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My cat is young and healthy at 10 months of age.
Her favorite form of exercise is doing back-flips in the air trying to catch a string-on-a-stick type of toy.
Here's my paranoid question: Can all of this flipping be harmful to the future health of her hips or other joints? I notice that after 20 or 30 mind-boggling flips she will lay flat on the floor with her legs straight out behind her - it looks to me like she may be stretching out her hip/leg muscles and this makes me wonder if she will pay for all the jumping in her old age.
I have had an older cat with hip problems and I don't want the young one to share her fate.
Should I look for other ways to exercise her (although this appears to be her favorite)? Or am I just being paranoid - maybe all the leg exercise will help her out in the long run?
How do you get them to flip in the air? I can only get Sancho to do 3/4 of a flip one out of every 4 jumps! No, I don't think you have to worry about it. Make them fetch or chase the string around if you are worried about it. Don't make them flip so much. LOL
I have had cats that do that. It sounds like she gets tired after a little. I would watch and see about how long she really participates and then stop, don't coax her to continue past the time she feels comfortable.
Cats are really tough animals, I wouldn't be concerned about hurting her. Just don't push her to go further then she is comfortable with.
I used to have a cat who would play like this until he was panting, I noticed that he would push himself to continue if I didn't stop. I made sure he went and got a drink and I also made sure this wasn't an all the time thing, only a couple times a week at bedtime.
He was a high energy cat and we were living in a small apartment at the time, I think he just needed more exercise.
I think if any animal does repeated joint pounding things along this line there is the chance that in time it can cause problems. I think that is moreso in a larger heavier animal though. I'd talk to your vet and see what they say.
Cats are usually smarter than people. Young cats love to play with anything that moves. They will exercise and then sleep for a few hours. I had a cat that tried to catch flies on the ceiling. She also 'helped' with the laundry. A ball of yarn - anything that moves works nicely and makes a cat happy. .
I doubt that too much damage can be done unelss kitty end up with a bad land once to often. Still varying the activity and stress on the same muscles and joints would be a great thing. just like human if you keep up with same movement all the time your run the risk of problems.
As for how she speads out when resting. sounds like a good cool down and muscle stretch to me. I have had a few cats do that from time to time after a good romp. It is also a great way to cool off if done on tile/wood flooring.
You can also take that play and start teaching her tricks as well. I believe there are few good books out about teaching your cats tricks. 1/2 priced book stores should have them if you are on a budget.
Have fun ! Kittens are great! cant wait till they grow up want them to be kittens again when they do.
I would think that the constant landing (20-30 sounds excessive) hard on his joints would do some damage. At 10 months old he is not fully developed yet. I would definately check with your vet.
Landing, full body weight over and over again on those back legs is not healthy. Especially at such a young age. I guarantee he will have hip problems later on in life. Have seen it happen many times in dogs. Hunters who want to get an early start on training and having a young dog jump over and over again off a dock or from a boat landing fully body weight on not fully developed legs....they all suffer in the long run. Once, twice...even five...but 30? Ask your vet.
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