BODY-COMPOSITION OF THE ADULT DOMESTIC CAT (FELIS-CATUS)

The aim of this study was to determine the chemical body composition o f male and female adult cats. The dehaired empty bodies of 20 adult ca ts were subjected to analysis for dry matter, lipid, ash, crude protei n, amino acids, and several minerals (Ca, P, K, Mg, Fe, Mn and Zn). Th ere were no significant (p > 0.05) differences in the water (mean +/- SEM, 62.3 +/- 0.68%),lipid (11.2 +/- 1.18%) and ash (4.5 +/- 0.11%) co ntents per unit of Net tissue between the male and female cats. Adult male cats were found to have significantly (p < 0.05) higher amounts o f crude protein per unit of wet tissue (21.7 +/- 0.35% vs. 20.0 +/- 0. 60%), lipid-free matter(24.1 +/- 0.22% vs. 23.0 +/- 0.22%) and lipid-f ree dry matter (80.7 +/- 0.23% vs. 78.3 +/- 0.32%) than female cats. T here was no significant effect of gender on the whole body amino acid composition (lipid-free dry matter or mol percentage basis) except for cysteine which was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the male cats in comparison to the female cats. The amount of amino acid nitrogen in t he lipid-free dry matter was not significantly different between the t wo sexes indicating that the higher amount of crude protein per unit o i lipid-free dry matter in the male cats was the result of a higher am ount of either non-amino acid nitrogen, amino acids not measured in th e present study, or both. The overall mean whole body essential amino acid pattern (relative to 100 mol of lysine) of the cat was: arginine, 82; histidine, 41; isoleucine, 54; leucine, 113; methionine, 32; phen ylalanine, 47; threonine 71 and valine, 78. There was no significant e ffect of gender on the concentration of any of the minerals per unit o f body ash. The mean +/- SEM concentrations of Ca, P, K and Mg in the ash fraction were 32.6 +/- 0.91, 18.6 +/- 0.45, 4.7 +/- 0.12, 0.8 +/- 0.02 g/100 g, respectively, and the mean +/- SEM concentrations of Fe, Mn and Zn were 97.5 +/- 4.01, 63.7 +/- 1.79 and 1.3 +/- 0.06 mg/100 g . The Ca:P ratio was not significantly different between the male and female cats and was on average 1.75 +/- 0.011. The body composition of the adult cat is similar to the body composition reported for other a dult mammals.