How much do you play with your cat?

I am curious how much do you play with your cat(s)?

I was watching My cat from hell last night and he talked about playing with the cat until it was tired, panting and was done. My cats never reach that point.

My cats are indoors. They have toys like mice and balls that they will play with here and there on their own. I keep them up during the day though because my dog will eat them sigh. I have lazer that 3 of them go nuts for and cat wand things.

My problem is that they just don't get into it enough I guess? The red dot lazer is their most active toy. They will chase it around and I am good at getting them running and up the wall so they jump and pounce. But after maybe 2 mins they stop going after it. I let them "catch it" but they just seem bored of it fairly quickly. I will start moving it and they watch and watch but won't go after it anymore.

Then the wands they all love but one will just grab the toy and not let go for anything. The others won't really chase it much either. I try to make it super fun and exciting but after like 30 secs they are like no thanks I am done.

Perhaps I suck at playing lol. I thought about getting an interactive toy they could use on their own but not sure if they would.

Advice?

I play with my cats every night at about 6: 30 p.m. :lol3: My Perla demands it. She will follow me around the corners of the house and then stare at the cabinet where I keep all of the special wand toys. BUT - I will say the older they get the less interested they are in these games. I have found that the Neko Fliers seem to get my cats attention. They seem to also love it when a toy falls off and I have nothing left on the wand other than a string of those tiny metal balls. Go figure, but that one is a favorite around here.

Some nights I give it a go but have no takers and they are all just sitting around looking at me fling this toy around. I have to make it interesting for them and challenging. So I fling it up on a light and let it sit there for a few seconds, or fling it under the couch, etc. Once I get them going, they do get into it. As far as the panting, , I haven't seen that in a few years, only when they were younger and kittens. It does get more challenging to get them going as they age, but still I try. I think switching it up and using different types of wand toys is the key to sparking interest.

OH - Cat shows have great toys for sale. I have purchased some pretty cool wand toys from booths at cat shows that I cannot find anywhere else.

Mo is getting lazier, but he's 11 so I'll forgive him. Kismet is still just over a year, so she loves playing. Since I'm currently funemployed, I play with her several times throughout the day with a wand, but more often now with the laser pointer and licorice. I think I play with her 4-5 times a day for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. Sometimes she really likes being chased, so I'll chase her sans toy as well.

Laser pointer and licorice (a dried up black licorice, just tossing it) are really fun to run the length of the apartment, and also over and into the folds of blankets so she goes nuts pawing and digging into it. I toss or point the laser into or under their little cat tunnels too, so she'll stalk and pounce to plow right under or into the tunnels and try to find where it went. For sure, she gets 15 minutes of play right before I go to bed, and then I put the Kong down for her so she gets a bit of exercise before a snack.

When we're not around or available, the cats will play with this on their own for a few minutes too.

I haven't seen our cats pant either, but I'm hoping shorter, multiple play sessions can compensate for one or two hardcore open-mouth-panting ones.

My cat's interest in playing with my toys seemed to have waned for the past few months. Our apartment is also kinda funky for playtime, there's just not enough space for him to really run around, and I think that's partly why. He loves being on the windowsill now that winter is over and I open them. He pretty much spends all day up there trying to pounce at things outside, so at least he's getting some fun time during the day.

I try to play with him every day(he only likes wand toys -- he's afraid of everything else I brought back), but he loses interest within a few minutes.   He's the kind who likes to take his time stalking and pouncing his prey, and then having to chase it. But given how cramped our space is, there isn't much space to chase prey, so he gives up. 

I feel really bad for him, so I give him lots of pets throughout the day. Until my roommate moves out and free up space though, there's not much I can do (or figured out yet).

I'm bad, I'm afraid because evening play consists of throwing small cat treats.  About 10 of them in the evening.  One at a time, of course, and as far as I can.  Lucky can tell by the way I twist my wrist which direction I'll throw, and tries to get a headstart. After he runs after one and captures his prey, and eats it, he comes back to jump on the table beside my chair and begs by patting me, etc. When I finally pick up the treat bag he jumps down and hides behind a floor cushion, giving me the one-eyed peek until I hold the treat up and twist my hand one direction or the other. Lucky is about 7 years old as I remember (could look it up), but we don't go to the vet anymore as he's an indoor ex-feral kitten from a burgerking colony.and is still trim & fit.  He must run off the calories in the treats.  He does do his own exercise runs, thundering back & forth,  up & down the wood floors from one end of our condo to the other when he is excited.  He also likes the old jump-out-and-scare-mom game. I guess I give a pretty good reaction and must be a slow learner because he always really does startle me.