Feline Fitness

Indoor cats lead safer lives and have a longer life expectancy, as well as a reduced risk of contracting feline worms or fleas. But one drawback of indoor living is that they are often less physically active. Too little activity can lead to an overweight cat, which in turn can lead to health problems or even cat behavioral problems. But there’s an easy and fun remedy for this — feline fitness!

Kitty play time can be fun for you and your cat. It’s a great way to interact with your cat and those furry felines can be pretty funny when they’re playing. I know my cats have given me more than a few good laughs.

If you take a little time to learn what toys your cat enjoys and responds to the most you should be able to get any cat to play. Try working with toys or devices that bring out natural cat responses like chasing, climbing or jumping. Keep in mind a fun cat toy can be a simple string that came out of your exercise pants; it doesn’t need to be an official toy you bought at the local pet store, but some of those toys made for cats are a lot of fun too. I have a mix of things in our “toy box” to keep it interesting.

I know from first hand experience that two cats can react very differently to the same toy. One of my cats loves our laser pointer. He’ll tear around the place and jump on the walls chasing it. But the other cat sits and looks at the red dot then looks at me with a look that says “are you kidding me?” Needless to say we have a different play time strategy with her. But both of them get excited when we bring out Da Bird; my mom’s cats love this cat toy too. Da Bird is one of the best cat toys I’ve seen!

It’s also good to rotate the toys. Cats can get tired of their toys if they play with the same ones every day. If you put them in a basket and bring different cat toys out each day you can keep them more interested and get more use and entertainment out of each toy.

Indoor cats can become bored and sometimes destructive since there’s not as much to explore inside so feline fitness can be a great remedy. Providing toys for your cats and engaging them can help direct this restless energy towards playtime, instead of climbing the curtains or destroying your furniture.

By balancing a healthy feline diet with daily play breaks you can reduce the risk of feline obesity. Regular feline exercise can also help reduce the risk of developing age-related cat health problems like heart disease, arthritis and diabetes in cats. Providing exercise for cats is an important part of maintaining their overall health.

Have fun with cat play time; feline fitness can be pretty entertaining and it will help keep your feline friend happy and healthy.