How do you keep your cat entertained?

**shoiji** · 02-03-2010, 04:32 PM

My cat can be very lazy and seems to like being entertained. Grant it she does enjoy low tech items and things that I make for her. However, if I am not on the other end of the toy many times she will not play.

She loves the smell of used fabric softners. Boxes, bags, cat nip toys, stuffed socks on a string with catnip, looking out the window, the sound of paper crinkling underneath her. The flashlight on the way trick.

So what type of toys or activites do you use or do for your cat. Would like to hear other peoples ideas.

**2ndGenGranola** · 02-03-2010, 04:35 PM

Mine love a rounded laundry basket with a little flashing ball in it.

**Ceashels** · 02-03-2010, 04:38 PM

Caesar loves the feather tip on the string/wand but so do the dogs. More importantly, Lacy loves Caesar! Our dog Lacy will stalk the cat, corner him, go up and place her mouth over the cats head or back and do nothing else. We've even seen Caesar walk away with Lacy gently attached and following alongside him. Caesar doesn't seem to mind and just goes with the flow.

We've seen Caesar hide around the table legs and entice Lacy to go after him and then bats at the dog with his front paws. They get along great and the cat is quite entertained... as are we.

**Palooka** · 02-03-2010, 04:55 PM

I have two so they entertain each other.

When my step-daughter was little one of them loved to carry around those polly fashion dolls. hehe. I think he thought he was the momma.

Yep, mine loves catnip toys, or just a new box or sack.

**frugalwarrior2** · 02-03-2010, 05:25 PM

Mostly our cats entertain each other as we have many. However they love milk rings,balls of crackly paper, a cat nip mouse,we take 2 drinking straws and tape together w/ 2 feathers on one end (walmart crafts), any zippered or drawstringed hoodies hanging of the chair are good,stratching posts,dishclothes (dry) occasionally need to be beat up and dogs are fun to annoy esp. if asleep. Plasic bags are fun to like until the house people yell "ENOUGH" already. All house items are toys KWIM.

**Contrary Housewife** · 02-03-2010, 06:13 PM

First, cats do sleep a lot. That's just how their metabolism works.

My two entertain themselves, and play together daily. The current favorite toy is a large envelope of bubble wrap that came on DH's new office chair last September. They have played with it daily since then. I don't mind having a big sheet of packing material in the middle of the livingroom as long as they are interested in it. It is like a pillowcase, with some holes in it for safety (and we have no kids) so sometimes I stick a jingly toy inside and they try to get it out.

Cats can be pretty intelligent, at least mine are, so they vastly prefer the feather stick or a pull toy they can stalk to a ball or soft toy that isn't very interesting by itself. They also like playing with the red dot from the laser pointers. Our girl kitty expects fun laser pointer play immediately after dinner each night.

The only rules we have are no overly rough play and no fingers or hands. Hands are for petting and cuddling, not biting. I don't want to give them mixed messages about what they can bite or claw.

**Imarachne** · 02-03-2010, 06:20 PM

Ours entertain us !

**frugalwarrior2** · 02-03-2010, 07:21 PM

I have this great photo (somewhere) of my orange cat Scooter inside the plastic wrap the Auquafina 24pk. comes in. We were rolling because he would reach out and whack anything,mostly other cats as they went by. Now mind you this is clear plastic except for some blue. What a goof to think no one can see him in his "fort". Too silly. Our cats entertain us endlessly.

**Rhayne** · 02-03-2010, 07:39 PM

My mother's older cat will chase the dog and vise versa. My mom got each of them within 2-3 months of each other so they've "grown up" together. The sleep together, clean each other and act like each other. Also she has a thing for boxes. Not small boxes, she likes big ones. She had a blast in the new TV box my parents had a few months back.

**Kitten20** · 02-03-2010, 08:04 PM

We have 2 cats and they are usually a great source of entertainment for us. They chase each other through the apartment, run into things, etc. They like to play with normal household things, like toothpicks (which I take away as soon as I find them with them), q-tips, empty soda/water bottle boxes, the caps from water bottles, tubes of chapstick, etc. Basically whatever they can find (or steal). We keep a little basket full of odds n' ends on the kitchen counter and I always catch them sneaking "treasure" from it. For some reason, they LOVE peppermint candies (in the wrapper) and dum dums (lollipops in wrappers). Every couple of days, we have to clean out underneath our bed b/c that is where they horde their "treasures". They also love the laser pointer.

ETA: They don't like cat toys, so I've stopped buying them. Occasionally they will chase a little jingle ball around if they are in a hyper mood, but that's about it as far as cat toys go...

**Neeley** · 02-03-2010, 08:05 PM

Mocha is between thirteen and fifteen years old. All she does is eat a little, potty a little and sleep on her electric blanket a lot.

Jack is five and a half. He is entertained by stalking us and our big dog. He likes to get into the box our bottled water comes in. About half of the time he just sleeps.

I don't give the cats catnip or cat toys.

**HandyMom** · 02-04-2010, 12:37 AM

My cat likes his little sponge balls and rabbit foot keychains. He throws them around and chases them by himself.

**Darlene** · 02-04-2010, 02:57 PM

Our kitty Daisy waits by the bedroom door for me to get up in the morning as I seem to be entertainment director. We start off with a cup of coffee and some soccer games, catch the fish or make a tent and with her inside poke randomly & she attacks...then comes elastic hairband toss and maybe laser tag. It's all topped off with lots of "help" as I go thru the day cleaning and doing what needs to be done. Around noon it's nap time for her, then around 3-4pm we hunt for all the balls that got batted under furniture, dinner, a little more soccer play and then lights out. Heaven help us if a flying bug gets into the house, she'll hunt it down without a care of anything in her way to get it.
When the weather gets warmer (and she's older) she'll be entertaining herself outdoors during the day.
Ya, she has me trained well.

**baxjul** · 02-04-2010, 03:44 PM

My 2 yr. old girl like to hide behind something real small, like say a tube of chap stick. LOL She thinks you can't see her. Then she will reach out to get you. When she is really playful she charges the dog, to get the dog to chase her.

**pita1213** · 02-04-2010, 10:06 PM

the cat i had when i was a kid was a bit of a spaz. she would run up and down the hallway randomly. she also liked to sit on a perch and look out the window or stand on her hind legs and look out the front door if the door was open but the screen door closed. she would chase toes that were under blankets. oddly enough she would chase balls down the hall better than the beagle i currently have. she would only let me or my dad pet her, so that was never one of her entertainments. paperbags were also fun for her. she loved grocery shopping day because that meant tons of paper bags all over the kitchen while my mom was putting away groceries.
We taught her to walk on a leash and would even go to the back door and meow so it sounded like she was saying out. my folks got one of those big metal cages that are meant to be dog kennels for her so when she wanted to go outside she had a 4 by 6 kennel to go in and explore off the leash. it protected her from the bluejays, and when my son came along he liked to go in it and sit with her. he'd let the cat in the kennel then follow her in.