With all of the dangers of the outside world, many cat owners are moving their cats to strictly indoor living. Indoor cats are known to live longer due to the lack of diseases, vehicles and poisons. A major negativity to keeping cats indoors is weight gain.
Influences of Weight Gain
An indoor cat, especially a newly indoor cat, has more of a possibility of becoming bored. Boredom will lead to more eating than normal just as it does to humans.
The lack of trees and animals will cause laziness in an indoor cat. This laziness will lead to a lot of sleeping and no exercise. A cat not having any exercise will lead to a huge amount of weight gain which will conclude in health issues.
Getting used to the indoors might cause a cat to go into a sort of depression. Cats love the outdoors due to hunting animals and insects, climbing trees and exploring. Moving to the indoors is a big change because hunting, climbing trees and exploring is not as available as it is outside.
Ways to Exclude Unhappiness and Weight Gain
The non-working cat owner will have the best luck in reaching a perfect level of happiness and weight in his or her cat.
- Keeping an eye on how much the indoor cat eats is the first and probably the most important step. Knowing your cat's eating habits is essential in knowing how much to cut back and what times of the day to give meals.
- Cat-napping is what all cats do, indoors or outdoors. There is a difference in catnapping and laziness due to boredom. An indoor cat owner does not need to let the cat sleep more than normal. Having certain times throughout the day for playing is important.
- Buying cat toys will prevent laziness. There are many different cat toys available such as catnip toys, cat climbers, cat wands, balls, boxes and much more.
- Bringing live rodents inside is not an option which is why all pet stores sell rodent look-a-likes. Mice with catnip and motorized mice are just two of many cat hunting toys available. These toys will give the cat a sense of hunting which will make it very happy while exercising.
- Rewarding an indoor cat is also important. There's a big line of healthy treats available. An indoor cat owner does not need to go overboard with the treats, but giving treats to a cat once a day will give the cat something to look forward to and clean its teeth at the same time.
A full-time working cat owner might not see the result of happiness and weight loss as soon as a non-working cat owner would, but he or she will see it.
It is important for a working cat owner to do the above five steps as much as possible during time off. Cats are very independent which is why they are perfect for the working family. A cat being too independent could cause weight gain and unhappiness.
The working cat owner needs to leave out a small amount of dry food during his or her working hours. This will allow the cat to fulfill its hunger yet not overeat. Leaving some cat toys out is almost a guarantee that a cat will play and exercise during working hours.
When to See Results
Talking to your veterinarian will also help your battle in your cat's happiness and well-being. If the indoor cat is at a normal weight than results won't be recognized as easily. Overweight cats should start losing weight, slowly but surely.
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