- My cat was missing for thirteen days. I was going to bury him but today he came back - skin and bones.
- Male and female cats left very far away from their home are able to find a back road. However if there are no familiar guiding lines, or if a cat at the moment of letting it go has never been outdoors before, it will look for its house for long because doesn't know the environment.
Male dogs are in similar situation. During the wedding season they forget everything and their masters as well and run for a female. Males get exited and of cause don't pay attention to any reference points. Often they found themselves far away from home and can't find the way home. Those coming back to their masters are as exhausted as male and female cats after a long absence.
Animals while roving don't eat and even don't drink: if the weather is hot and there's no a mere puddle, lost animals are deprived of the opportunity to slake thirst. One may judge about the degree of dehydration by the following example: a young, immature male cat, after being lost for five days, came back and drunk up half liter of water.
Happy holders seeing their pets alive after they have given up hope to get them back, give a male or female cat a whole fish and a full bowl of porridge. A dog gets a bowl of porridge and a lump of meat.
However one must not do this, because some changes have taken place in animal organism. Cells of animal as well as human body take the energy mainly in a form of glucose right from digested food or from liver where it was stored before in a form of glycogen. Also cells use the energy generated during oxidation of fat acids. However nerve cells may use only glucose.
In order to provide nerve cells with a sufficient amount of energy, the level of glucose in blood should be kept approximately the same. An insulin hormone regulates this level.
Nerve cells are able to absorb glucose without insulin too, but other cells can do without insulin. They need it for transporting glucose through their outer membrane.
During starvation the level of insulin becomes so low that glucose becomes available only for nerve cells, other cell get it through oxidation of fat acids.
When the animal doesn't eat for a long time, it can survive only due to reserves of its organism: glycogen inside liver and muscles, fat in different parts of body. If starvation is too long, the last chance to escape is protein of muscles and other tissues.
Predators may live for weeks going without necessary for surviving. In one of experiments raccoon dogs didn't get food for 60 days, arctic foxes and red foxes - 20 days. Dogs can endure a 98 days starvation. There are no data on cats but, judging by stray animals, they are also able go without food for long. But both cats and dogs show how much this costs.
During long starvation an alimentary dystrophy develops. This is the disease, which is accompanied by profound disorder of metabolism along with atrophy and dystrophy of all organs.
Mammals and birds exposed to long starvation are exhausted and have no hypodermic adipose layer. They have low temperature, heart beats slow. Muscles reduce in size and become flabby.
If animals have no opportunity not only to eat but also drink, then water exhaustion appears.
When the organism is insufficiently supplied with water, initially it only causes a reduction of daily amount of urine. Yet later water starts to get out of cell into the intracellular space. Then the volume of intracellular liquid lessens. Blood volume that passes through kidneys also reduces.
In response to this animal organism begins to secrete rhinin enzyme. It passes in blood and stimulates an active substance angiotensin, which, firstly, maintains normal blood pressure and consequently regulates circulation of the blood, and secondly, serves as powerful stimulant of thirst. An animal begins to look for water. Loss of 10-20 per cent of its body weight is lethal for mammals.
To cats and dogs, which came back home and didn't eat and drink for a long time, one may give only water as much as the animal wants. The same thing should be done in case if the animal was absent for only few days. The main danger is acute gastritis caused by overload of stomach with food.
Some animals in spite of offered fat dinner act in the best way: drink and go to bed. Apparently the instinct of self-preservation as well as tiredness has its effect. The moment when the animal may relax comes: all the time while it was away it was exposed to stress.
Next day and in the following days the feeding of the animal should be well balanced and rich in vitamins but splitted: give small portions of food five-seven times a day.
Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).