Cat Toys
 | "Sometimes, I think they still don't really know that I'm the one who is holding up the cat toy and moving it around. Or maybe they are just faking me out because they know how much I enjoy seeing them flip out over a couple of stale feathers on a plastic stick." |
I never thought that cat toys could be so much fun! Not just for the cats but for us, too. I love to see them get all riled up over some silly thing. Although, I have to say that sometimes when I play with them now, I'm not so sure if they are feeling playful or just annoyed. But they still have their moments, when they get really into it.
We measure their interest like this: If they follow us when we walk away with the toy, it means that they want to play. If they stay put, its not happening and we need to go find ourselves some new entertainment.
We've tried a bunch of different cat toys and the ones our cats were most excited about were the classics - a flexible stick with feathers on the end and a ball with a bell inside.
What we find interesting is that cats play for only about 5 or 10 minutes. Then they get tired out and want to take a break. They are never interested in any one thing for very long. Maybe they just have a short attention span or maybe the thought of a nap is just too alluring (I know it is for me!).
Nowadays our cats would rather get held and petted than get involved in some game. Sometimes, I think they still don't really know that I'm the one who is holding up the cat toy and moving it around. Or maybe they are just faking me out because they know how much I enjoy seeing them flip out over a couple of stale feathers on a plastic stick.
Over time we have also tried little cloth animals that dangle on a stick with a bell and the cats played with them for a little while, but I rarely seeing them giving any attention to those cat toys now. They would rather play with a pair of my husband's old slippers - which incidentally also double as a good napping spot.
One thing that really didn't work out for us was the catnip soap bubbles. According to an article we read, the cat should be jumping over the moon for those bubbles. But they hardly paid any attention to them at all and the catnip didn't do anything for them either.
We also tried some cloth balls with catnip on them, but the cats didn't like them more than any of the other cloth cat toys. So, I am not sure what all the fuss is about catnip. Apparently, one size does not fit all in the toy department.
Each cat has their own personality and I do think that factors into which kinds of things interest and excite them. I don't really know what makes them like a certain cat toy - it is mostly a game of trial and error. Just try a few different ones and see which cat toys your cat likes the most.