The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the feline population is estimated to be 25.7% and 33.8%, respectively. Feline obesity is associated with comorbidities such as insulin resistance and hepatic lipidosis. Several risk factors are associated with obesity including middle age, neuter status, decreased activity, and diet. Obesity management is multifaceted and includes client education, diet modification, and consistent monitoring. Successful obesity management may be dependent on owner perception of their cat's quality of life during a prescribed weight loss plan. Poor quality of life perception may result in failure to complete the weight loss process. Food toys may be used to enhance environmental enrichment, allow cats to express their natural predatory behavior and overall improve owner-perceived quality of life. Therefore, we set out to investigate the role of food toys in owner-perceived quality of life of obese cats during a prescribed weight loss plan.
Fifty-five cats with a BCS > 7 were enrolled in a double-blinded weight loss study and randomized into one of two groups: food toy (n=26) or food bowl (n=29). Each cat was provided a prescribed weight loss diet and instructions. Body weight and body condition score were evaluated monthly. Additionally, owners completed a monthly questionnaire to assess their cat's quality of life.
Of the 44 cats in the final analysis, 66% (n=29) successfully completed the study and lost > 2 BCS points and/or achieved an ideal BCS of 5/9. Low-calorie vegetables were offered to the majority of cats (n= 32) due to owner reports of disruptive food seeking behavior. Of the cats offered vegetables, 87.5% (n=28) cats required a commercial palatant to consume the vegetables. All enrolled cats had a higher (p<0.0000) owner-perceive quality of life at the final visit/recheck/end of study (median QOL=110.0), as compared to the initial weight loss appointment (median QOL=126.0). The increase in quality of life was primarily driven by improvement in moving from one place to another, grooming and scratching, engaging in social activities, and playing and hunting. There was no effect (p=0.27) of food toy on owner-perceived quality of life.
Prescribed weight loss improves owner-perceived quality of life of obese cats. A single food toy (ball-style) was included in this study and did not appear to influence owner-perceived QOL. However, the role of food toys needs further investigation as there are several food toy styles that have not yet been investigated during a prescribed weight loss plan. We suspect that most/all of the 32 cats fed vegetables would have withdrawn from the study. Therefore, including vegetables in the prescribed weight loss plan appears to improve success of weight loss in obese cats. / Master of Science / About 60% of cats are overweight or obese, which equates to about 56 million cats in the United States. Feline obesity is associated with poor health outcomes such as insulin resistance and fatty liver disease. Risk factors for feline obesity include middle age, neutered, decreased activity, and diet. Obesity is commonly diagnosed via body condition scoring in small companion animals. Owner-perceived quality of life is an important factor for a successful weight loss plan. Low perceived quality of life may result in owners abandoning the weight loss process. Food toys provide environmental enrichment, slow food consumption and may increase activity. However, the impact of food toys on owner-perceived quality of life and the success of a weight loss plan were not previously investigated.
Fifty-five cats were enrolled into the weight loss study and randomly placed into one of two groups. Twenty-six cats were placed in the food toy group, and 29 cats were placed in the food bowl group. Monthly follow-up visits consisted of weighing and body condition scoring each cat. In addition, owners completed a questionnaire to evaluate their cat’s quality of life. Food toys did not influence cat owner perception of their cat’s quality of life. However, cat owners perceived their cat’s quality of life to be higher at the end of the study compared to the beginning for all cats. The increase in quality of life was primarily driven by improvement in moving from one place to another, grooming and scratching, engaging in social activities, and playing and hunting. Satiety was an issue for several cats during the study. Low-calorie vegetables were offered to over half of the study cats to decrease hunger and food-seeking behavior. This study indicates quality of life is increased in cats undergoing a prescribed weight loss plan. A single food toy was utilized in the present study although several types of food toys are currently available that have not been investigated in relation to owner-perceived quality of life during a prescribed weight loss plan.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/102626 |
| Date | 12 September 2019 |
| Creators | Dodd, Lauren |
| Contributors | Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, Shepherd, Megan Leigh, Dervisis, Nikolaos G., Hosig, Kathryn W., Clark-Deener, Sherrie |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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