you to adapt to their needs, not them adapting to your principles! I get that it’s hard for some vegans/vegetarians to handle meat—but in that case…don’t get an animal that needs it lol

There’s unfortunately so much misinformation, and a lot of it is pushed by the kibble companies. Did you know that most veterinarian schools are at least partially funded by purina, Iams, etc? The fact that most vets offices sell science diet for insane markups should be a huge tip off. So unfortunately the lies run deep. It’s not surprising so many people fall for it—like the myth that kibble cleans your pet’s teeth!? What poppycock! Do crackers and croutons clean our teeth? Hell no. And there is an enzyme in the saliva of dogs that actually turns the necessary starches to bind kibble into sugar. Hence the pandemic of tooth decay in so many.

[-] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

This might be a little too tangential and not your area of expertise at all…

Is there a reason why we can’t make a plant-based diet that has the same nutrition as meat? I assume there must be otherwise I think that idea would take off more.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 months ago

I've had two kitties that got one or two pounds overweight and both were long-hairs. I always figured that cats that are built for colder weather have an instinct to eat and bulk up in case of food scarcity. My short-hair kitty has stayed slender which, to me, seems to back that up. But I don't know anything scientific or medical, it's just an observation.