I'm More Active Than My Cat--who Has 'empty Dish Syndrome'

[LAL]

Melody, my 5 y/o spayed female, was adopted last October after several months at the shelter and an unknown situation before that--but clearly someone's pet.

Up until the last few months, she would play with a ribbon wand or chase a soft foam ball down the hall. She was never highly active, but she would play--for play's sake. Now, play seems to be a way to SHOW ME THE EMPTY DISH.

She is alone while I am at work M-F 8-5 and for about 3 hours on Saturday, 1 hour on Sunday. But, she has two cat trees-both with views out windows, one of which has a bird feeder within 8 feet of the window. I leave drapes open in each room where there are windows. And, there is a Mew-vie DVD playing on loop all day. She has always used the litter box appropriately--even though she is overly enthusiastic about covering.

She is fed wet--3 oz can in the morning and a 3 oz can when I get home from work. After she is fed in the p.m., I'll change clothes--sometimes go to the gym for 1/2 hour--or just have my own dinner. She watches the birds while I do that. Then, I try to play with her.

She'll be interested in play once in a while. But, it will only last a minute or 2--one ball throw or so, one pass down the hall with the wand. As long as she seems intent on the birds outside, I don't mind. But, she will then follow me down the hall and lay in the doorway.

But, then I go curl up in our bed--hers and mine. She will wait patiently [for a cat] until I head out to have a snack. She gets one also--lately a 49 calorie Iams grain free Savory Wild Tuna and Salmon. Both the P.M. meal and the Iams snack are quickly 'disappeared'. If I stay out in the 'great room' area and try to play, she is not interested. If I go to curl up on bed again, she will sit and watch me. After 10 or so minutes, she will zoom down the hall OR she will kick a ball into the bedroom. So, I get up and try to play by throwing the ball. It goes down the hall to the kitchen--OH LOOK, My Dish is EMPTY. She paws the ribbon wand--I try to play. Nothing.

She is about 3-4 lbs overweight [should be 9 or 10 and is 13.6 lbs]; I cannot feed her as much as she'd like. I'd love her to play more and can understand if she is just a couch potato type. But, she seems to want to play but NOT want to at the same time.

Can she be made to move?

[Completely indoor cat. Very anxious at new situations--I'd consider harness/walking, but I am not sure how that would go over and it would probably take months to get her to accept the harness.]

 

[KarenKat]

Sometimes you have to find that magic toy. Our cat Gohan is a voyeur for play, and the most he does is stalk for a long time and do one or two pounces. And to get even that out if him the toys have to move just right (he prefers tiny movements of worm/ground prey). But he loves these little felt mice and zooms around and plays with them by himself.

Realistic toys like Da Bird are great, they move like they are a bird in flight and even he will chase them a little. Also we have used a laser pointer to have them run around, and hide a few treats in the room so they have something to "catch" at the end.

Cat shelves are another great way to add in some exercise. Maybe even feed her on them so she has to jump up to get it.

 

[Etarre]

Have you tried varying up the schedule for playing with her? Juniper is very frisky at certain times and very uninterested in play at others. For the first few months after we got her, she was consistently interested in playing on and off while we watched TV in the evening after dinner, and now she's mostly content to sit in her cat tree with an occasional trip to the window to check in with the 'hood or a brief lap sit. But she's still very interested in playtime every morning for a few minutes before I got to work, and clearly looks forward to her scheduled playtime. In fact, she will follow me around and look reproachfully at me if she feels I'm taking too much time to get ready.

I know it's hard with a set work schedule, but you might try squeezing in 10 minutes of playtime in the morning or before your gym time right after you get home if you're able to, rather than budgeting most of her playtime in the evening. She may just be distracted by food, but perhaps her schedule has shifted a bit.

KarenKat's suggestion about trying different toys is also a good one. My Gwen was very picky about toys and only had three that she would really engage with. Juniper likes a wider variety, but seems to get bored with specific toys very quickly. The Cat Dancer was a favorite of both, and is the only toy that Juniper consistently plays with without getting tired of.