please Help Me find Ways To Entertain My Cat

**pollypurebred39** · 06-22-2010, 01:50 AM

He has to stay inside for the next 3 days due to a crazy heat wave moving through. He will NOT BE HAPPY! He loves to roam in the Summer, and mostly stays close to home but has been wandering a bit further then normal. Must be something really interesting down the street. He does not play much, but needs new places to lay and sleep or he gets really edgy. I'm not sure how to keep him happy indoors for so long. Any cat lovers out there have any ideas? I could really use some help, I don't want him to be miserable during this heat wave.

**Paws** · 06-22-2010, 02:47 AM

Wished I had some good advice to give you, but we have dogs...I've not had a lot of experience with cats...

**Contrary Housewife** · 06-22-2010, 10:55 AM

It's a little known secret but what most cats do when they are away from home is.... sleep. Yeah, they wander and explore for a bit, but then they settle down in a secret place and zonk out for hours.

You can expect your cat to be active in the mornings and evenings, and want to sleep most of the day. He may wake up once in a while, but for the most part from 10am to 4-5pm he wants to sleep. He will find a place under the bed or behind something.

Make sure he knows where his litter box is. He will be ok for 3 days.

**Ceashels** · 06-22-2010, 11:02 AM

My cats have favorite spots but will also lay on/in anything new, especially shoe boxes or a white piece of paper on the dark carpet.

Rearranging your furniture may help keep them occupied for a while and you might need to rearrange it a few times. Just pulling the sofa away from the wall would give them a new area to explore and you can move just one thing at a time and rotate them through the home.

Laser pointers.

A mouse.

Catnip in a tied off sock..... my cats really like it and will crash after their play.

**pollypurebred39** · 06-22-2010, 11:23 AM

Ceashels- Hmmm...Catnip! He's not much of a player, more of an explorer. I think that catnip just might be the ticket. It will give him something to explore and he just may get playful and wear himself out, or stoned and want to crash. LOL! On a moving furniture mission.

I put him downstairs with DS1 by 4am, and he settled right down. A new place he rarely sees so he was happy to have a whole floor to explore. He is now fast asleep with DS1.

He's also starting thyroid treatment today so staying inside is a must. After reading the instructions I realized that it requires 3 timed doses a day. For one full month before dose is reduced to once a day. Which means I'll need to keep him inside for a month or he won't get his medicine proper. Maybe once his thyroid is balanced he'll be calmer and sleep more, Contrary Housewife. I think he wanders around a lot more then your average cat because of his over active thyroid. I hoping it will be like you said.

**Molemommy** · 06-22-2010, 11:25 AM

A balled up piece of paper or tin foil to bat around....

**mek42** · 06-22-2010, 12:45 PM

After considering and rejecting many facetious replies I finally thought of one that might actually be helpful. Maybe not, but at least it is intended to be a real possibility.

How about a turtle friend? If the cat wants to eat the turtle, the turtle can, well, turtle into it's shell.

**pinetree** · 06-22-2010, 01:04 PM

I would try the catnip also, mine sleep after being in it.
If he has hypo thyroid hes probably having a hard time sleeping, its like they can't hold still for long. Once you get it back in the normal range he will sleep alot better and longer.
Mine also stopped eating every five minutes, and just got back to being lazy.

**pollypurebred39** · 06-22-2010, 01:06 PM

A turtle! LOL! That would be high on Iggy's, I find this very interesting list, but it just might give the turtle a stroke. I'm sure some unfortunate toads have crossed his path out here since we used to be loaded with them during the Summer and now I see only a few. We had a BIG turtle that managed to get in our basement that we set free, now he would have met his match with that one.

**pollypurebred39** · 06-22-2010, 11:56 PM

Pinetree, Our Iggy has hyper thyroid. Started his medication today and he is behaving very differently from the cat I know. He has slept a lot today. He's only meowed twice today, which would have been none stop with LOTS of pestering to go out normally. He's become very needy, wanting to sleep right on top of me all day. It's like he's had a personality change.

**lparker** · 06-23-2010, 10:33 AM

Get a laser pointer...cats love to chase the red dot.

**adalynn** · 06-23-2010, 11:02 AM

If you don't have a laser pointer a flashlight works good. Mine chase it for hours. Cardboard boxes are awesome!!

**mek42** · 06-23-2010, 11:57 AM

We sometimes shoe-in flies for our dog to hunt. We loves eating him some flies! Hasn't figured out fly vs. bumblebee yet though. :doh:

**Ceashels** · 06-23-2010, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by mek42

We sometimes shoe-in flies for our dog to hunt. We loves eating him some flies! Hasn't figured out fly vs. bumblebee yet though. :doh:

Rofl..... one of our shelties goes after flies as well. The cats don't mind them too much unless they are in the mood to hunt.

**krbshappy71** · 06-25-2010, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by mek42

After considering and rejecting many facetious replies I finally thought of one that might actually be helpful. Maybe not, but at least it is intended to be a real possibility.

How about a turtle friend? If the cat wants to eat the turtle, the turtle can, well, turtle into it's shell.

As a turtle owner, please tell me you were only joking. It is not right to subject a turtle to this sort of stress and torture. It can do severe damage to their pysche. Yes, turtles have feelings too and stress such as being subjected to a cat can cause illness and death.

Thank you.