My cat, Pudding, is blessed with an overflowing toybox. We have had good luck with interactive toys, like the kitty fishing pole, but neither she nor I have the faintest idea what to do with the jingly balls and stuffed mice. She is impervious to catnip, so I can’t make her love the mice that way. I have played with the jingly balls till I made myself dizzy, but she isn’t catching on.
So… um… ???
I’ve found that some cats really dig the jingly balls, mice, etc., and that some just… don’t. For instance, my cat loooooves playing with those kind of toys. He’ll take it upon himself to randomly bat at one of his toys, and it’ll move! Oooh! And then he’ll get all excited and chase his mysteriously moving target up and down the hallway. My parents’ cats, on the other hand, will take a half-hearted swipe at a mousie toy every now and then – and completely ignore jingly balls and the like.
I think it just depends on the cat.
What you need is a Cat Dancer - see here http://www.catdancer.com/products.htm
It is the only cat toy I have found with universal appeal*. When you take this out of the packet, wiggle it like a string. Something about the way the wire is shaped makes it move in a way that cats think it’s prey. You can swing it through the air, drag it on the ground, or even run it under newspaper for sneak attacks.
Many cats don’t actually like toys that make noise. And if yours doesn’t like catnip, a stuffed mouse isn’t actually that cool.
What my cats mostly did with them was bat them under the couch, then tell me that they had no idea what happened to them. When I moved I found at least twenty catnip mice and jingly balls under the couch.
Niblet, who will be eight years old this spring, has never really cared for toys. Official ones, that is. I found a cord, about five feet in lengrth, and tied a knot in one end and she is absolutely enthralled with it, leaping in the air as I swoosh it past her. But other toys? Yawwwnnn… Under the couch they go.
Try a wadded up ball of tinfoil or the plastic strip off a milk cap - hours of ridiculous fun!* My cat ignores cat toys but will play with both of these things. She will also dig emery boards (nail file) out of drawers and play with them endlessly. Eating a lot of catfood very fast and then barfing must be very entertaining as well ::gag::
*And if not, far from a costly failure.
I’ve bought numerous cat toys over the years. The cats will play and play with them for hours and hours. Sometimes we’ll find them in the bed, or perhaps in the bathtub. Then one day, they disappear. Poof! We do occasionally get the completely shredded one, or a tinker ball that was stepped on, but I believe that somewhere in the house lies a den of cat toys. Or they’ve shuffled them out the portal they disappear into when you’re looking for them (the cats, as well as the toys.)
I’ve interviewed the cats at length- they’re not talking.
I have 2 cats and they like different toys. Diego, my incredibly playful, outgoing, loud Siamese likes: toys made of real fur (Rosie Rats, in particular ), rubber bands, little balls of crumbled paper and he goes crazy for the laser pointer. Serafina, my very quiet, shy, grey tabby adores all toys from Petstages (especially these) and a plastic circle with a ball that rolls around. They both like their tall scratching post. Neither is very interested in plastic balls or crinkly toys.
My cat Starlet plays with them until she gets bored of the toy or utterly destroys it (neither of these tends to take more than a few days).
Then she goes back to knocking pens off my desk and chasing them all over the house. I don’t know what it is about pens, she must have a literary streak.
Some cats dig them and some don’t. What is great toy for one is ignored by others.
I have nine cats so our house is chuck full of toys or items that become toys.
The lazer pointer is the most popular. Only two of the nine ignore it. One of them is old and fat. She never plays with anything. She has no interest such foolishness. Her job is to impose fear not to play. The second one does not play well with others. She is a loner cat and is only interested in being cuddled by me. She will play with catnip toys but only when the others are not watching which with so many cats is pretty rare.
Milk rings are great as are plastic straws but they get lost easily under the fridge or the oven.
One toy that can be a hit or miss is another cat. Cats do well alone but also do well with a play buddy. A younger version of themselves to remind them they are cats and they like to play. Hell some of my non-playing cats seem to get enjoyment watching another cat groove away on a toy. You can tell the temptation to join in is great and I will find them later playing with the same toy trying to determine what all the fuss was about.
All three of the Bodoni cats enjoy milk jug rings. I am not allowed to open a milk jug without sacrificing the ring to the Feline Overlords. These rings are vigorously played with, and then swatted under the dryer.
Plastic drinking straws enjoy some popularity around here. The cats don’t play with them so much as they simply carry them around. I have no idea why. Perhaps they are kitty status symbols.
I’ve also had some success with practice golf balls. These are something like the jingle balls, except that they don’t have a bell, and don’t break nearly as easily when one steps on them in the dark.
The very best cat toy, however, is a box. Preferably one on its side, with the flaps arranged so that the cat can enter and then Lurk in the box, waiting for something to stroll by, and then attacking. Any size box will do.
Oh I forgot about "the box’. An empty box is like kitty crack. Any empty box large or small must be filled with a kitty.
Our cat Beastie is partial to empty 12 pack beer boxes. He waits with anticipation as my boyfriend take the bottles out and places them in the fridge. The box is tossed to the side and Beastie must dig in the box and then climb in the box. It is one of his favorite things to do.
Paper bags laying on their side are good to.
When we bought our fish tank it came in a pretty large box. It remained in the kitchen for three days just because the cats were having so much fun playing in it.
My cats Rex and C.C. mainly hoard their little toys underneath the two dressers in the house. I don’t know if they get played with under there or not. I think so. I hear the sound of jingle bells and crinkle balls sometimes coming from that direction. I think this is a superior place to play because 1) Humans can’t observe the silliness, and 2) It is safe from their nemesis, the vacuum cleaner.
The big feather toys definitely get played with. They are moved all over the house when I get home. But they are rarely played with in front of me. I think it’s beneath their dignity.
My dearly departed cat Molly loved crinkly plastic, bags, and crinkly plastic bags. If there was a bag, she had to be in it, and if there was crinkly plastic, she had to crinkle it. Proper cat toys, on the other hand, bored her. Jingly bells in plastic balls? Who cared? Faux fur mice? Nah. When she was younger and spry, we played fetch with puff balls and wine corks. And until the end of her life, she loved an empty box or box lid. I actually keep her ashes in her favorite box lid-- it’s a weird knick-knack to explain to visitors.
My current cat, Quinne, on the other hand, ignores bags and crinkly plastic, won’t get in a box or box-lid to save her life, loves jingly bells in plastic balls, and (I believe) actually eats her faux fur mice. Her favorite toy is a plastic cap from soda bottles; if I bring soda home, she’ll come near and wait for me to open a bottle, then attack my hand, grab the cap, and run. We play fetch with Mardi Gras beads.
The only toy they had in common is anything string-like which can be dragged along the floor and attacked.
Years ago one of my cats was playing in a paper bag, one of those with the twisted paper handles. He stuck his head through one of the handles, and then suddenly realized that there was “something” around his neck. He tried to shake it off, which did nothing but rattle tha bag he was still lying in. Then he tried to run away from whatever was holding him, but since he was still inside the bag he couldn’t get far. He panicked and scrambled even faster, finally tearing the bag enough that he could get traction on the floor. Now he’s running around the room with the remains of the bag attached to the handle still around his neck flapping around him. Finally, I stopped laughing and tried to catch him, which was difficult because he was determined to escape from whatever it was that was “following” him.
I don’t think I ever saw him play in a paper bag again after that.
Your cat is obviously smarter than mine.
Great picture! Cat looks totally blissed out. I’ll bet your boyfriend has a similar appearance after working his way through the 12 pack in short order.
I think the box is a kitty universal. Our girls are totally different. Pixel will chase anything anytime. She loves her toys. Havoc, OTOH, will only play if she thinks nobody is watching. I can tell because everytime I clean up the house and put all their toys back in the box, it isn’t 48 hours until half of them are out on the floor again.
The Ultimate Kitty Toy, however, is a Flutterball. Taps right into the kitty hindbrain. Kill the bird!
I once returned home to find this , laying uttterly defeated by the paper bag caught around his midsection, and our other can running in terror from him. Once I stopped laughing, I cut him free. He too has never messed with a bag again.
That brings back unpleasant memories of what we refer to around here as “The Turkey Incident.” Unpacking groceries, turkey breast in a plastic shopping bag, curious cat, handle…you can guess the rest. I almost killed myself chasing Pixel down the hall as she was “pursued” by the turkey.
She hates plastic bags with a passion now.
