How Cold Is Too Cold for Outdoor Pet Activities?

Have We Made Their Lives A Little Too Easy??

The Cornell Feline Health Center thinks we need to make feeding your cat more of a natural process, emphasizing a cat’s inherent desire to hunt. Hunting keeps the cat active, which burns calories and promotes a healthy body weight and lean muscle mass.

These four tips will help you make feeding time more of a hunt.

Less is more

Rather than feeding your cat’s entire daily ration in one or two feedings, measure out the proper daily total and divide the food into four to five smaller meals when your schedule permits. There are clever feeders with built in timers and several compartments to assist with spacing out the meals.

Make Your Cat Hunt

Hide the mini-meals throughout the house so that he must search for them. Encourage you cat to be active by putting some on elevated surfaces (cat trees), in open closets, and on different floors of the house. If your cat has mobility problems due to age, weight, arthritis, or illness, choose your spots accordingly.

Use Food Puzzle Toys

There are endless options for food puzzles. Something as simple as putting a few kernels in each cup of an egg carton requires her to think about how to attack the problem. Treat balls have small holes designed to gradually dispense kibble when the ball is batted around the room. Some are even shaped like mice or other critters to enhance the realism of the hunt. To see all the options out there, just google “cat food puzzles”. Start with devices that are easy to solve and work up to challenging puzzles. Teaching your cat to master food puzzles can be a great bonding activity.

Provide Private Feeding Spaces

Feed each cat in a separate area, ideally out of sight of other pets, since in the wild they prefer to hunt and eat alone. Also, keep food and water bowls separate from litter boxes, if possible, for sanitation purposes.

Spring returns this Wednesday, and comfortable dog walking season is on the horizon. Before resuming long weekend hikes with your buddy, remember to condition your dog’s pads by gradually increasing the length and time of your walks. This will improve his (and your) stamina and help to prevent the pad tissue from peeling after a long walk on concrete or asphalt.

Remember to carry water and a collapsible bowl on hikes to insure adequate hydration and to combat heat stroke as the season warms up.

Save 10% with our Winter Dental Cleaning and Polishing Special

During the months of November through February we are offering 10% off scaling, polishing, radiographs, and dental surgery for your dogs and cats!

Please call our office to speak with a member of our veterinary team to schedule an appointment today – 412-798-8770

Pittsburgh Spay & Vaccination Clinic is a state-of-the-art, full-service suburban veterinary facility serving the Pittsburgh Area since 1980.. We offer diagnostic, medical, surgical, and dental care to dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, and pocket pets in the Pittsburgh area.

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