Need to get my cat moving & don't know how

[HelloCheekyCat]

She was tubby when we got her at 5.2kg and she was weighed at the vets today and she's now 5.5kg.
She doesn't go outside, she's 9 so likes her sleep and will play but only for a short period in the evening or on her own a bit after we've gone to bed.
Tried a harness and took her in the garden but she was scared and wanted to come straight back in. The shelter said she was indoor/outdoor but she doesn't seem to be very outdoorsy!
Bought her an electric ball which moves/lights up but she's scared of the noise it makes, bought a long feather wand with a sucker but she just sniffed it & seemed scared of the raffle that made when we move it. Tried a cardboard circle thing the ball goes round in but never been interested.
We've cut her food down a bit but she.always seems hungry so we need to get her moving! Treadmill?! What else can we try?

What sort of food are you giving her how? Is it already lower calorie for indoors cats or can you find something a bit more diet-focused?

Puzzle feeders. Make her work for her food!

Laser pointer
Catnip mouse with a decent amount of catnip in it

She needs less food, fewer calories. We have had success with low calorie food - so they still get a good portion, but it's lower calorie/lower fat and the weight does slowly come off.

I'll look at lower calorie food, she has 3/4 of a pouch of Iams 7+ twice a day plus a portion of dry 7+ but she is so hungry and looks sad 😔
We tried a licky mat (is that like a puzzle feeder?) But she couldn't get it all and was sad again!

We do have a laser pointer, not used that much actually so I'll get DD on the case

Can you use some of her dry food for a “treasure hunt” around the house or the garden? My cat loves these although she has the opposite problem so we use Dreamies.

We give 1/2 pouch of food twice a day and then he is allowed up to a max of three coffee sized scoops of his lite food - we get the James Well Beloved one. Seems to work for him. He gobbles the wet food because it's delicious, and eats the dry when he's actually hungry!

Drugs. Catnip/valerian/silverleaf should get her moving, along with high meat content food to keep her feeling fuller longer, rather than thinking she's being starved.

Isn't it their job to look sad and hungry all the time? Good evolutionary trick to get you to provide for them instead of having to murder their own.

She sounds like my little tubster who also loves her home comforts.

The only things I've found that work for exercise are the laser pointer, and racing her up the stairs. I run up on all fours and she races me.

Catnip doesn't liven her up, she eats it then goes to sleep. Garden visits are a 2 minute sniff about then she wants to come back in.

Foodwise I give her a quality wet food in the morning and that keeps her full for a while, then a small amount of dry when she comes and asks.

I think she mainly packs on the weight when I go on holiday, as I leave too much food in the automatic feeder in case the cat sitter is locked out or something. She doesn't self-regulated, so just eats it all.

We used to play ‘hunt the nibble’ with my old girl. In the morning we would weigh out her dry food for the day.
When we got home from work, so she was starved in her opinion, we would take the tub and throw individual nibbles for her. No danger of over feeding but she would get running about.

We've done a version of 'hunt the nibble" above - but with dreamies. I'm sure we could cut it down with cat biscuits tho.

Shake packet, cat comes running. Lob (sealed!) packet at DS, who catches it, gets out a dreamie, makes the cat do a trick (he's taught her paw, up and circle), and she gets a treat. Rinse and repeat.

That said, ours definitely chunks up at the time of year, and moves less. Might need to take it slow over winter, and ramp things up in the spring.

My fit and healthy boy cat turned into a chonk very quickly when he started geting Iams. Switched back to his regular food and his weight returned to normal.

My cats look sad and hungry about .5 seconds after they've been fed

One of them has also been on a diet recently (he weighed over 8kg) and is now down to about six - he gets a pouch of wet food a day split into two meals, plus two small handfuls of dry food. He also has free access to outside during the day though he never goes very far.

My 5-year-old’s an indoor cat & on Iams sensitive digestion dry food. She likes the odd lick of wet food but never goes beyond a couple of mouthfuls.

I measure the food out for her every morning & it’s astonishing how small the daily portion is - about 60g for her, but she usually has a bit left at the end of the day.

If I was going by instinct I’d be giving her a lot more than that, but it’s obviously not needed!

I had good results feeding Tobias the Royal Canin Satiety dry food, and Annie had good results with their Light Weight. Sadly since having to try gastro food for Tobias the weight has piled back on, as those mostly also "help maintain a healthy weight" aka help them keep weight on/put on weight!

Gastro food didn't make a blind bit of difference, so he's being weaned back onto the Satiety now

You could try a snack ball. She has to push it around to get the kibble out. Likewise, for cats who are not into complicated puzzles, you can have "puzzles" where they have to reach in with their paws and grab the kibble. I find that for elderly cats, who never learned food puzzles, that it works well.

So we have a chunky boy who is rather partial to his food and after 4 years on the streets had also perfecting his "I'll die if you don't feed me" screech!!!

Took him home from rescue at 5.2kg and I was concerned he wouldn't be happy as a house cat after 4 years on the streets (he's got FIV)..... well, he strolled out the box, snuggled up on the bed and basically snoozes his life away, he was only 4!!! We realised we'd hit peak laziness when he was having his morning sunbathe and I watched him ROLL along the hall floor to the next patch of sun, rather than get up and walk.... he is a right chonker. He would also try and get DH to carry him round our (1 bedroom!!!) house....We got a telling off from the vets at 6.8kg but he simply didn't lose weight, even when we fed him the lowest amount of calories they advised he should be on. Basically they completely underestimated how little he moved, we got him down to 20% LESS calories than the vet advised before any weight actually dropped, that's how lazy he is. Obviously he was also miserable on this amount of food.

You'll hate me for saying this but the solution was actually getting him a brother.... they are chalk and cheese personality wise! New cat is actually 11 but a complete live wire, often found swinging from the curtains, the walls, climbing absolutely anything. He's also a bit of a terrorist who spends a large amount of his day chasing his little brother 😬. Basically first cat was not understanding how to play and needed another cat to show him how. Now first cat likes to copy brother in all sorts of ways, including play and jumping on all sorts of inappropriate furniture as it turns out he has a bit of a competitive side. He's learnt to jump on things, chase things and even that 'chase' is a fun game, rather than a fight to the death....I'm not sure he's thanking us for bringing the little terror home when he lies in wait to pounce behind closed doors but he's now a healthy weight and able to eat more calories and as that's his true wish in life, it's worked out for him really!

Also cat springs. Fat cat was not at all fussed by most toys but turns out he went WILD for a small plastic spring 🤔

Oh and my boy was far too daft for any kind of hide the treat/ play with the toy to get the treat type game... he would just look at us like "Wtf?!" and then walk away for a snooze when he realised we wouldn't be getting it out for him!

If she doesn't self regulate give her fewer calories. Ours is a gannet and will pester for food when she's bored. Loves playing with a cardboard "mouse" though - that's a toilet roll. You can click it across the kitchen floor and she runs after it and wrestles with it.

*flick, not click

If you want the cat to lose weight provide less calories. Sad face is it's job. Pretending to be starving is it's gameplan. If it's not going out and about it's definitely not doing roving double dinner, so cut the calories til it gets to the weight you want it at.

Humans can't outrun the fork and neither can furry friends.