How do you exercise a cat?

[tenaya]

Reg is 18 pounds. Does it count as exercise if I make him get up and stand up on his hind legs for his food instead of just eating it lying down? I was skimming a cat care book in a bookstore and it suggested moving the cat's litter box to a distant place. I'm not sure that is a very wise move myself, and plus, how many more calories will that actually burn? Reg isn't kittenish so he won't play 'catch the killer string' or 'bat the marbled-shaped mouse' at all. Plus he's got a touch of arthritis in his left front leg, I think. I find it very hard to figure which is the hurt leg when someone limps.

Just saw Carly the dog go by. She's a large dog but the weeds are so high all I could see is the tip of her tail held up high. I'm not going to confront GG tonight, but I will be getting up bright and early.

Comments

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

Buy reduced calorie/weight loss cat food. It's slow, but it apparently works eventually...that is, if you don't give him twice as much of it ;-)

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. It's far simpler than trying to make him exercise if he is not inclined.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, we free feed the cats and just leave bowls of kibble out. I'm sure Reg would just eat more. Scooter needs to nibble often so we can't really put the food up.

[chance1562.livejournal.com]

Besides a low fat cat food you can also try getting him a halter and making him walk on it, or find a toy that he's really into (catnip maybe?) and keep moving it farther and farther away from him to make him move.

Might work anyway ;)

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

Hee! From what tenaya has said about Reg, I think it'd be rather dangerous to attempt to 'make' him do anything. She's liable to be lying under 18 lbs. of extremely pissed off feline, with claws & teeth ;-)

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Even though they are both orange cats, Reg is a big teddy bear and would never harm us. Brindle on the other hand is 12 pounds of fierce unpredictableness. Brindle is young and lean and jealous, and he's been cuddling up to my pillow at night. So far, no incidents have occured, thankfully.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt I'd have 18 pounds of cat impersonating a rock. Reg does passive resistence. When we had to 'force feed' with a syringe, he would eat some then refuse. If we persisted, he would just fall over like he'd been pole axed. When he was hospitalized, they thought he was having seizures because of this and he scared the bejeezes out of them. It was months before he could catch sight of syringe and not just fall over. It was actually kind of funny in a heart-wrenching sort of way.

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, they do all have their peronality quirks - but that's a lulu! The passive resistance thing sounds like Snicky, but she's only about 12 lbs. Just a pebble ;-)