Do cats eat less when its warmer
dollymarie
Posts: 3,562 Forum Member
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My nearly 1 year old cats the last few days while its been warmer haven't been eating as much food. When I get home from work, their bowls have still had a bit of food in. They have free access to wet food and biscuits when I am out at work, as well as water, and the cat flap is open so they can come and go as they please.
I am certain they aren't ill as they are behaving exactly as they normally would. They've been drinking a little bit more, but I guess that's down to it being warmer.
Does their appetite decrease when its warmer? I've not changed their food or anything (they both have different food, so I buy the same food every week - they won't eat the cheap stuff the toerags and they never turn down cooked chicken if I offer it, even these last few days
)
Wondered if because it was warmer, they aren't so hungry because they don't need to keep their body temperature up so much?
Any advice or experiences?
I am certain they aren't ill as they are behaving exactly as they normally would. They've been drinking a little bit more, but I guess that's down to it being warmer.
Does their appetite decrease when its warmer? I've not changed their food or anything (they both have different food, so I buy the same food every week - they won't eat the cheap stuff the toerags and they never turn down cooked chicken if I offer it, even these last few days
)Wondered if because it was warmer, they aren't so hungry because they don't need to keep their body temperature up so much?
Any advice or experiences?
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Comments
They've eaten more normally in the last 24 hours, and i'm sure its cos the temperature has dropped again.
not sure of the exact figure, but around 70% (possibly more) of the energy provided by food consumed by mammals is used to maintain body temperature
maybe an odd one, but an example i can give is outdoor pig farms.
In winter they go through tons of food every day, most of this is just utilised to keep the pigs body temperature up, and very little body mass is gained. - not ideal from a production standpoint.
this is why they don't tend to rear their pigs to slaughter weight outdoors as it's just not economical on a large scale, much cheaper to keep them in heated barns to fatten hem up as a lot less of the energy form the food they eat is utilised to maintain body temperature, and they therefore add body mass much more quickly.