Why don't cats need exercise?

My dog pouts and whines and has pent-up energy if I don't walk her. I was wondering, how come cats don't need exercise? They just lay around. Don't they need to, I dunno, exercise their muscles or get their blood flowing or diffuse energy, like most mammals?
And street cats are always roosting under a car or lying around. Even they don't get exercise. I visited this cheetah rescue place once. The tour guide said the cheetahs were in large cages because, even if they had wide open space, they wouldn't use it. Cats just don't run around like other animals. They prefer to live in the same small area. How come?

All animals require some exercise. My cats run around the house and go flyin gup the stairs chasing each other and climbing their little cat tree. When I let them out on the rare occasion, they climb trees chasing birds and stalking birds and chasing each other. My cats exercise, the rest of the time they are sleeping or eating. It is important to exercise your cats so they do not get overweight and lazy.

My cat flies all over the place as if she has rockets attached to her underside and relentlessly demands platime a few times a day. They all need excercise, but with some it takes some form of interactive stimulation for them to get started.

If I was you, I wouldn't believe the story about the cheetah, because I have never seen anywhere who kept them locked up in cages and said it was good for them. They can run 60 mph, and every time I've seen them in a zoo they've been playing.

Cats do exercise. Zissou does laps of sprints through the middle of the apartment, does acrobatics across the couch, leaps up and down under my towel, etc. If you are concerned about your cats, why not get an interactive toy, like a feather hung from a stick that you can play with her too?

They do sleep about 16 hours a day, but if you notice they don't sleep as deeply as we do, they're usually ready to spring into action at the slightest interesting thing.

Or a laser pointer! Those make WONDERFUL toys too and it will keep most cats occupied for hours! My cats love them. Just don't shine it in their eyes!

My cats certainly need exercise, for both physical and mental stimulation. And big cats need to roam - it is not true they are happy in cages.