For weight loss -- beans?
 

Heidi, at 14 lbs, is a couple pounds over her best weight. She
needs to exercise more, but she is not easy to get interested in
active play, usually preferring a style of play which involves
watching under a door for me to poke something through, and then
only occasionally attacking, without any chasing. Strings get
two passes; a ping-pong ball gets one desultory pass; all other
balls are disdained (even the crinkled paper ones), as are
various mice which once were more in favor. Flying feathers
excite her, but after the first leaping attack she leaves the
room. Since she gave up tossing her mice around, the only thing
she will play with for a long period is her kibbles -- which, of
course, I no longer want her to have access to for long periods.

Today we shelled and canned beans -- and were reminded once
again (we saw it to a lesser extent last year) that letting a
bean hit the linoleum when Heidi is lurking under the table
produces activity on the order of tossing chum to a shoal of
mackerel. Each bean that someone let fall was chased and batted
all over the kitchen floor, until either it found sanctuary
under an appliance or the attack was diverted to the next
arrival.

For over an hour this morning our zaftig fraulein fought the
bean wars, and this afternoon she sleeps the sleep of the just
(plain tuckered out). I can only imagine how many calories she
burned. So now I wonder if I can get the same level of activity
with dried beans. They'd be a pain to vacuum out from under the
refrigerator and stove, and probably a literal pain to have
under foot, but that would be a small price to pay for getting
Miss Heidi off her furry butt.

--

Wayme M
(indulged by Will and Heidi)

On 2005-08-22, Wayne Mitchell penned:

For over an hour this morning our zaftig fraulein fought the bean
wars, and this afternoon she sleeps the sleep of the just (plain
tuckered out). I can only imagine how many calories she burned. So
now I wonder if I can get the same level of activity with dried
beans. They'd be a pain to vacuum out from under the refrigerator
and stove, and probably a literal pain to have under foot, but that
would be a small price to pay for getting Miss Heidi off her furry
butt.

That's great =)

Have you tried the cat dancer? It's just about the only toy my cat
will move for, and it's about $4, so not too bad of an investment.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Hey, I think it's great if you find something she loves to play with that
much!

"Wayne Mitchell" wrote in message
...

Heidi, at 14 lbs, is a couple pounds over her best weight. She
needs to exercise more, but she is not easy to get interested in
active play, usually preferring a style of play which involves
watching under a door for me to poke something through, and then
only occasionally attacking, without any chasing. Strings get
two passes; a ping-pong ball gets one desultory pass; all other
balls are disdained (even the crinkled paper ones), as are
various mice which once were more in favor. Flying feathers
excite her, but after the first leaping attack she leaves the
room. Since she gave up tossing her mice around, the only thing
she will play with for a long period is her kibbles -- which, of
course, I no longer want her to have access to for long periods.

Today we shelled and canned beans -- and were reminded once
again (we saw it to a lesser extent last year) that letting a
bean hit the linoleum when Heidi is lurking under the table
produces activity on the order of tossing chum to a shoal of
mackerel. Each bean that someone let fall was chased and batted
all over the kitchen floor, until either it found sanctuary
under an appliance or the attack was diverted to the next
arrival.

For over an hour this morning our zaftig fraulein fought the
bean wars, and this afternoon she sleeps the sleep of the just
(plain tuckered out). I can only imagine how many calories she
burned. So now I wonder if I can get the same level of activity
with dried beans. They'd be a pain to vacuum out from under the
refrigerator and stove, and probably a literal pain to have
under foot, but that would be a small price to pay for getting
Miss Heidi off her furry butt.

--

Wayme M
(indulged by Will and Heidi)

Wayne Mitchell skrev i meddelandet ...
snip
So now I wonder if I can get the same level of activity
with dried beans. They'd be a pain to vacuum out from under the
refrigerator and stove, and probably a literal pain to have
under foot, but that would be a small price to pay for getting
Miss Heidi off her furry butt.

You could deep freeze beans and then let her have a few when you think she
needs exercise. It might work.
Elisabet

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote:

Have you tried the cat dancer? It's just about the only toy my cat
will move for, and it's about $4, so not too bad of an investment.

Since it's so cheap, I probably should get another one to try on
this pair. My previous two wouldn't go for it, so I gave the
one I had away.

--

Wayme M
(indulged by Will and Heidi)

Wayne Mitchell wrote:

For over an hour this morning our zaftig fraulein fought the
bean wars, and this afternoon she sleeps the sleep of the just
(plain tuckered out).

LOL! Well, if beans is what she wants, maybe that's what she should get.
Frank is a bit like that, in that he doesn't like store-bought toys so
much, but he can play for ages with something small he just find on the
floor, like a piece of litter from the litter box, or a q-tip.

--
Marina, Frank, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki