Need Advice: How To Encourage My Cats To Play

[mydarlingsamson]

Hi, I bought a 1.7m cat tower awhile ago and yesterday it finally arrives. After assembling it, to my dismay, none of my 3 cats shown ANY interest whatsoever in it. It is really expensive, I can't believe they won't even touch it argggh...and so, how can I encourage them to climb up and play on it?

I have a 6 years old and 4 years old boy, also a 9 mths old girl. My girl she went up after I carried her up there and tease her with the furry mice that dangled off the top of the tower. But my both boys...sigh

To be honest, both of them had never show much interest in toys. I have spent so much buying various toys over the years with no success... Same goes for treats. The only thing they will eat is those liquid snacks... and i think even that they are sick of it now... Any other kind of treats and snacks as well, they are not interested in it at all...

They are so sedentary ( (100% indoors, letting them outside is not an option where I live) I want them to get more exercise... My 6 years old is like 16lbs, 4 yrs old is at 18lbs and even the 9 mths old is 10lbs... (i live together with my dad and he is a stubborn goat that over indulge my cats regardless what I said)

 

[rubysmama]

Cats are funny like that. You spend money, build the cat tower, and they ignore it.

Is it in a window? That should encourage them to check it out. Maybe sprinkle some catnip on it. I'd suggest treats, but guess that won't work since they're not big treats fans.

Here's an article with 7 Proven Ways To Get Your Cat To Be More Active that may have some tips for you.

And one on How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

 

[mydarlingsamson]

Cats are funny like that. You spend money, build the cat tower, and they ignore it.

Is it in a window? That should encourage them to check it out. Maybe sprinkle some catnip on it. I'd suggest treats, but guess that won't work since they're not big treats fans.

Here's an article with 7 Proven Ways To Get Your Cat To Be More Active that may have some tips for you.

And one on How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

It is not at the window at the moment, I plan to move the shoe cabinet and some stuff out of the main windowed area first and then move the cat tree over. That got to wait until the weekend. Hopefully that works.

As for food wise, I have explained to my dad MANY times, honestly, I have lost count... I even linked articles, exaggerate about the health issues they would get if they are obese, but he is such an undisciplined person... he will says "ok,ok" but then cave in and feed them behind my back if they beg for it and give him puppy/kitty eyes.

I just brought him to task about the weight of my kitten recently...especially after the death of Samson, I'm super sensitive right now about the well being of my babies. She is a 9 months old kitten, she has no right to be at 10lbs =.= that is like the weight of an adult cat... she looks pregnant...like the kind that's going to pop anytime soon, and jumping down from the couch to the floor she is making noise like "umpft"...

I can't watch over them 24/7, and I can't exactly get rid of my dad either lol I appreciate that he come to love the cats as well but he is projecting the love wrongly imo...

So I figure the only way to combat my dad's sabotaging is to get them to exercise...

Puzzle feeders: checked (they lost interest super fast)
Hunting simulation: they wait for you to bring the toy to them while they lie down... my 4 years old don't even care for laser...my 6 years old who used to love laser can't be bothered anymore as well LOL
Cat furniture: yup, i got a few of those... not working well as well... mostly ignored

I think this post question should have been how to educate my dad LOL

 

[Animal Freak]

Could you possibly convince your dad to give them less food? I, too, have a cat that begs for food. Since I'm the one who started it, I feel bad ending it, but she's gotten overweight. So instead I've limited it to a few small bites 2-3 times a week. The pieces are very tiny, just enough to appease her. And you can also cut down on the food you give them at meal times to make up for the other food they're getting.

As far as treats go, have you tried Pure Bites? They're 100% real meat. I just got chicken recently and all of my cats (and my dog) love them. Even more than the Temptations.

For the cat tower, I think putting it in front of the window would be helpful. I have three and they're all by windows. I have a bird feeder outside of one too. They really enjoy that. And some catnip could get their attention. If catnip doesn't work, maybe Valerian.

My cats are also lazy creatures and I've struggled to get them to play. Of the three, only one likes the laser light and she'll only play for a minute or two at a time. A lot of people have luck with Da Bird toys. I didn't. I got a $15 Da Bird and they weren't interested. I got a $2 colorful ribbon and it got way more interest from them. And I would attach different toys to it every few days to maintain some interest.

Currently, the favorite toy is basically just a string. It's not even something I got for them, but they love it. So more expensive and extravagant isn't always the way to go. If you haven't already, them it might be worth trying just a simple string or something similar.

 

[KarenKat]

That's really tough that they won't play and your Dad is too indulgent.

When it comes to playing, do you ever see them stalking or getting really interested in things out the window, or in the house? Some cats like different toy styles. We have one cat, Gohan, that is terrible at playing, he mainly watches the other cats. But he loves "ground prey" - anything that is like a snake on the ground he will stalk and pounce if you move it just right - in little fits and starts and having it hide behind stuff. He still doesn't play enough to tire himself out, but he at least gets some angst out. Our other cat Olive is definitely a bird-cat. Da Bird is her favorite toy ever. And Trin loves this stupid leather tassel fishing toy. I don't know what that would be in the wild ... a leather octopus?

Also, we found some treats Gohan likes after years of searching. It's weird, he only eats these fancy feast real chicken bites. Individually packaged with presumable all the preservatives. But he eats that (he won't even eat real chicken, lol). Does your Dad feed them too much cat food, or does he feed some table scraps? If he feeds table scraps, see if there is some cat-safe treat that is similar.

As for being overweight, what are you feeding them currently? Maybe you can find a different food that won't be so bad if they are overfed on it. I know a lot of cats do terrible on carbs, so if you find a food that is lower in carbs maybe the overfeeding won't be so bad since you have no control on what your dad does. Trin is free-fed, and a few years ago we switched off some really unhealthy corn-based food to a more meat-based one and he happened to get a lot of energy and he naturally lost 3 pounds even without reducing his rations. He also started playing and climbing much more often, which just helped the whole weight loss thing.

 

[rubysmama]

I think this post question should have been how to educate my dad LOL

I know your Dad loves them and wants them to be happy, but remind him that like humans, overweight kitties are prone to more illnesses, like diabetes, and with those things will come more vet bills.

 

[Kal_shadowsmom]

I recently got a cat tree for Shadow. My concern was that she would pee on it. She has a history of peeing on cat furniture...but I digress.

When I brought the cat tree in the house, she was cautious of it. I basically threw a bunch of catnip on every level of the tree and let her explore it in her own time.

She barely ever sits with me anymore, shes always in that darn tree. lol

I don't know what type of tree you got for your furballs, but observe them if they become interested in it after catnip. They could be exploring it when you aren't looking and there could be stability issues if all three are on the tree at once.

If it wobbles even a little they might not feel safe playing on it.

As KarenKat mentioned on the food front. Switch to a high protein diet for all of them. Getting the carbs out of their food is a lot like a low carb diet for a human. Carbs in excess cause us to put on a lot of weight, so the same for cats.

I might suggest locking up your cat food when you are away, if possible. If you are the only one feeding your cats, then you can monitor and control their diets easier.

I had to start being the sole feeder myself because I was afraid that if my dad got involved in the feeding Shadow would be overfed (because she never says no to food) and overweight.