Cat Activities for a Healthy Weight

Obesity in cats is at an all-time high, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, which has found that more than half the pet cats in America are fat or obese. Encourage your cat to be active and mobile from a young age to keep her fit and healthy into old age, and to increase her resistance to heart disease, diabetes, cancers and osteoarthritis.

  1. Healthy Cats

    • Healthy and obese cats need to have regular veterinary checkups. Your veterinarian can monitor your cat's weight, suggest diets and check general fitness. Aside from Maine Coons, whose ideal weight should be between 10 to 25 lbs, most other adult cats should be around 10 lbs, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

    Fun Games

    • Newspapers and rugs are firm favorites for tunneling and lurking. If you have stairs, run a mouse on a string along the banisters to encourage your cat to run up and down. Pingpong balls are irresistible; bounce them down the stairs and let her chase after them, or put her in an empty tub with a couple of pingpong balls and watch her chase them endlessly.

    Inventive Cats

    • Cats often don't need you at all and will make up their own games. A long hallway with a shiny floor becomes a skid pad, and a large cardboard tube is perfect for hide and pounce games or for the run and dive. If you don't mind your armchair being neatly shredded at the bottom, cats will probably have a go at dragging themselves round it on their backs, using their claws.

    The Two Cat Household

    • Two cats will play and chase each other round your house with very little encouragement from you, but they'll never be averse to some audience participation. Give them large cardboard tubes or boxes with holes cut in the sides, and drag some string through the holes to get your cats quivering with excitement.

    Turn a Cat Run Into an Exercise Yard

    • If you have a cat run in your garden, build a range of levels for your cat to jump to, and add a couple of tree branches for claw sharpening and a good upper body stretch. Hide cat toys around the run, and place the water bowl high up so that your cat climbs and jumps.

    Senior Cats and Mobility

    • Even if your cat is elderly, encourage her to have a little exercise every day. Chases might be too much if your cat is arthritic, but encouraging her to bat a catnip mouse hanging from a scratching post or a doorknob will stretch her muscles a little. If she shows any signs of exhaustion, let her rest. Try passive exercise with her, gently massaging her joints and moving her front and back legs.

    New Research Into Cat Obesity

    • Research published by the Royal Society suggests that there may be factors in addition to diet and environment that contribute to the increasing level of obesity in a wide range of species, including wild animals, humans and pets. Given these findings, it's even more important to ensure that your cat's weight is monitored carefully to prevent weight gain even though she exercises and eats within her optimum weight range target.