Research overview: basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure in cats

How much energy a cat needs at rest and in daily life is fundamental to its biology, and this overview reviews feline basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure. Like other mammals, cat metabolic rate scales with body size, and total expenditure adds the costs of activity, growth, reproduction, and thermoregulation. Their protein-based metabolism and activity patterns shape these figures. Researchers measure expenditure through respirometry, doubly labelled water, and feeding trials. Why it matters: understanding energy needs underpins proper feeding, weight management, and the study of how cats budget energy between hunting, rest, and reproduction. It connects the cat metabolism to its ecology and to practical care, and it provides the baseline against which the costs of activities such as sprinting, gestation, or coping with cold can be measured.