What is it about?
Excess weight is a health issue in cats and owners want accurate and clear advice about feeding amounts to maintain a healthy body weight. Feeding advice for growing kittens is complicated by neutering, as this may alter behaviour to increase food consumption. We report the energy requirements of female kittens fed to maintain a healthy body condition through growth and identified an influence of age of neutering.
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Why is it important?
We identified that the age when neutered affected the ability to maintain a healthy body weight. Kittens neutered after sexual development had changes in feeding behaviour with increased food consumption leading to rapid weight gain. From both a feeding behaviour welfare perspective and subsequent weight management perspective we consider it advantageous to neuter at or before 26 weeks of age. However, other social and individual veterinary health concerns may also need consideration.
Perspectives
In our meta-analysis we saw increased adult weight of neutered cats post-neuter but at an ideal body condition score. This may, in part, reflect a post-neuter "growth" spurt and highlight that some weight gain may represent growth. Why? Is suppression of growth in entire females a strategy to ensure sufficient prey for her own requirements and for kitten development through pregnancy? Neutering would remove this suppression and lad to increased intake to catch-up to a new set point.
Dr David Allaway
Mars Inc
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impact of time of neutering on weight gain and energy intake in female kittens, Journal of Nutritional Science, January 2017, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/jns.2017.20.
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