Ingestive Behavior

Nursing stage (dogs)

0-6+ weeks

Why do dogs knead

Aids breathing during nursing and stimulates milk flow

Transitional stage (dog)

Occurs between 3-5 weeks

Begins eating semisolid food

Regurgitation by the dam (Dogs)

Leftover from wolves, female wolves will regurgitate meat to feed pups

Some bitches will regurgitate but don’t use it to feed pups

Stimulated by pup licking dams face

Nursing stage (feline)

0-8 weeks

Kneading (feline)

Stimulates milk flow, can be retained if animal is weaned too early

Prolonged sucking

Nursing behavior that is retained in kittens weaned too early

Transitional stage (feline)

Occurs between 5-8 weeks

Young starts eating semisolid food

Queen will bring prey that is increasingly hard to catch to train kittens

Nursing stage (horses)

From 0 to 10-12 months for feral herds

From 0 to 4-6 months in managed herds

Nutrition in milk lasts ~ 5 months

What are ways foals transition from milk to grazing

Grazing time per day slowly increases with age

Coprophagy within the first week that peaks at 2 months to establish gut microbiome

What type of nurser is a foal?

Follower, nurses ~ 3 times an hour

What is a major factor within early life of foals that contributes to stereotypic behaviror?

Early weaning and heavy concentrates in food

Common in futurity foals

Nursing stage (cattle)

0 to ~ 6 months

Nurses 6-10 times daily

What type of nurser are cattle

Hiders

Lay in wait, mom will return and baby will nurse for 10-15 minutes

How does nursing differ in ruminants?

Posses a esophageal groove that closes during sucking and shunts milk to the abomasum

What are signs and symptoms that milk is going to the rumen?

Milk is in a basic environment and will cause diarrhea

What are some downsides to feeding calves milk from buckets?

Drinks faster but less

Milk will go to the rumen leading to diarrhea

Gain weight slower and maintain it worse (milk being processed differently)

Compensates for lack of suckling by sucking on self or others

Nursing stage (pigs)

Suckle once/hour

Drink ~ 1L/day

All nurse at the same time due to controlled milk let down

Natural 0 to 12-17 weeks

Managed 0 to 2-3.5 weeks (US)

Managed 0 to 4-5 weeks (Europe)

How does nursing effect social hierarchy in pigs?

The further away the teat is from the head the less milk it produces, young pick a teat and stay with it

Those towards the back tend to be smaller and less likely to be top of hierarchy

Weaning stages (pigs)

Natural 12-17 weeks

Managed 2-3.5 weeks (US)

Managed 4-5 weeks (Europe)

Dogs after 16 weeks have fairly established taste preferences unless competition is present (T/F)

True

What are dogs top 3 taste preferences?

Beef

Pork

Lamb

What textures do dogs prefer?

Canned meat

Cooked/semi moist

Raw/kibble

Feast or famine pattern

Pattern common in dogs, eat as much as you can when you get it

Originates from wolves that do not know where their next meal will come from

Free-feeding in dogs typically leads to obesity especially if that dog experienced a hunger period (T/F)

True

Plant eating (dogs and cats)

Common in the spring with tender grass

Occurs because they are used to eating digested plant matter in the stomachs of prey

Dogs have more amylase genes than wolves but significantly less that humans (T/F)

True

Predatory behavior (dogs)

Instinctive to chase things that move away

The harder the chase the harder the shake

Modified for working breeds (hunting, herding, etc.)

Drinking behavior (dogs)

Use tongue as backwards ladle to scoop water into mouth

Eating behavior (cats)

Pattern of several small meals per day (think mice)

Do not share prey with other cats

Struggle with obesity due to calorie dense manufactured foods

Feline food preferences

Prefer cooked over raw and warm over cold

Love love love umami flavors like tuna

Food preference and textures learned by ~ 20 weeks of age

Smell is important to cats for eating, therefore if a cat has an issue like URI they can/will starve to death (T/F)

True

Smell is important to cats for eating, therefore if a cat has an issue like URI they can/will starve to death (T/F)

True

Cat prey choice depends on ______ of prey in the area but they prefer ______

Availability

Mice

What is a major ecological concern with outdoor cats?

Bird populations

What are the steps of predation in cats?

Alert

Stalk

Attack (pounce)

Kill (sever spinal cord)

Carry off to eat

How does predatory behavior differ in cats if there is an excess of prey

The cat will go through the whole cycle for the first few prey items but then will start to leave off steps starting at the end until the cat is no longer interested in prey

How to reduce hunting in outdoor cats

Feeding premium meat based food

Active play 5-10 minutes a day

Birdsbesafe collars

Drinking behavior (cats)

Tongue curls backwards and snags liquid, bringing it up

Cats prefer freshwater

Eating behavior (horses)

Do not eat where they eliminate

1-2 mouthfuls then a few steps repeated for 12 hrs a day

Nose is very good at separating food

Rough vs lawn

Where horses eliminate in pasture vs where they graze

What are some issues for stalled horses

Do not get to perform grazing behavior for 12 hrs per day and get bored

May eat bedding and chew on non-food items

What are ways to prevent eating behavior issues related to stalled horses?

Increase pasture time

Feed hay more often

Feed had from small hole hay nest

Provide mouthy toys

Bed with straw

Equine taste preferences

Sweet feed is majorly preferred

Also like Fenugreek, Banana, Cherry, etc.

Drinking behavior (Equine)

Suck after into their mouths

Nose/eyes in water is play

Eating behavior (cattle)

4-9 hrs/day of grazing 2-4 periods/day

Ruminate for a period equal to ¾ of grazing time in 2-60 min sessions

Begins rumination at 3 weeks

Majority of rumination spent laying down

Uses tongue as a scoop

Remastication

“Chewing the cud”

Bolus of food pulled from the rumen then sent back to the reticulum

Stress causes animal to stop ruminating therefore “losing the cud”

Drinking behavior (cattle)

Suck through curled tongue

Eating behavior (pigs)

Flexible depending on management (pasture vs pen)

Visit feeder ~ 10 x a day

78 minutes/day at feeder

8 minutes at the feeder

Rooting behavior

Utilized Os rostri pig will tear up ground in search of food (instinctive behavior)

Does a lot of damage to pastures

Important for enrichment of environment (offer rooting items)