Cats joy

Question
Hi!
I have a simple little question about my cat. She will be 12 years old on April 1st, and despite her age, people think she is just a fat kitten. She is very energetic and playful, as well as excessively vocal. I have never known a cat that meows as much as she.
Well anyhow, I have a question about her playful behavior.

Her favorite toy is a string on a stick, basically. (Best $1.50 investment we ever made.) However, when she first begins to play, she will have incredibly excessive sneezing fits! She will jump and pounce and roll, all the while she'll be sneezing all over the place, but it doesn't seem to phase her.
Are these sneezes of "joy?" (I think I read that a sneeze is 1/14th of on orgasm for a human.)

Just wondering!

Thanks,
Kayla.

Answer
Kayla,

As long as your kitty doesn't have symptoms like fever, nasal discharge, loss of appetite, discharge from the eye I wouldn't be too concerned. It sounds to me like you have a kitty with a sneezing quirk who is loving life to the fullest at this point. My 9 year old cat loves ribbon so I guess between you and I we have discovered that expensive toys aren't always the order of the day from the cats' perspective. I think the sneezing might just be excitement as long as your kitty doesn't have any of the symptoms listed above. You may want to talk to your vet about a weight reduction program if you can't feel your cat's ribs and she is missing her waistline. The reasons that you will want to try switching her to a lower fat, higher fiber diet are mostly health related. As your kitty ages her joints will be more likely to be arthritic if she is overweight, not to mention the other risks like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke...Enjoy the fun times with your little one and play safe, I am sure that you already know this but it does bear mentioning that string toys, ribbons, shoe laces, and string are all supervised toys. If you do not supervise their use some cats will end up swallowing all or some of the toy and may need emergency surgery which isn't fun for any involved. I hope that I was able to alleviate your concern. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.