How do i make my fat indoor cat more active?

Question

he is 3 years old, i live in an apartment so he cant go outside. ive had him since a kitten (he was a moving present from a friend) and he has always been an indoor cat.

he has had the snip.

he is over weight and i want him to be more active. recently i have altered his diet to food for indoor cats. he has toys but he isnt interested in them.

what should i do? he only seems bothered about moving when its feeding time

Answer 1

stop being so cruel and let a cat be a cat and let him outside. Indoor cats= cruelty!!!!  

Answer 2

buy some noisy toys and dangle them around and don't let him snooze around. Force him to move, that stopped my old cat from getting lazy.

Answer 3

What we use to for our cats is one of those laser toys. They will chase it forever! It's like a laser pen that they make for cats. Or get him one of those mini jungle gyms for cats with hanging toys on it. Play with him! If none of that works I'd take him to the vet and get some suggestions. Sounds like he just doesn't have any energy.

Answer 4

Until the excess weight drops off he will naturally feel lazy. Play games where he can chase a feather on the end of a piece of string, stick to feeding him at the same times each day & dont give in if he demands food at other times. Things will improve.

Answer 5

Make your cat work for his food by placing small meals in different locations around the apartment, so that he has to forage for it just as he would in the wild.  You can also hide dry food inside a cat treat ball as this will makes his meals last longer and will keep him both mentally and physically active.  See the link below for details.

http://www.woofnwhiskers.co.uk/cat-treat...

Cats are stimulated by moving targets, so they don't always enjoy playing with toys on their own.  Make sure you spend at least 30 minutes every day playing games with him.  It will help him burn off some calories and strengthen the bond between you.  The web site below has some helpful advice on activities for indoor only cats.

http://www.celiahaddon.co.uk/pet%20probl...

Answer 6

get a big lump of a dog

Answer 7

take him for walks around if you cant go outside then walk him around the house

Answer 8

Rub mustard on his bumhole, that should get him moving.

Answer 9

He will get motivated and active if you fed proper food and that means no dry food





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 10

try and get him on diet food and cut down his portions. Sadly other people often feed cats. it is hard for a genuinely greedy cat to lose weight they will always find food somewhere.

Answer 11

Take him out on a cat lead for a walk around, sounds daft but it's for his health so it doesn't matter how silly you look eh?

Answer 12

either get him a playmate or rub catnip on his toys and play with him

Answer 13

It's great to know that you realize that you cat has gotten more weight than he could handle and needs help. However, this has to be done slowly and gradually. There are a lot of things that you need to keep in mind and one of the most important is to never cut out his food too much, too soon. With an overweight cat, weight loss has to happen gradually to prevent fatty liver disease.

Here's a great website with well researched info and guide on how to properly create a diet plan:-

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catwei...

A Short summary:-

To get a cat to lose weight, do the following after consulting with your veterinarian:

1.) Have a thorough physical exam, lab tests, and accurate weigh recorded. Be sure to rule out hypothyroidism or other metabolic disorders.

2.) Feed less food than you have been

3.) Feed foods high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrate

4.) Feed small portions at intervals (2x to 4x per day) rather than continuous free access/ free choice

5.) Increase the cat’s activity/exercise by enriching the cat’s environment

6.) Reweigh the cat at three to four week intervals to assess your weight loss diet’s progress

7.) Reconsider the total daily amount fed if weight gain or no weight loss is noted

8.) Once the cat is at an idea weight, adjust the total amount fed so that the cat’s body weight remains stable.

Kindly read through the important tips and you can start him on the road to a better body and healthier life!