Fatty Liver Disease in cats is actually a disease caused by the fat metabolism attacking the liver in the cat.  Unfortunately this normally wouldn’t happen to a cat that is out on its own in the wild.  This is because the cat’s liver is suited to the type of diet the cat would have if it lived in the wild rather than house cat’s diet of primarily cat food.  Wild cats diets consist of rodents and other lean meats, most of the time cats aren’t even able to eat enough to get fat like house cats commonly do.

Fatty Liver Disease occurs in housecats when they are fed a lot and usually after they get overweight.  Once they are overweight or slightly fat if they stop eating their body starts to use the fat reserves in the body to function, but in order to use this fat tissue as energy they need to use their liver to free the energy.  So all of this fat goes to the liver and fat globules get on the inside of the liver itself.  This disrupts the cat’s whole internal wellbeing and the cat will start to get sick.  One of the first signs of Fatty Liver Disease in cats is if they stop eating.  Some other signs your cat may have Fatty Liver Disease are if your cat is middle aged, was at one time obese, recently has lost about 25% of its total body weight, has a small appetite, has an obvious upset stomach, or if they have become abnormally weak.  Another common sign your cat has Fatty Liver disease is if they are a yellowish color, this includes their eyes, the inside of their ears; this is called jaundice but is also a problem with fat in the liver.

Overall the best thing you can do is keep an eye out for these signs and try not to over feed you cats!

 

Filed under: Eating Habits

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