Cats More Active When They Anticipate Meals, Multiple Daily Feedings Could Curb Obesity

Eating smaller meals more often throughout the day is common advice for people trying to lose weight, but a new study reveals that the same technique can be used to curb obesity in house cats.

The revelation stems from the finding that cats on a dry kibble diet are more active in the hours before an anticipated meal. It's common for cat owners to pour a lot of kibble into a bowl and refill it once it's empty. But cats accustomed to fewer feedings are less active and more prone to obesity and diabetes, according to University of Illinois researchers.

Kelly Swanson, an animal sciences researcher at U of I, reports that increasing the number of feedings per day and offering food containing added dietary water promotes more physical activity in cats.

"It all comes down to energy in and energy out. It's very simple on paper, but it's not that easy in real life, especially in a household where there is more than one pet. That can be difficult, but I think these two strategies are very practical ideas that people can use," Swanson said.

For the research, Swanson and his team conducted a two-part test on cats fitted with monitors that recorded their activity. The first placed cats in one of four rooms where dry kibble was given at different intervals throughout the day. One room gave kibble meals four times a day, another twice, the third one time per day, and cats in the fourth room were fed a random number of meals per day.

While the feeding frequency varied, the overall amount of food the cats were given each day was the same.

The second part of the study gave the cats two daily feedings of a kibble meal that had been watered down an hour before mealtime. Adding water to dry cat food may provide a greater "gut fill" feeling to cats, the researchers said.

During the dry kibble experiment, the researchers noticed the cats were much more active when they anticipated a meal coming. This was most pronounced in the scenario where cats were fed four times a day and in the random feeding interval scenario.

"If they know they are going to get fed, that's when they are really active, if they can anticipate it," Swanson said.

In the wet food experiment, cats were more active after eating and exhibited episodes of higher energy as well. Swanson said it is unclear why this happened.

"I think veterinarians will be interested in this information because it gives them evidence to be able to recommend something to pet owners that could help with feline obesity and diabetes," Swanson said. "When cats are allowed to feed ad libitum, it's difficult to prevent obesity. It is important to identify the right diet. Many owners are accustomed to dumping a pile of food out for multiple cats, just once per day."

"The owner does have an active role in helping with weight management," Swanson said. He added that dry pet food is calorically dense, and a small amount of it is usually plenty to feed a pet, even if it does not look like a lot.

"Because most pet foods are so digestible and nutrient dense, owners see that small bowl of food and think there's no way they can survive on that but they can," Swanson said. "It is tricky because labels on pet food provide ranges for how much should be fed. If you're feeding a cat, that food is supplied to thousands of cats with different metabolism. Some are spayed or neutered, and ages are different," Swanson said.

Swanson noted that people with busy lives may not be able to go from feeding their cats one to four times a day, but he said that even switching to twice-daily feedings could make a difference in pet health by promoting more physical activity.

The research is published in the Journal of Animal Science.