Anyone with a cat on Ozempic that opposes universal healthcare should be publicly castrated.
I feel like most cats don’t really have opinions on universal healthcare, and most are already castrated
Obviously it’s the owner that gets castrated for not teaching their cat about the obvious social benefits
It comes down to calory intake. It’s the human who feeds the cat. Cats don’t become obese from hunting. Medicine could help to mitigate problems which arise from the owners inability to take care of his pet - which is a good thing for the cat’s quality of life.
We don’t understand all the mechanisms behind obesity in humans but we know that:
- It is often caused by hormonal imbalances (particularly GLP-1) causing the brain to feel more hungry than necessary
- The causes for those imbalances are not known for sure (!) but GLP-1 agonists counteract them all the same
- Forcing oneself to eat less will work to lose weight but requires a truly disproportionate amount of willpower compared to a healthy adult. The long-standing myth that fat people have purely psychological issues has been extremely damaging, both on a personal and human level but also to the state of research on the matter which for the longest time did not receive funding for that unsubstantiated reason
- Dieting causes side-effects such as slowed metabolism and chronic fatigue as the body mistakenly thinks hungry = need to save energy. On top of the mental strain of feeling hungry all the time for the rest of your life which many formerly obese people can attest to. All of which affects quality of life and can make the side-effects of GLP-1 agonists pale in comparison.
Now I don’t know how well all that translates to cats, but I would not be surprised if the obesity epidemic in humans had environmental causes that were affecting other mammals in similar ways. And it would make sense that for the worst-affected, GLP-1 agonists would be a better way to manage this hormonal imbalance than forcing the poor kitty feel absolutely famished all day long to maintain a barely healthy weight.
I will let professionals decide when an obesity case is better treated with strict portion control vs GLP-1 agonists, but the least we can do is avoid blanket statements on the management of the complex and badly understood mechanisms of hunger control and weight gain.
“Cats lack the opposable thumbs which would allow them to operate a can opener.”
– a professional 9th grade biology teacher ;)
- It is often caused by hormonal imbalances (particularly GLP-1) causing the brain to feel more hungry than necessary
it comes down to taking and animal, castrating it, and not allowing it outside to be a cat. They get obese because they are bored and sedentary.
GLP-1s in some ways have given me my life back. I’m so happy I no longer dwell or fixate on food the way I used to. My health has improved. I can do exercises, sport activities that I couldn’t do when I was obese.
If we can help obese cats stop fixating on food too, I think that could be a good thing.
But it also raises some questions to me. Obese cats could be the fault of it’s owner not stimulating the cat with enough playtime, but perhaps not every case.
I feel bad that a cat would have to go to a vet every six months to get an implant in them. I wonder if an injection or oral supplement is an option for cats - or if an implant was preferred because humans may try to obtain GLP-1s for themselves using their cats.
Also, the only way I bonded with my mother’s cat was with churu treats. If her cat didn’t crave treats the way she does, would we still have bonded? When her cat escapes the house, one sure way to get the cat back in the house is to bribe it with treats. Would that stop working?
Obesity in pets should not be celebrated. It’s a sad thing.
It feels like this is treating symptoms, however helpful it may seem in the short term.
Obesity in pets is 100% the fault of the owner, although pet food manufacturers don’t make it easy… I have 2 cats whose breed is well known for being commonly overweight but they’re both at their ideal recommended by the vet. It did take effort to find healthier food for them and the correct amount, as well as build up their habits that they get as much as is in their bowl and nothing more regardless of the amount of complaining. It’s the same logic as with humans, count the calories going in and adjust that - except pet food manufacturers don’t often disclose even an estimate.
Outside cats are a divisive topic already though, in those cases it’s arguable whether the owner is solely responsible for it all (due to the decision to let them out) or the other people who also feed the clearly well fed cat a 2nd and 3rd meal because they’re trying to befriend it or it “looks hungry”.
If we could just have a “don’t feed someone else’s pet unless you’re asked to” mentality + people would research good food for their pets as a standard it’d go a long way imo and it seems safer than putting animals on drugs.
If we could just have a “don’t feed someone else’s pet unless you’re asked to” mentality + people would research good food for their pets as a standard it’d go a long way imo and it seems safer than putting animals on drugs.
But that would require more effort.
Obese cats could be the fault of it’s owner not stimulating the cat with enough playtime, but perhaps not every case.
Obese cats are the fault of overfeeding. Full stop. Solutions like this only exist for the owners to shift responsibility off of themselves.
And you know what? If that means more cats have a better quality of life, I’m all for it. But at the end of the day the real solution is always going to be moderating your cat’s food intake.
Just 1 kilo more weight on a cat is 10+ kilo weight on humans. A 5 kilo cat that is 1 kilo overweight has already 25% more bodymass.
Our cat is almost 19 years old, less active, had to go on a diet for being too heavy. Our cat is a big one normally at 5 kilo and didn’t look overweight, but needed to lose a kilo as he gained weight since his last checkup. He gained weight pretty quick.
