Sam, good luck!! I know how it is having a slighly overweight lazy cat. Marius weighed in at 17lbs, and had to get down to about 14.5 or 15. I put him on the Science Diet weight loss (prescription from Vet) and had a lot of play sessions too. The laser pointer sounds like a good idea. I posted this on another forum, but the other day I made a toy that my cat LOVES to push around because of the noise it makes. I had a left over prescription bottle (with child proof twist cap), so I washed it out, and filled it about 1/4 full of dry instant rice. Put the lid on and whalaaaa!!! Noise maker toy for kitty to bat around!! Another fave toy that my cats like is this "string" type toy. I had some left over material, so I cut it in a long strip and tied a newspaper baggie thing on the end(ya know, the plastic bag that newspapers come in when it rains-I folded and refolded until is was pretty small and tied the end of the string around the middle). The movement and sound of the bag being dragged on the floor attracts my kittie's attention, and it's their fave. I only let them play with that under supervision, because Marius tried to swallow the thing before. Tin foil balls are fun too. Anything that moves and can get their attention is worth a shot, right! Good luck with you kitty and let us know if anything works out for ya!

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"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." - English proverb