Walk down the cat aisle at a pet store and you will see dozens of fake mice, birds on a fishing-rod style stick, things with bells, feathers and all kinds of gimmicks. It would seem to us silly humans a cat's paradise. But ask any cat-parent, and they will tell you not to waste your money. While some cats may go for the strange new object with at least some curiosity, sooner or later all cats will become bored with these things and make their own entertainment. Take it from this cat-mommy: save your money and improvise.
We learned when our adult cat was just a kitten that she is much more interested in things that can take a different shape every day. She needed variety. She needed tunnels, places to hide, places to perch, things to hunt, places for the things she hunts to hide so she can have more fun hunting them.
If you we're to walk into my house right now, you might have one of two thoughts: 1. "Are you moving?" or 2. "Did you just get back from the grocery store?" Our apartment is regularly littered with paper bags and cardboard boxes, different sizes and shapes, some with holes cut in the sides. Our cats make their own playground, and we sometimes help by moving the boxes, positioning them on a different side or cutting a new hole for them to enter through and peer through. We have fun watching them rush into a paper bag and attack the end like they're trying to get to something through the paper. It's hilarious when they run into it so fast the bag goes sliding several feet across the carpet!
Don't think we don't live like humans sometimes too! Paper bags get tossed as soon as they're destroyed by a play session, and boxes are easily stacked and put away when guests are expected. No one would even know we had cats until our feline friends came out to say hello.
Wads of paper, shoe strings and socks also make great play things. The key is variety. After a day or so, if you notice your cats have lost interest in something, remove it. Give them something different. After a few rotations your kitty will attack that same sock like they've never seen it before.
We learned when our adult cat was just a kitten that she is much more interested in things that can take a different shape every day. She needed variety. She needed tunnels, places to hide, places to perch, things to hunt, places for the things she hunts to hide so she can have more fun hunting them.
If you we're to walk into my house right now, you might have one of two thoughts: 1. "Are you moving?" or 2. "Did you just get back from the grocery store?" Our apartment is regularly littered with paper bags and cardboard boxes, different sizes and shapes, some with holes cut in the sides. Our cats make their own playground, and we sometimes help by moving the boxes, positioning them on a different side or cutting a new hole for them to enter through and peer through. We have fun watching them rush into a paper bag and attack the end like they're trying to get to something through the paper. It's hilarious when they run into it so fast the bag goes sliding several feet across the carpet!
Don't think we don't live like humans sometimes too! Paper bags get tossed as soon as they're destroyed by a play session, and boxes are easily stacked and put away when guests are expected. No one would even know we had cats until our feline friends came out to say hello.
Wads of paper, shoe strings and socks also make great play things. The key is variety. After a day or so, if you notice your cats have lost interest in something, remove it. Give them something different. After a few rotations your kitty will attack that same sock like they've never seen it before.