Q.T.Penny, the first female spokescat for Simon Teakettle Ink, has written a brief piece in response to Fighting the Flab the Feline Way.

I think the idea of diets, for humans or cats, is ridiculous. Food is the Best Reason to Stop Napping.

But I do have proven techniques for keeping my weight down, and also a few suggestions for helping Bobbi keep her waistline trim.

There are several things all cats adore: Food. Several great places to nap, and to look outside. Toys to play with. A Special Person to pet us, brush us, and rub our ears.

Our house has two great places to look outside, as well as a couple of others that are less interesting. The great places are carpeted shelves in high windows. Getting up there requires jumping, which is a PURRfect exercise to keep a cat in shape.

Toys are also useful both to keep me in shape and to help Bobbi as well.

I have lots of balls and tiny mice to chase, and never return these because Bobbi gets great exercise retrieving them.

You can see some of my favorite napping spots and photos of me playing with my toys on my page at: http://SimonTeakettle.com/penny.htm. While you're there, check the links to my blog and the Simon Teakettle Fan Club.

Penny

There are several ways in which owners can help their cats to lose weight:

·        Making a slight adjustment to the diet early on, particularly once the cat has been neutered, can have a major effect in the long term.  Changing from a maintenance diet to a ‘light’ one may be sufficient, or reducing the intake by about 10 per cent over the course of the day.

·        Keep a food diary so that you can really keep track of what your cat eats.  Leaving food down ‘ad lib’ is much more likely to lead to a problem than measuring out a set amount each day and feeding it in small meals.

·        Make sure no one else in the family or neighbourhood is feeding your cat.  Putting a clearly marked collar on your cat may help.

·        Spend some time each day playing with toys that encourage your cat’s hunting and chasing instincts.  This can be as simple as a low-energy laser spot or one of the fishing rood type toys.

·        If you feed dry food, food-based toys will help encourage your cat to keep active.  These can be purchased or even handmade.

·        In multi-cat households, it’s good practice to get into the habit of feeding each cat separately, as their feeding requirements may well differ.  It is possible to buy feeding bowls with electronic lids that are triggered by the microchip of just one specific cat.

·        Moist foods are less dense in calories, so these may be a preferable choice for overweight cats.

·        Find support – many vet practices run nurse-led weight reduction clinics on a regular basis.

·        An obese cat may need encouragement to become more active.  If he’s been used to being a couch potato, spend a few minutes every hour or so if possible, throwing a cat nip toy just a few inches past where he’s sitting or lying.  The act of getting up and retrieving it, having a little bat around will burn a few calories.  This will mount up over the course of the day.  He isn’t likely to want to run around if he’s only used to snoozing all day, so patience is the key word here.

·        Rather than cutting a meal out completely, reduce the amount he has each meal time slightly.  Done in this way, he is less likely to realise that he’s eating less.  Write it down in the notebook to keep track of what he’s eaten.

And finally, if he looks sad, and lies on the floor pretending he’s starving to death, don’t cave in.  Start playing with him or groom him, to take his mind off his stomach.  If he associates play time as a happy time with you, his personal assistant, then he might just forget how hungry he is and enjoy the play time sessions instead. 

Huge thanks to Laura Dumm for her wonderful illustration.  Find Laura on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/laura.dumm

All right, all right! Before you all start shouting at once, let me explain: I know it’s not always fun, but it can be.

So I put on a little weight over the winter. Who hasn’t? Nothing to worry about if you ask me, but I misjudged a couple of leaps up to the kitchen bench, and of course Mum immediately jumped to conclusions and started reducing my food rations. Denver knows what that feels like: yes, awful! I told Mum it was a very bad idea, and after a couple of restless nights she believed me.

We did some deep thinking and had a few arguments before we hit upon something much, much better: now we play The Food Game!

My bowl is gone. I will admit that worried me to begin with. But then I found Mum had hidden little bits of food for me in many different places around the house. She did it several times a day and sometimes even at night, when I’m actually the hungriest. I might suddenly stumble across a small bowl of meat in an empty box, and a little ball toy appeared that I had to roll along to make the biscuits come out, one by one. Sometimes the timed feeder unlocked with a snap to reveal a bit of fish, or I’d find something tasty by my bed on top of the dresser, which only I can reach – not Tammy, she’s too old – by climbing up my cat tree.

You might think all this sounds pretty exhausting, and it is at times, but actually I’m really enjoying the challenge. It’s almost as good as hunting outside – better, in fact, when it’s cold and raining. In fine weather I still go out and catch the odd mouse. But according to Mum, who reads an awful lot of random information, I’d need about ten mice per day to stay fit and well. Imagine having to find, stalk and kill ten mice every day! Phew! I’m shattered just thinking about it. I guess it would keep me super fit and lean, but if I have a choice (and, fortunately, I do) I prefer living in a warm, comfy house and having most of my food provided for me, even if I have to look for it all over the place. So I play along with Mum, who enjoys our little game a lot. You have to humour your humans from time to time, to keep them keen.

If I’ve inspired you, then perhaps you’ll give our game a go with the human in your life. You could even try hiding their food for them in tricky places. I hear there’s one or two out there who would benefit from playing the food game…

Happy slimming!

Bilbo