Love for all Cats and Pets in world
Love for all Cats and Pets in world
Diet would not be good enough without regular exercise to keep cats healthy. While diet ensures cats have enough daily intake of nutrition and energy, physical exercise makes sure that cats have enough body movement for the nutrients to circulate actively throughout the body.
More importantly, exercise is a good way to burn the calories cats take in the diet. In other words, rare exercise encourages fats to be stored and weight gained, whereas regular exercise enhances reducing excessive weight.
Cats do not have regular habit of walking two to three miles a day as dogs do. This may be a good news for cat lovers who do not like to walk everyday. But some exercise is nevertheless needed for cats health, as well as for us.
One-Player Exercise – Cats usually move by themselves within any space available, whether it is within a house, in a garden, a park, or on the street. They may walk on surface, climb and jump in heights (such as table, chairs, shelves, trees, fence), run and leap to catch things (such as birds, mice and attractive objects, even dry food kibbles during mealtime).
Multiple-Player Games – It would be healthy for cats if two or more of them play games together, or if we can play games with them. This can be quieter games such as catching objects hung by a person when the cats stand still with two legs (such as model mice or fish toys), racing for thrown objects (such as ping-pong or table tennis balls) at home or in a garden, and climbing trees (outdoor) or wooden poles or boards or cat condos (indoor).
Board-card boxes can also be useful as cats sometimes like to hide inside the box and jump out suddenly as ambush for tiny animals or objects as their “prey”.
Whether the games are one-player or multiple-player, indoor or outdoor, the games are helpful for training cats’ eye sight, co-ordination of limbs and muscle building, and trimming claws.
It is nice to let cats do exercise or involved in games for around one hour each day. This would ensure the cats have enough exercise to stay healthy.
It would also be good if we encourage cats to build the habit of playing toys when they are young. This way, the cats would keep the habit when they grow up, and the regular exercise would keep them in good shape.
With regard to indoor and outdoor activities, we may need to take into consideration the condition of our living space and the availability of outdoor facilities nearby when we choose what species of cat we raise. Some species of cats may prefer more outdoor activities than rather staying in the same space for a long period of time. These cats include Somali, Abyssinian and Rex.
Actually, walking cats can also be a good exercise, especially for young cats. When walking cats, like dogs, it would be a good idea to walk cats on the leash. Alternatively, if situation allows, letting cats walking under supervision would give them more space to move a bit more.
Some cats look elegant with slim body, other cats look cute with round body, but there are cases when cats look unhealthy when they are overweight.
Like human beings, overweight cats are usually at risk with health problems, such as liver disease, diabetes mellitus, arthritis, skin problems, among others. (See “How to help a cat which won’t eat?” for more information)
Sometimes it is hard to determine if cats are overweight simply from their look. There are two reliable ways to find out.
One way is to run our hand along cats’ side. If we cannot feel the ribs, it would be a sign that the cats are overweight.
Another way is to see if the cats have visible waist. If it is barely seen, it also indicates overweight issue. Overweight cats need some exercise programmes to reduce weight.
As mentioned, obesity (being overweight or fat) can lead to serious health problems in cats as in humans, it would be safe to have a veterinarian examine the cats before choosing and starting any weight control programme.
Veterinarians usually have necessary professional knowledge in determining the causes of obesity, whether they are simply over-nutrition, lack of exercise, or results of some other medical conditions not readily observed with naked eyes.
After identifying the cause of obesity, veterinarian would help determine a realistic weight goal and timeline. Normally, a reasonable goal would be to lose 1 to 2 percent of body weight per week.
It is not a good idea to have cats lose weight too fast. For one thing, it is likely that the weight will come back after the weight reduction programme is finished. Also, for some cats, rapid weight loss can lead to severe liver disease and even failure due to rapid lost of liver lipids.
Once the programme is set, all members of the household, in some cases even neighbourhood, should agree to the programme and follow it strictly in order for the cats to lose weight successfully.
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