How to keep your kitten in shape? From your food to your friends and to a happy atmosphere; We all want the best for our furry companions! And just like humans, following a healthy, active lifestyle is important to keeping our cats healthy and happy.
Of course, it is not always easy to detect if our cats exercise regularly, love to rest and are not as easy to walk as our dog friends. And so what can you do to ensure your kitty stays active and fit?
Set aside a time each day to play with your kitty!
Setting a time for play is the perfect way to get your kitty moving, stretching and having fun! Helping your pet hone their chasing, catching and pouncing skills. Set play time can help cats burn off extra energy, have fun, and help them bond with each other—and with you!
To keep your cat active and happy, set aside a time of day to play with them for about 20 minutes. Scheduling that time at night is ideal, as this is the time your cat will be most playful!
Provide a scratching post and toys
Does your cat have everything they need to stay active at home? A sturdy scratcher (one for each cat in the house) will help satisfy their natural need to scratch, stretch, and sharpen their claws (and help redirect any misplaced scratches).
Providing lots of different toys will also encourage your kitty to play while exercising her body and mind! Moving toys will catch his attention and encourage chasing and pouncing. Feathers on wind-up toys or balls are ideal. Challenging and interactive toys can also get your kitty thinking, but be sure to rotate, switch, and sometimes hide the toys you give your pet. This will keep them interested and ensure that you love playing with them!
Create some kitty games!
If you want to make the cat game more exciting, why not come up with some games for your pet? For example, scavenger hunts, where you hide treats or part of her daily food, can help your pet use her hunting skills, while keeping her active and busy.
Make sure you have plenty of space
In the evening hours, happy and playful cats often like to stretch their legs and move around. They can even run around laps and enjoy chasing each other at night! Make sure you have plenty of free space for your kitties to run and play, don’t block them in one room, let them have their freedom.
For cat lovers, maintaining their health is very important and sometimes we don’t know what to look for to make sure they are Healthy Cats. Here are the signs we should watch for when our cat is healthy:
Observe body condition and muscle composition.
Cats are strict carnivores, they must look slim. With optimal muscle mass in the head, ribs, chest, spine and with no hanging skin on the sides of the abdomen. The Veterinary Doctor can teach us how to evaluate that the condition of our cat is correct.
Observe the skin and hair.
The skin should be observed to be free of scabs, dandruff, or scaling. If the cat has very light (pink) skin, it will never appear red or dark brown or black (unless it has moles). Hair should look shiny and should feel soft and silky. You shouldn’t have excessive hair loss.
Observe teeth. These should look clean and without excess dental tartar. If a greater accumulation of tartar is observed, the teeth should be brushed or visit the Veterinary Doctor for a deep cleaning.
See if he drinks enough water.
If it is a cat that goes outside, sometimes it is difficult to see if it drinks enough water or if it hunts small prey, but we can see if it urinates without problems, which is a reflection that if they drink enough water. If it is a cat that lives indoors, we must make sure that it drinks a good amount of water from its bowl or support us with wet food (which comes in cans or envelopes). A ceramic or metal plate or fountain-type drinkers encourage them to drink water from them. Cats really like water to be in motion.
Observe that he has no difficulty or pain when urinating.
The fact that cats consume a lot of water helps us to urinate normally without discomfort. Because if we observe that he is unable to urinate or has painful urination, we must go to the veterinarian immediately as our cat may have urinary tract problems.
Observe what our cat’s feces are like.
The excrement of cats normally has a strong smell (since they are carnivores), it must be well formed (neither liquid nor dry like stone). If we observe any change in the excrement, we must go to the advice of the Veterinary Doctor to rule out any intestinal process.
Observe that he grooms normally.
The cat bathes by licking its body, this is called grooming. It is reported that they can do it 2 to 3 times a day on average or when they get dirty with something specific. If we observe that our cat grooms itself all day, we must go to the Veterinary Doctor and rule out situations such as allergies, skin infections or fiber deficiency in the diet.
Observe alertness and normal daily activity.
We know our cats perfectly, we know that each one of them has a daily routine of activities that is defined from when they are growing until they reach adulthood. Therefore, if we observe a different attitude to the one we routinely see day after day, it is necessary to turn to the Veterinary Doctor to identify what is causing these behavioral changes in our cats.
