OK, so I recently (like, two das ago) brought my cat from my parents’ home, to my apartment. I wouldn’t have chosen to move her, although I love her dearly, but since she was soiling in my parents’ closet, they can’t keep her. I don’t mind having her; however, since my roommate is semi-allergic to cats and she sheds like it’s going out of style, I have to keep her pretty much in my own room. Fine - I can deal with the cat box and food and stuff, however there really isn’t much for her to do in here. What can I do to make this a (more) fun place for her to live? I don’t want her to be bored/unhappy, but I can’t be home to entertain her all the time. Getting another cat is not an option - she definately needs to be an only pet. So, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to make this nice for her?
Get her some of those cardboard & catnip scratching trays. Rattly mice if she’s a huntress.
If you have a backyard to speak of, you can build a decent sized cage from PVC pipe and chicken wire to give your cat outdoors time.
I used to tie a rattly mouse to a string and tie the string to one of the blades on my ceiling fan and set the fan on its lowest setting. With the mouse about a foot off the floor while turning my cat enjoyed it immensely.
Or, put a bird feeder just outside your window. <evil grin> Your cat will get so worked up about the birds that she won’t have time to get bored.
My friend gave me a “Kitty Fishin!” toy. It’s a compact fishing rod whose line you attach a toy mouse or piece of fur to and then drive the cat nuts with.
Mine loves it.
Get some friends together,build a stage,and put on a zany skit where your friends and you constantly disappear and re-appear in different disguises and do absurd and surreal things…oh,hang on, that’s how to CONFUSE a cat.
I must stop watching those Python re-runs.
Get a dozen mice and release them in your room. That should temporarily cure his/her boredom. Release more if the cat is so bored it falls asleep. Soon your cat will be insane and neither you nor your cherished pet will be bored!
I have a fixed pole with a feathered doo-dad at the end of a long string. When you wave it in the air, it spins and gives the impression of a bird flying. My little guy goes nuts for it, and has learned to open the cabinet and drag it out.
Those things can be great, but one of my cats managed to sneak up on it while I wasn’t looking and ripped the little stuffed fish off the end of it on the first day.
They will also completely destroy, beyond the point of recognition, any sort of toy that has catnip in it and is not made out of solid titanium.
That being said, after all the money I’ve spent on cat toys and trinkets, the one thing that still never fails to amuse them are those little twist-tie things that come on bags of bread and such. Everytime I finish with one, I throw it on the floor. There must be hundreds of them scattered around my house. They love the things, hours and hours of amusement for kitty.
You can’t entertain a cat. Their own sense of irony is the only thing that amuses cats. They only play along, so as not to hurt your feelings.
My cats loved chasing a lazer pointer. I miss my kitties.
For a “mild allergy” there is a wonderful, marvelous, incredible product called Outright - Allergy Relief/Cats – you put about a capful in the palm of your hand and rub it into the cat’s fur once a week. It chemically counteracts the dander (and cat spit) that people are allergic to. I’m allergic to cats and have two. My ex was very allergic to cats but the stuff worked well.
Not recommended if you are asthmatic-allergic (if kitties make you wheeze, this isn’t good enough).
I’t relatively inexpensive.
Another cool toys is the on that attaches to the top of a door (plastic beam and c-clamp) it holds a fur rat thing out about a foot from the wall on a thick elastic cord. The plastic arm is alo kind of springy, so once they get the mouse going, it can keep 'em busy. My cats can’t go past it without take a shot at it.
We used to hang ours off the banister so it would hang way down to the center of the staircase. You see the cats rolling over the stairs (and falling down ths stairs), and the one with claws would often be seen at the top, sticking her head through the railing and hoisting up the mouse from above (reeling it in – and yeah she fell a few times when she got too excited).
One of our cats used to play fetch with those. He would jump into my lap with one in his mouth; I would throw it across the room and he would run after it, bat it around for a few minutes, then bring it back. Every so often it would go someplace he couldn’t get to, and then he’d go off to his secret stash and bring me another one.
Don’t forget the ring off the plastic milk jug.
Everyone already covered all the good ones I was going to post, so I’ll just say, rotate them, one a day of the kind they can play with when you’re out.
Agreed, laser pointers are an excellent way to take to old pussy cat out for a spin.
Just make sure to let your cat “catch” the dot once in a while or it’ll attack you in your sleep out of sheer frustration.
… take THE old pussy cat …
Your roomate sheds?
:eek: