Exercise tips

Popsie is getting up there in years but still has playful moments. His favorite thing is when I drag some type of string around, or the laser pointer. Trouble is after about a minute (sometimes not even that) of playing he stops. I don't know if he loses interest or just gets tuckered out too fast. Is there anything I can do to get him more interested in playing? Any toy suggestions? He already has Da Bird and won't play with that. He used to have some catnip bubbles and loved those. Maybe I should get some more and see how that goes. I'm going to be buying him a cat tree in a few weeks for his birthday.

I use Teasers with Coco. She also loves Catnip.

You can also add exercise through daily activity. For example, put the food dish on a higher surface so that they have to climb to get it, or if you feed kibble, you could try a treat ball.

Hey, cats have a short attention span. I don't expect them to be engaged for long periods of time. Any exercise is better than none. If your cat only plays for a minute, play with him several times a day. Here are some suggestions.

1. The mystery object underneath something. If I drag a toy underneath a rug, blanket, sheet or newspaper my cats will be very intrigued and will try to pounce on it.

2. Go with string, just supervise carefully so they don't chew or swallow. Cats love string.

3. Try the kitty charmer. petco carries it.

4. Throw ping pong balls, mice and bottle caps over your cats head to see if your kitty will bat them around. Put them inside partially open containers to see if your cat will fish them out. make sure the opening is not big enough for your cat's head, just a paw. I learned that lesson a long time ago.

5. Use teasers.

6. Also for the mystery object game, try dragging it and wiggling it under a partially closed door.

7. Chase your cat if your cat likes it.

I do the object under a blanket and Mary pounces on it. Unfortunately she thought we were playing once and she pounced on my foot. Ouch.

Those treat balls look fun. You could put something motivating like Greenies in it and see if he likes it.

With the treat balls, I often just use the cat's regular kibble. That way they get exercise without extra calories. I've also found that different cats are attracted to different kinds of toys. Some prefer feathers, others go nuts for catnip anything, etc. Prior to Zek, I'd never had a cat that loved stuffed animals they way he does. Willow loved feather and fur toys, especially furry mice. Odo gets excited over catnip, and Zek likes to carry around small stuffed animals. All of my cats have loved feathers (expecially Da Bird and peacock feathers) and strings.

I have lots of tall cat condos which they all climb and I put their food up on an unused counter so that they have to work to get at their food. If you have a multi-story house, put their food on 1 floor and their water on another. Climbing stairs is good exercise. A toy that can sometimes work is to drop ping pong balls into your bathtub. Some cats love it.

Originally Posted by moggiegirl

7. Chase your cat if your cat likes it.

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Catnip or Catwatch (can't remember which, I get them both) just had an article saying that. My cats love to race me up and down the stairs. So does my MIL's cat.

Originally Posted by CC12

Those treat balls look fun. You could put something motivating like Greenies in it and see if he likes it.

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Petco started carrying treatballs that make a mouse squeaking sound. I bought one but haven't tried it out yet.