Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Obesity risk and breed links in show cats
By Corbee, R J·Published in Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition·2014·Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Netherlands·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Obesity in show cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that nearly half of the show cats evaluated were overweight, with 4.5% classified as obese. This was particularly common among neutered cats, which are more prone to gaining weight. The research highlighted that certain breeds are more likely to be obese, possibly due to how breed standards are interpreted. To help prevent obesity, it's important for breeders and judges to reconsider these standards and for cat owners to provide proper nutrition, especially for neutered cats.
People also search for: why is my cat overweight · cat obesity prevention · neutered cat weight management · show cat breed standards · healthy diet for overweight cats
Abstract
Obesity is an important disease with a high prevalence in cats. Because obesity is related to several other diseases, it is important to identify the population at risk. Several risk factors for obesity have been described in the literature. A higher incidence of obesity in certain cat breeds has been suggested. The aim of this study was to determine whether obesity occurs more often in certain breeds. The second aim was to relate the increased prevalence of obesity in certain breeds to the official standards of that breed. To this end, 268 cats of 22 different breeds investigated by determining their body condition score (BCS) on a nine-point scale by inspection and palpation, at two different cat shows. Overall, 45.5% of the show cats had a BCS > 5, and 4.5% of the show cats had a BCS > 7. There were significant differences between breeds, which could be related to the breed standards. Most overweight and obese cats were in the neutered group. It warrants firm discussions with breeders and cat show judges to come to different interpretations of the standards in order to prevent overweight conditions in certain breeds from being the standard of beauty. Neutering predisposes for obesity and requires early nutritional intervention to prevent obese conditions.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24612018/