Your Fat Cat
Prevention is much better than cure, as cats that have
been fat once will always be prone
to weight gain. You should be able to feel your cat’s ribs
easily when you stroke their body
lightly and, from above, you should clearly see a waistline.
If your cat is becoming
overweight, start by reducing the amount you feed by about a
quarter. Alternatively,
you can try changing onto a light diet. These are usually
complete dry foods manufactured
for less active or slightly overweight cats. They contain
fewer calories than normal adult
cat foods. You will still need to keep a close check to make
sure your cat is losing weight
and not getting any fatter. The other important part of
weight loss is exercise. Increasing the amount of exercise
your cat gets, by playing with your pet, will also help them
become leaner and fitter. Treats
Many cats enjoy treats, but all treats contain calories.
This means you need to think about
how many, and what type of treats to give, when deciding how
much to feed your cat.
If your cat has had more treats than normal one day, reduce
the amount of food given that
day to compensate. Remember, cats are not people. They
should not eat people food. Cat food is made to keep your
cat healthy. Much of what we, as humans, consume is way too
rich for your cat. Exercise
All cats need exercise to help them keep fit and healthy
and also to keep them relaxed
and happy. Their exercise needs change with age and vary
depending on whether they
are indoor or outdoor cats.
Cats that are kept indoors will need your encouragement to
exercise. Find out what
toys they like and spend plenty of time every day playing a
game that encourages your
cat to be physically active. A bored cat will not exercise
willingly and will tend to spend a
lot of time sleeping, so you need to spend a lot of time
keeping your indoor cat occupied
and healthy. Treat balls are a good idea as you can fill
them with some of the normal daily food
allowance and then let the cat work for its food by chasing
the ball until the treats fall out
– this fulfils the natural hunting instinct as well as
making the cat exercise and work off
some calories. Cats that are allowed outdoors usually
exercise more than indoor cats, because they are
more stimulated. However, some cats are naturally lazy and
still need your encouragement
to be active. Kittens need lots of exercise to keep them
occupied and to build strong muscles. They also
need to learn skills for adult life such as chasing and
climbing. Activity centers which give
cats climbing opportunities are a great idea, as are any
games involving chasing, such as
ping-pong balls or feathers on sticks. However, kittens must
also sleep a lot between play
times, so it is important that they get the chance to snooze
after a period of activity. You will
need to make sure that children leave them alone to rest. |
