Need toy ideas for cat that wants human play

My 3-year-old Maine coon is very large and athletic. He enjoys running up and down our stairs to burn energy. We play with fishing pole toys a lot, and to him it's like basketball. He enjoys jumping onto the bed or the couch to chase it down. To him, these games are so much fun that he wants to keep going even after *we* get tired just from helping.  It will get to the point that he is lying there panting and just swatting at it, but if you say he's done, he whines. He is a rescue from a pretty bad situation, so we sense that he really wants to remember being carefree again, and we play with him several times a day.

However, he almost never plays alone. He has no interest in small toys. When we drop his fishing toys, he will unravel them and toss them around for a few more minutes looking pitiful, but he really has zero interest in playing without a human.

We have tried noisy things, soft things, feathered things, jangly bell things, etc. We even spray them with cat nip scent. But as soon as we put them on the floor, he loses interest.  We got him a laser pointer, but he quickly became obsessed with it, and when we saw online about how it can mess with a cat's head, we stopped it. 

This is not a matter of me being angry or wanting to change him. My main concern is that I/we won't always be able to play with him constantly forever, and we'd like to find a way for him to be entertained alone. Do you know of any toys that a large cat would enjoy and actually use without us prodding?

I wish I did have some ideas.  We have a couple of 'hyperactive' cats who need lots of play, but it pretty much has to involve one of us.  We use wand toys, too.  I've tried toys that they could play with on their own but they pretty much get left lying on the floor, untouched.  I guess it's no fun unless Mom or Dad are playing, too!  

Fortunately the kitties also play with each other--chasing each other up and down the hall, wrestling, and chasing toys together.  

@VBCatParent -- is your boy food-motivated at all? if so, maybe a treat ball or a peek-a-prize game that cat treats/dry cat food is inside of...? or along the same lines, maybe a catit treat maze?

another thought is a cat sitter video or dvd. this won't give your boy the play action he enjoys so much, but might keep him amused for a while if you're out of the home for a while or need to do some things around your home. my snick wasn't interested in the cat sitter dvd's we have, but does enjoy watching/listening to the marty stouffer wild america tv shows.

I just looked up that catit treat maze--I've never seen one of those before.  It looks like a good idea--does your cat have one of those?

I have been thinking about those puzzles and mazes. That might be a good way for us to go. He does eat treats when offered but doesn't beg for them.

Last night we had a fun game of fetching a ball of crumpled paper. It was nice for me to sit and watch him play soccer with his little ball. It required me to supervise and throw the ball a few times, but it was less interactive.

I'm going to use plastic shot glasses and a treat to see if he will work for treats. If so, we can invest in a maze.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

I too have a 3 yr old Maine Coon that loves to play. The 2 toys he will play with by himself are these springs made by Ethical Pets

http://www.chewy.com/cat/ethical-pet-wide-durable-heavy-gauge/dp/56209

The springs I linked to are the short, fat ones. These are the ones Max likes. Ethical Pets also makes a long skinny spring; but, those were not played with (by any of the cats.)

The other "toy" Max will play with by himself I call his "hockey puck." It is one of the foot pieces to the Kitty City I bought when he and his brothers were kittens.

I also have an automatic laser. I've read where a few people say it "messes" with the cat. I personally have never experienced this with any of my cats or the rescue cats. It's not something I use all the time or let run for extended periods of time.

Thanks for that idea CatPack! Those look really cool. My plan is to build up a list of toys/games so he can rotate and not get bored.

I know some cats do fine with a laser. Unfortunately we saw our boy getting obsessed with it before we did any research. He definitely can't handle them.

My sympathies, VB.  One of my two (Chai, the one in the thumbnail, 1 year old) is exactly like your cat.

The best toy for an energetic cat like this is another cat.  Unfortunately, my other cat is not energetic enough for Chai.  Sometimes Charlie looks at me and I could swear he's saying "You deal with him.  I've had it!"

Definitely the puzzle toys and cat videos have been helpful.  I have the cat amazing and he loves it.  Also I do have those ethical springs, but they tend to get lost under furniture very quickly.  The general idea of something that goes flying with minimal prodding works well though.

Here are a few other things that have helped:

- Leash walking - seems to settle him for much longer than the equivalent time spent with interactive toys.

- Laser pointer - maybe Chai is obsessed with this too, but...I'm desperate enough that I don't care.  He loves it, and definitely he knows that I'm controlling it.

- Yoga mat folded up randomly and left on the floor.   Seriously, this is the best solo cat toy I own.

- Treat hunting game.  Right before I leave for work, I take a few treats and hide them in different spots.  If you have a nice big house, your cat might spend quite a while hunting them down.

- "Fetch".  Chai brings me toys to throw that he will chase and bring back.  I didn't teach him to do this, but if you can get your cat to figure it out it makes it possible to work on something while satisfying his need for interactive play.

Also, try playing interactively on a schedule and right after something you do consistently that serves as a cue.  Once your cat understands the schedule, he'll learn not to expect play at other times.

Another tip:  I try to make regular grooming like claw clipping and tooth brushing into a game that he enjoys.  I show him the scissors/brush and the jar of kibble, and he picks a spot and lies down for me.  Currently he charges one piece of kibble per claw and two per side of his mouth brushed.  I've been trying to get a discount on the claws.

Still, Chai is a constant challenge.  If anyone has other suggestions, I would be as interested as VB in hearing them.

VBCatParent said:

I have been thinking about those puzzles and mazes. That might be a good way for us to go. He does eat treats when offered but doesn't beg for them.

Last night we had a fun game of fetching a ball of crumpled paper. It was nice for me to sit and watch him play soccer with his little ball. It required me to supervise and throw the ball a few times, but it was less interactive.

I'm going to use plastic shot glasses and a treat to see if he will work for treats. If so, we can invest in a maze.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

Click to expand...

Colored ping pong balls may work (colored so you can see them better and not step on them LOL).  Ours spent HOURS chasing them when they were younger, and once they get bouncing, you don't have to do anything but sit back and enjoy the show.

They don't play with them so much now that they're older, though I did catch the 11 year old batting one around a couple of days ago!  

betsygee said:

 
I just looked up that catit treat maze--I've never seen one of those before.  It looks like a good idea--does your cat have one of those?

Click to expand...

yes, my cat has a catit treat maze. for snick, she's not particularly food-motivated so isn't interested in it. i'll have to see if our jasper might enjoy it though.

VBCatParent said:

I have been thinking about those puzzles and mazes. That might be a good way for us to go. He does eat treats when offered but doesn't beg for them.

Last night we had a fun game of fetching a ball of crumpled paper. It was nice for me to sit and watch him play soccer with his little ball. It required me to supervise and throw the ball a few times, but it was less interactive.

I'm going to use plastic shot glasses and a treat to see if he will work for treats. If so, we can invest in a maze.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

Click to expand...

here's a puzzle for cats that i've been thinking about buying -- http://www.chewy.com/cat/nina-ottosson-cat-mixmax-puzzle/dp/103283

mickNsnicks2mom said:

here's a puzzle for cats that i've been thinking about buying -- http://www.chewy.com/cat/nina-ottosson-cat-mixmax-puzzle/dp/103283

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! Looks pretty cool.

The other night, I showed Regent a treat and then put it under a plastic shot glass. He had no interest in retrieving the treat, so he simply walked away in a huff. Several times I called him back, lifted the cup, let him sniff the treat again, and put the cup back down. Again he just walked off in annoyance.

My next plan will be to hide treats in easy-to-reach corners of the house. If he doesn't try to find them, I'll know for sure he is not food motivated.

However, a rabbit wandered into our yard yesterday, and he spent about an hour stalking it from various windows. A bird feeder might be a good form of entertainment for him.

I put a bird feeder right outside a window where there is a multi level cat perch (post? cat tree? what are those things called?)  I also put a shelf out there for squirrels to eat. That keeps the kitties busy, but mine are old now.  I switch to a hummingbird feeder in the summer.  Cats will probably always prefer to play with a human because we change up the game all the time so it's just what they want. No plain toy could do that.  My cats never had problems with laser toys. They get bored eventually, because they figure it out.  But again, mine are old kitties now and I can't remember if they got onto the trick when they were young. I have a younger feral that I've tamed who is probably about 4, and she loves to play string and chase leaves in the yard.  Not too interested in playing by herself either.  There are cat videos. I haven't bought those, but when I play bird videos from Lang Elliott's nature video site (the .org one is the free one) one of my cats loves to bat at the birds. I think there is a video on there of birds coming to a feeder when it's snowing and it drives him nuts, and so does the red winged blackbird one. So you could try the free videos and if they are good, then maybe consider getting a DVD for kitty.

Here to provide an update on what we've tried.

Our boy is definitely not motivated by food. He enjoys hide-and-seek with food treats if I walk with him from room to room, but if I back away, he will forget the food and follow me. I got a cage type of ball and slid food through the cracks for him to wiggle the food out. He moved it around half-heartedly, glaring at me the whole time, and abandoned the ball when something more interesting appeared. 

He showed interest in a frisbee for a few minutes when I tossed it around the room. He got excited about playing with a ball of wadded up paper one night, and even fetched it for me, but the next day he hated it. He hated golf balls from the start, and anything too loud he ran away from.

The only promising thing we've bought thus far is a catnip ball. I don't mean a ball with catnip hidden -- I mean compressed, compacted catnip rolled into a hard ball. He doesn't play with it endlessly, but the mood will strike him for a few seconds to push it around, and so far that's the best performance we've seen.

He very much prefers to interact with people above all else. Even with the catnip ball on the floor, he's happier just sitting there listening to a human. 

When he sees an animal wandering into our yard, he will get excited about watching it. He also really enjoys stalking insects. So we're thinking a bird feeder might be our best option next.

Ping pong balls are quieter than golf balls, he might go for those.  I had one of those solid catnip balls--a friend gave it to us.  Out of six cats, only one was interested in it and she didn't chase it, she would just lie there and lick it.  

Maybe try a fish tank?  There's a robot fish tank kid's toy you can find at the toy store or big box store if you don't want to get an actual fish and tank set up, http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=29286376&cp=&parentPage=search

That's a good thought @LTS3. It will have to wait a while though because DH is tired of buying toys every weekend. We got him a bigger scratching tree today.

DH is setting up a new electronic gadget for the house today, so our boy is currently sitting on top of the couch to look over DH's shoulder and supervise. 

Update: I happened to find some cheap ping pong balls at the grocery store today, so I went ahead and bought some. It's the same thing as every other toy. He will chase when a human throws it, but he ignores it as soon as he's alone. 

VBCatParent said:

 
Update: I happened to find some cheap ping pong balls at the grocery store today, so I went ahead and bought some. It's the same thing as every other toy. He will chase when a human throws it, but he ignores it as soon as he's alone. 

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Well, that guy!  He's quite the character......

You said he seemed interested in the catnip ball--have you ever sprayed his toys with catnip spray?  

He seems to know the difference between spray and the real thing. He loves to nibble on the real stuff but is totally unimpressed with spray. And even then, he will only nibble when we sit on the couch and don't distract him.