Even though it seems cute to have a rolly polly kitty come lay on your lap, excess pounds on a cat can really have a negative effect on your cat’s health. Overweight cats are far more likely to develop osteoarthritis, diabetes, respiratory problems and non-allergic skin conditions.
Grooming becomes problematic when cats become overweight, resulting in mats, dry flaky skin and sores.
Weight Loss Tips
- Some ways to help keep your cat at an ideal weight are to give your cat a therapeutic reduced calorie diet. Be sure to use the feeding guide for the weight your cat should be, not the current weight.
- Another way is to increase play. Offer your cat many interactive toys, ones they can play with alone, and also ones you can join in with. Toys and food are available at your veterinarian and pet stores.
- Other ideas to help keep your cat slim and trim are reduce the amount of treats you give your cat. You can portion out the daily food allowance and give some of that as treats. You can also entice them to climb and jump by getting a cat tree.
- Placing the food bowl in a different part of the house that your cat tends to hang out will also help as they will have to walk to get to it. Either upstairs or down will increase the exercise your cat gets daily. Putting litter boxes in another part of the house helps as well. If your box is in the basement, food is on the top floor, they may have to travel 2 flights of stairs at a time.
Keeping your cat at an ideal weight will help you both enjoy their happy, healthy and longer life.