Anyone have any thoughts on how to help here?
Billy is overweight, and according to the vet, he's young enough we don't have to go insane about getting him to lose weight fast - but he needs to lose 3-4 pounds and if we haven't done it by his annual next year, we're gonna be in trouble.
...we've always let the kitties free feed on dry food, and we feed them one wet meal a day. We have sometimes a very wacky schedule, and I have dreaded taking them off the free feeding.
When we needed Lazlo and Ming Loy to lose weight, we figured out the amount of dry food so it was gone by morning and was only out at night, and we put it up, so they had to climb to get it. We also focused on interactive play with them and getting them exercising more - and it worked.
But these tricks are NOT working with Bill. He likes to play with wand toys - but even with various da Bird attachments, he will NOT run after them. He loves to swing around from the cat tree to grab at them - but that's it. He will not chase, run or jump.
He'll run around and chase Flowerbelle when she wants to play - but we can't control that, and it's obviously not frequent enough.
Tonight we found the key to get him moving - a bug. A moth got into the RV, and he nearly wrecked the place trying to get at it.
Anyone have any ideas on this - is there any kind of toy that will simulate a bug? (And he doesn't react to the red dot or catnip).
Or because he's a feral rescue that was 2 years old when we brought him inside.... he'll only go for the real thing? Do I go out and buy (or try to find) a cricket every day? Do I look for spiders and stick 'em on the wall and hope he notices them? Do I make a point of letting in a moth or two every evening?
I have a feeling he's only going to go for the real thing.... but if anyone has any ideas, I'm up for trying. Anything to get him moving more!
(And no, Gary does not want to leash train him - he's worried it'll make him want to get outside, and he's happy not going near the front door right now. This is an argument I will not (have not) win (won). I think he'd love it and tolerate it. Bummer, really, but that's the situation).
Billy is overweight, and according to the vet, he's young enough we don't have to go insane about getting him to lose weight fast - but he needs to lose 3-4 pounds and if we haven't done it by his annual next year, we're gonna be in trouble.
...we've always let the kitties free feed on dry food, and we feed them one wet meal a day. We have sometimes a very wacky schedule, and I have dreaded taking them off the free feeding.
When we needed Lazlo and Ming Loy to lose weight, we figured out the amount of dry food so it was gone by morning and was only out at night, and we put it up, so they had to climb to get it. We also focused on interactive play with them and getting them exercising more - and it worked.
But these tricks are NOT working with Bill. He likes to play with wand toys - but even with various da Bird attachments, he will NOT run after them. He loves to swing around from the cat tree to grab at them - but that's it. He will not chase, run or jump.
He'll run around and chase Flowerbelle when she wants to play - but we can't control that, and it's obviously not frequent enough.
Tonight we found the key to get him moving - a bug. A moth got into the RV, and he nearly wrecked the place trying to get at it.
Anyone have any ideas on this - is there any kind of toy that will simulate a bug? (And he doesn't react to the red dot or catnip).
Or because he's a feral rescue that was 2 years old when we brought him inside.... he'll only go for the real thing? Do I go out and buy (or try to find) a cricket every day? Do I look for spiders and stick 'em on the wall and hope he notices them? Do I make a point of letting in a moth or two every evening?
I have a feeling he's only going to go for the real thing.... but if anyone has any ideas, I'm up for trying. Anything to get him moving more!
(And no, Gary does not want to leash train him - he's worried it'll make him want to get outside, and he's happy not going near the front door right now. This is an argument I will not (have not) win (won). I think he'd love it and tolerate it. Bummer, really, but that's the situation).
But hopefully between all of these things, we'll get him moving.
. Maybe Billy will play differently with them, it's worth trying.
