Mary Allen
Like humans, winter fatigue can also occur in cats during the cold season. Cloudy weather and lack of light make the fur noses sluggish. It takes a few tips and tricks to lure the proverbial cat out from behind the stove.
Cats naturally have a high need for sleep. However, winter fatigue in cats can manifest itself in sleeping times of 22 hours a day – this borders on hibernation. Unlike their wild counterparts, they have to cats no longer have to hunt and can therefore indulge their need for sleep much more extensively.
As a result, the velvet paws break down muscles and put on winter fat, which then makes them even more sluggish. Some cats even get downright depressed in winter. However, there are several methods to combat winter fatigue in cats. The most practical tips are simply getting enough exercise, fresh air, and variety.
Winter Fatigue in Cats: Fresh Air Helps
Letting some fresh air into the room is one of the most promising tips for dispelling tiredness, and not just for cats. If you have secured the window well with a cat net, you can leave it open while the cat is in the room. Even if cats are not as sensitive to drafts as you might think, quick airing is better than leaving the windows open for a long time. Especially since curious cats can get trapped and sometimes fatally injured when trying to climb out of a tilted window.
It is of course even better if you can give your cats freedom in the garden, ideally secured with a cat fence or in an imaginatively equipped enclosure. But you can also secure the balcony so that your kitty can play on it and observe the outside world. Outdoors, the lounge lions perceive more different smells and sounds, in the garden they can also hunt mice, and winter fatigue is soon a thing of the past.
Tips for Game Ideas
Other important tips to combat winter fatigue in cats are plenty of exercise and variety. Play catch with your cat by dangling a piece of string in front of its nose, waiting for the cat to grab it, and then pulling the string back. Move the string a little further away, then keep moving until the cat eagerly chases after it. And you’ve got your velvet paw jumping energetically across the room. Or you crumple up a piece of paper and let your furry friend play soccer – or paw ball – with it. You can also tie the paper ball to a string and let your kitty chase after it. You can also let your cat chase toy mice.
Maybe your velvet paw would like to learn a few tricks. For example, try a little cat agility parkour in your apartment; Your cuddly puma then has to jump over hurdles or through hoops, run through rustling tunnels, or climb onto obstacles.
If you don’t have a balcony or garden to let your cuddly paws outside, you can also bring nature inside. You can offer sensual stimuli, for example, with a bouquet of flowers (of course only with non-toxic plants ), with fresh-cut grass, or a water fountain. Toys with catnip hops or valerian have a stimulating effect on furry friends, as do ball with treats or intelligence games such as the fiddle board.
Caution! Keep an eye on your cat when it is winter tired: Does it appear more lethargic and apathetic than usual, and is it difficult to encourage it to play? Then take her to the vet as a precaution, she may be ill. If the vet can’t find an organic cause and your cat’s gloomy mood persists even in the spring, take her to a cat psychologist; Animals can get depression too.