Is Your Cat Getting Enough Exercise?

When many people think of cats, they imagine an independent kitty that enjoys long naps, lazy days on the couch and their favorite meals—cats like Garfield of comic strip fame. Because of this reputation, roughly 34% of cats in the United States are obese, and an alarming 60% of cats are overweight.

Just like dogs and their owners, cats need daily exercise to maintain a healthy weight, fight common health conditions and stay generally happy and healthy. 

Read on to learn if your cat is getting enough exercise, signs they may need more activity in their daily life and how you can encourage more exercise. 

How Much Exercise Does Your Cat Need?

How much exercise your cat needs will depend on their current health, age and temperament. For most cats, veterinarians and cat behaviorists recommend 20-45 minutes of dedicated exercise and playtime per day.

Cats prefer multiple short sessions of playtime during the day, instead of one long session, so spread the 20–45-minute timeframe throughout the entire day. These short sessions mimic the way your cat would naturally be active in the wild, stalking their prey and using short bursts of energy to hunt. 

Two 10–15-minute sessions every day is a great place to start, and you can increase the duration of these play sessions based on your cat’s reactions. 

5 Signs Your Cat Needs More Exercise

Exercise isn’t just about maintaining a healthy weight for your cat—it offers mental enrichment, an outlet for their energy and a way to manage their behavior. Even if you are playing with your cat regularly, they still may not be getting enough exercise to meet their needs. 

Here are 5 common signs that your cat could use more structured playtime in their day.

1. Destructive Behavior

Do you frequently find claw marks on your couch or bite marks on some of your furniture? Cats that are bored and lacking in proper exercise and mental stimulation will turn to items they can find around the house instead of channeling that pent-up energy into a toy or other activity.  

2. Aggressive Behavior

Similarly, cats that have lots of pent-up energy may choose to release it in aggressive behaviors, like biting, scratching or hissing. If your cat attacks your feet when you walk through a room or claws at you when you try to pet them, they may be bored or restless. 

3. Obesity

This is a clear sign that your cat, in addition to a healthier, more appropriate diet, needs to add more exercise into their daily routines. If your cat is overweight, they are consuming too many calories and not burning enough throughout the day. This can shorten your cat’s life, and lead to a variety of health conditions, from diabetes to osteoarthritis. 

4. Overgrooming

A lack of exercise and a healthy outlet for their excited energy can cause your cat to become stressed and even develop some level of anxiety. Grooming is a way that many cats relieve their stress, and an anxious kitty can overgroom as a way to compensate for their built-up stress levels. Overgrooming can cause an increase in hair loss and hairballs, sometimes leaving irritated patches of skin on your cat. 

5. Lethargy

It may seem counterintuitive, but a lack of exercise can leave your cat feeling tired and even depressed throughout the day. They may sleep more than normal or seem especially uninterested in playtime. Think of it like a human’s relationship with exercise: the more we avoid working out, the harder it seems to find the motivation and the energy to start exercising. Once we finally do get back into the gym consistently, however, we feel energized. The more you work with your cat to exercise, the more energy they will have throughout the day. 

5 Ways to Encourage Your Cat to Exercise

Even if your cat needs to add more exercise into their daily life, they aren’t always as ready and willing to play, especially if it’s been a while since their last play session. 

Here are a few ways you can make playtime fun and exciting for your cat. 

1. Appeal to Your Cat’s Natural Instincts

Games and toys that encourage a cat’s natural hunting instincts will be much more enriching for your cat. Using a cat wand or similar toy, use slow, controlled movements to encourage your cat to stalk and pounce on their “prey.” Don’t make the game too easy, but let them catch the toy occasionally to feel satisfied and not become too frustrated with the game. 

Playing the same game for too long can lose your cat’s interest, so do these play sessions in short bursts throughout the day to keep things exciting. 

2. Provide Vertical Access for Jumping and Climbing

Cat trees, wall perches, and other cat furniture provide great opportunities for exercise at your cat’s discretion. These pieces allow your cat to climb and jump to their heart’s content, which is great physical exercise. Placing a piece of cat furniture near a window is a great way to add extra mental enrichment to your cat’s day as well.  

3. Use Treat Toys and Enrichment Activities

If your cat really needs some extra motivation to exercise, use their food or a special treat as motivation. Puzzle toys are great options to engage their brain, while also working out some of their extra energy. You can also DIY your own enrichment toys and games using things you have around the house! Toilet paper rolls can become great puzzle toys by just filling them with treats and bending down the openings. Don’t be afraid to get creative! 

4. Rotate Your Cat’s Toys for Added Excitement

If your cat no longer seems interested in playing with their toys, it might simply be because they’re bored of playing with the same ones over and over. To help with this, keep only one set of toys available at any given time and rotate through each set every few days. This keeps the toys exciting, and it can help them last longer as well, depending on how aggressive your cat can be with their toys. 

5. Create a Playtime Routine

Just like everything else in your cat’s life, they prefer that exercise happen on a consistent schedule. Dedicate specific times every day to play or exercise with your cat and stick to the same schedule. The more consistent you are with the times, the more your cat becomes conditioned to participate in exercise every day.

Fun, Cat-Approved Furniture and Toys to Keep Them Active 

We design our cat furniture with your cat’s needs and play style in mind. From the materials to the height to the number of pedestals and cubby holes, every piece of our furniture is made to be fun and functional.

Combined with our variety of fun, interactive toys, we’ve got everything your cat needs to get active. 

Shop our selection of high-quality cat furniture and toys today!