Exercise for a Lazy Cat

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dholowiski

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My cat has always been lazy, and doesn't really play with toys (despite owning hundreds of dollars worth of toys). She's diabetic and on insulin (see my other thread) for 2 days so far :) and clearly felling better, but in the weeks leading up to the diagnosis she got pretty bad and didn't do much moving around. The reason I took her into the vet is that she was having trouble walking with her back legs.

So, any suggestions for exercise, for an extremely lazy, toy ignoring cat? I have a laser pointer that she enjoys but she usually just lays down and bats at it. We have stairs that I'm encouraging her to go up and down several times a day but I'm not sure what else to do.
 
Trouble walking with her back legs can be a result of the diabetes. There are supplements that can be given that resolve that. I am not familiar with it myself, but check around on the site and you will find lots of references. Good luck and welcome!
 
dholowiski said:
My cat has always been lazy, and doesn't really play with toys (despite owning hundreds of dollars worth of toys). She's diabetic and on insulin (see my other thread) for 2 days so far :) and clearly felling better, but in the weeks leading up to the diagnosis she got pretty bad and didn't do much moving around. The reason I took her into the vet is that she was having trouble walking with her back legs.

So, any suggestions for exercise, for an extremely lazy, toy ignoring cat? I have a laser pointer that she enjoys but she usually just lays down and bats at it. We have stairs that I'm encouraging her to go up and down several times a day but I'm not sure what else to do.

Chase her with the vacuum? Seriously, maybe you could entice her to use the stairs to get to a treat-reward?
 
My Niko doesn't really play with toys either unless I'm instigating the play by doing something like dragging a long piece of something like a fabric belt. Another thing we do is play "seek" where I hide little bits of treats around then he has to find them. This gives him mental stimulation as well as exercise and he loves it. He will play on his own with twist ties, especially the ones we get from a natural foods store that have wide paper margins (for writing the bulk number down) but I still keep an eye on him in case he decides to chew it or the dog wants to play with it.
 
does your cat like a good massage? that is almost like exercising for him. i massage tom and stretch out his legs for him!
also is your cat a catnip fan? sometimes you have to sniff out the really high potency catnip pillows. it's not a toy per say but tom spends time rolling it all over his body and such.
you could also actually get your cat maybe to wrestle with you a bit...put on an oven mit or good strong garden gloves and motivate him to fight with it...or my tom's favorite toy is any throw rug. i don't have to nudge him into it but i could by putting my hand underneath it like there is something there. he goes to town fighting with my throw rugs. and beats them every time with my encouragement. he get a good rub down and a treat after beating up the rug :lol: :lol:
 
My cat also loves a peacock feather dragged around under his nose. I can get him really chasing it around after a bit.
 
Make sure her back legs are not hurting.

I unroll a large roll of Christmas wrapping paper and spread it out across the floor and wrinkle it up making little humps and then put catnip all over it. My cats love pouncing on it.

What is your cats name?
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, and thanks for the pointer to Methyl-B12.
My cat ignores catnip :( The wrapping paper sounds like an excellent idea... she loves playing with bags and paper. As much as I would like one, a kitten is out of the question as we already have another cat, and a dog.
My cat's name is Tiger Lily.

Now on day 4 of insulin, my cat is more active than she has been in a year. Today she picked up one of her squeaky mice and was playing with it on her own, an almost unheard of event even when she was feeling good. Same thing with the laser pointer... usually she lays down and bats at it as it passes her by, but today she actually got up and chased it around the room.
 
After Smokie was treated for diabetes she became more active than she had been in
years. She began playing like a kitten. She still plays and wants me to chase her
as she runs through the house.
Maybe this is what's happening to Tiger Lily. :-D
 
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