Cat owners may have encountered this situation: For some reason, they forgot to feed their cats, resulting in the cats not eating for a whole day. If this happens to a healthy cat, it may not have much impact on the cat, but if it happens to a cat with fatty liver or diabetes, the consequences will be much more serious.

The cat's body will become dehydrated because it has not eaten for a long time. At this time, various ions in the body are also in a state of disorder, such as hypokalemia, hypophosphatemia or hypomagnesemia. Cats suddenly start eating after being hungry for a long time. The pancreas secretes a large amount of insulin under the stimulation of food. The large amount of insulin secreted will aggravate the ion disorder in the body. Symptoms include weakness, vomiting, depression, mental disorder, and in severe cases, even irregular heartbeat. Qi, hemolysis, etc. Medically, this is called refeeding syndrome. Cats with fatty liver disease or diabetes are particularly susceptible to refeeding syndrome.

A healthy cat may not necessarily develop refeeding syndrome if it is starved for a day occasionally, but if it is often starved for a day, it will definitely be harmful to the cat's health.