What toys does your cat like?

My cat is bored. I believe that's why she has a problem with excessive licking. What toys does your cat like? I would like to get a few ideas. Thanks.

Originally Posted by hannahgirl

My cat is bored. I believe that's why she has a problem with excessive licking. What toys does your cat like? I would like to get a few ideas. Thanks.

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They all LOVE glitter balls! They can't get enough!!!

Of all the toys we bought for him, he likes a piece of string from a sweatshirt the best. Well he just found a highlighter on the floor that he keeps pushing around and pouncing.

pen caps!!

For when I'm not home:

Smidge loves any toy that is somewhat life size to prey - big enough to fit in her mouth to carry but not so small she could choke. If it is too big she doesnt like. She's very into stalking, pouncing and torturing her "prey" so that's what she likes. She's also a huge fan of rollerballs with the bell.

If I'm playing with her she is iiiiinnnsaaanee(!) about the feather fishing rod toy. It really gets her moving and dancing - and makes her sleepy after a good run. She got bored of the cat dancer almost immediately although many here have had great success with it.

If your kitty is bored you may try doing two set play sessions per day - morning and night - for a set period of time (like 15 min for ex.). Give her a high protein treat when done. Many people I've known have good success with their pet when they have a single cat and are at work all day for many hours.

one thing that def keeps my cat entertained while I'm gone is to tie a piece of string to the tail of a catnip mice and tape the string to the top of her scratching post. She prefers to have it taped there, rather than a shelf or doorway. I can tell she plays with it while I'm gone cause sometimes she rips the tails right off!

She loves carboard boxes, esp ones with holes cut into the side so I can stick my fingers, or a toy, through the hole while she's in the box and she tried to paw at them through the holes. Very cute. She can play that game for a long time and it's easy for me to do while watching TV on the couch.

She also has a round mesh hamper that serves the same purpose and she rolls around in it and I push my fingers through the fabric and she goes crazy!

And she loves anything I can dangle for her.

My cats like the fuzzy mice, feather on a stick, and a thick shoelace.

Anything I can throw for him to fetch and anything I can tease him with that's on a wand. He rarely plays by himself, so it has to be something I do, and it has to be vigorous!

Kandie loves bread ties and milk jug things.. oh and anything catnip

Zoey the cat dancer , a catnip pillow and other catnip rope

Alex loves his little jingly balls that are a $1.97 at walmart for a dozen. They are called Midnight Crazies, I think. He carries them around the apartment like they're his prey. Both cats LOVE the Cat Dancer. I have to hide it when I'm not playing with them or they destroy it. Once I hide it they go looking for it, and if they know where I put it they try to get it.

Bella *loves* her fur mousies. She has a zillion of them hidden away somewhere, and she switches them out periodically. Rowan's favorite toy so far is probably a wad of aluminum foil. He'll play with a track ball thingy (round plastic track with a ball trapped in it, and it has a cardboard circle in the middle) sometimes, but that toy keeps getting shoved under the end table where he can't pounce on the ball. Non-toy wise, Rowan just loves to play chase with Bella. And tail-swatting is a big deal around the house, but they switch off on swater and swatee.

They'll occasionally chase balls, but mousies seem to be preferred. And Bella hsa been teaching Rowan about mousies, so they'll sometimes play with one or two together.

I'd recommend that you get the track ball thingie. I haven't met a cat who doesn't like to play with one, and I've seen cats play with them for hours (actually, it's the only toy that my kid brother's cat, Loki, will play with). Loki sometimes falls asleep playing, and then wakes up for a bit more playing. It's the first toy that Rowan played with (he's not big on toys or treats). Since I didn't describe it very well, this is what I'm talking about: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

A piece of foil rolled into a ball is enough to keep my baby entertained for hours!!! Also his scratching post and kitty condo.

The mylar balls from petco, toilet paper tubes (he loves to bunny kick them and you can draw strange faces on them, haha), milk jug rings, fishing rod toys, highlighter caps and anything with feathers.... every cat has a toy type preference, so you kinda gotta experiment - hence the reason I wont spend a lot on a cat toy unless I KNOW it's a type he loves

Originally Posted by abnihon

one thing that def keeps my cat entertained while I'm gone is to tie a piece of string to the tail of a catnip mice and tape the string to the top of her scratching post. She prefers to have it taped there, rather than a shelf or doorway. I can tell she plays with it while I'm gone cause sometimes she rips the tails right off!

She loves carboard boxes, esp ones with holes cut into the side so I can stick my fingers, or a toy, through the hole while she's in the box and she tried to paw at them through the holes. Very cute. She can play that game for a long time and it's easy for me to do while watching TV on the couch.

She also has a round mesh hamper that serves the same purpose and she rolls around in it and I push my fingers through the fabric and she goes crazy!

And she loves anything I can dangle for her.

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Those are great ideas! Thank you!

My cats don't like to chase balls very much. Hector and Jacques go crazy when I get out our laser pointer. Hector almost climbed a wall the other day trying to catch it! Mr. Gray however won't have anything to do with it and prefers to play with his feather wand. If you swish them around in the air with a little force the feathers make kind of a fluttering noise and even though he's never been outside I swear he thinks the thing is a live bird! Also, if the threat of some minor play scratches doesn't bother you, wrestling with your cat can be a lot of fun! Mr. Gray will plop down on his side and I'll shake his belly and tease him while making a purring sound with my tongue. He wraps all four paws around my arm (usually with claws retracted) and will play bite on me until I stop making the noise. I use the noise for an audio clue to show the difference between when I want to play with him and when I'm petting his belly. This way when friends come over and try to scratch his belly he doesn't attack them since they don't make the noise!

I really appreciate all of the ideas, Cats do love to hunt and my cat will gain interest in anything that she sees disappear under a piece of paper. Last night I was playing with her and she accidentally jabbed her claw right into my toe, so I now know to give some distance. It's true that some of the toys they enjoy the most are not actually toys! The most important thing is to include play each day. Your ideas were all AWESOME!!! Thanks again!!!

Laura loves things like her fur mouse, paper or tin foil rolled into a ball, pens that are on the table and just *need* to be smacked down several times a day oh and she adores a simple ball of wool, even if it looks more like a dirty bundle of wool by now cause she keep chewing and drooling on it

Lucifer plays with the walls if I put stickers on them just out of reach, the plastic milkjug rings, paper balls, half-dollars on the wood floor, and... um... bees (don't ask).

He also makes it his duty to pull everything off every tv-table he can, to climb to the highest shelf he can reach and then leap off, and to open any closed door he can operate.

My favorite, though, is this--recently he's started learing to move the mouse and/or step on the keyboard to either make the cursor on my screen start moving or a bunch of letters start filling up the space in front of him. And then he tries eating them through the screen. Strange, strange boy.