The researchers also measured the cats’ activity level with a monitor attached to a collar. Our findings correlate with this, as reduced fecal pH aligned with higher food intake and reduced digestibility,” Swanson said. "In humans, a low fecal pH indicates poor absorption of carbohydrates and fat. At the same time, fecal pH decreased, meaning that the stool became more acidic. In other words, as they ate more, they also pooped more. Future studies should consider measuring transit time to better explain modifications to the microbiome of pets,” he added.Īs the cats’ food consumption grew, so did their fecal output. "The change in the gastrointestinal transit time was a novel finding and a potential reason for the change in fecal microbiota. These results are opposite to what has been measured in overweight humans and suggest that their association to weight gain is complex, Swanson noted. The relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, which has antimicrobial activity, inhibits pathogens, and stimulates the immune system, increased, while Collinsella, which degrades fiber and has been linked to pro-inflammatory diseases, decreased. The researchers also found significant changes in gut microbial composition between the lean cats at baseline and after 18 weeks of weight gain. But when the amount of food increases, it passes through the digestive system faster and fewer nutrients are extracted in the process,” Swanson explained. When the body gets less food, it will be more efficient in extracting nutrients. "We found that as cats ate more and gained weight, gastrointestinal transit time was reduced, and so was digestive efficiency. The researchers analyzed changes in fecal output, gastrointestinal transit time, digestive efficiency (nutrient digestibility), and microbiota bacterial composition over the 20-week duration of the study. BCS is equivalent to body mass index (BMI) for humans, and 6 or above is considered overweight, Swanson said. After 18 weeks of overfeeding, it had increased to 8.27, corresponding to being 30% overweight. At the onset of the study, their average body condition score (BCS) was 5.41 on a 9-point scale. Once the cats were able to overeat, they immediately increased their food intake substantially and started to gain weight. The researchers collected blood and fecal samples at regular intervals and monitored physical activity. They were fed a standard dry cat food and after two weeks of baseline measurements, they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The study included 11 adult spayed female cats. In this study, we wanted to learn more about the metabolic and gastrointestinal changes that occur as a result of overeating and weight gain in cats,” says study co-author Kelly Swanson, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and interim director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at U. While many studies have investigated feline weight loss, there has been little focus on the opposite process, which is also important. are overweight, which can lead to health problems such as diabetes and chronic inflammation.
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