How to Play With Your Cat
Tuesday April 24, 2007
My Joey loves hiding under blankies and inside paper bags. Jaspurr has claimed an old strip of sisal fabric I had bought to cover a scratching post. He rides it like a magic carpet when I pull him around on it, rolls around on it, and dives underneath it. Billy plays fetch or soccer with a wadded up piece of newspaper. Such fun!
How about your cats? What are their favorite "freebie" toys and games? Vote in the poll, then post your comments here.
Comments
It’s a tie between the “catch the mousie under the blanket” and “help with the bedsheets”.
My cat is an absolute string addict. There are three different ribbons around the house that he has taken from presents and claimed as his own. And if I’m ever wearing a jacket that has tie strings hanging from it, I’m under attack in no time!
Plastic Easter eggs on the floor and a cardboard box.
Cardboard boxes!!! Mia (short for Mi Amor) LOVES Cardboard boxes! Especially the pizza boxes she can lay on top of. I had one huge cardboard boxes that a 30″ suitcase was mailed in sitting on an angle with the bottom on the floor and the top resting on the seat of a chair. I had to rescue her once she she climbed in, slid to the bottom and couldn’t get out! It is hilarious! I usually keep cardboard boxes just for Mia!
The youngest of four cats decided a while ago that my bathrobe was alive! When it sways as I move, she attacks the hem. If I pull it across the floor, she rides it as she digs her claws in it! Saving mom from the mean ole robe?
My youngest cat has taken to playing with the lids to plastic bottles, like soda bottles or milk cartons. I liken it to cat soccer.
My Rosie-cat loves tissue paper . . . she can’t resist attacking her mouse-guy toy when he is hidden under the paper and when she gets tired, she just rests on top of it.
My 1 year old cat (Shadow or Baby, take your pick of names) discovered a bag of DumDum suckers on Easter and now loves to take them out of the bag and bat them all around the house, at all hours of the day and night. She also has learned to carry them by the stick in her mouth and drop them at my feet for me to toss them and she chases them. Its quite hilarious since we have hardwood floors — ’she can’t get no satisTRACTION”
My male cat loves boxes -even the ones he is way too big to get into. Also – Christmas AM after all the wrapping is off the gifts and on the floor – he likes hiding under colorful mountain of paper. My siamese likes her tiny mouse. She will “play fetch” for hours with it. Then – after I get tired of throwing it to her – she’ll toss it up in the air and “fetch” it by herself.
Take one large paper yard waste bag. Cut off the flat bottomed end. Make a cave out of this. Roll the edges a bit so that the cave stays stable. The cat(s) will run through it (with some encouragement), sit in it (it feels safe, like being under a bush), and (if you’re lucky) will jump on it and make a big noise. My recently departed kitty, Miss Marple, would jump on the bag and crush it every morning after breakfast, then settle into the middle like this was the most wonderful place to be. She was elderly, and this was one her most fun things to do. Cheap fun.
My cat loves peacock feathers. She grabs a 5-foot-long feather in the middle and then spins, trying to catch the ends. She carries it all around the house.
My girl loves her paper bags. I use a large stuffed mouse to run along the sides and back of it while she is in “residence” inside..and she fights the mouse from inside the bag. I learned early on to use the stuffed mouse (big one) because of getting my hands sliced and diced as claws penetrated the bag.
She loves milk tops too.
My guys like to play chase with me or with each other.
Our cat Ziggy does the funniest thing with his food. he picks individual pieces out of the bowl and flicks it on the hardwood floors. He then chases it down and eats it. I guess it’s technically not free, but he sure has fun with it!
My Topaz entertains himself with the plastic pulls off of milk and orange juice cartons. He ends up batting them under the refrigerator, stove or pantry door. He once got one piece of wrapped hard candy at a time and played with it until it went under the piano.
Both My Chessie, and My Shadow have a large fruit box that I got a Sam’s Club.
I turned it upside down, and Shadow sits on top, like its his throne, and Chessie likes to hide underneath, and tries to attack Shadow with one paw, backwards from inside the overturned box.I laugh myself silly, watching the two of them play, king or queen of the fruitbox throne.
TIN FOIL BALLS across the kitchen floor (and ultimately under the stove), drinking straws are faves too!!
One of my cats loves to play with ice cubes. She’ll come running when I pull a tray of ice out of the freezer, and meow at me until I give her one. She’ll then proceed to play ice hockey on my Pergo floors, stopping every now and then to lick the cold water off her paws…
ringo loves the rings from milk bottles,jars of nuts,etc
I grow my own catnip and will cut a large stem off the plant. I then roll it between my hands and start to tease my cats wit it. Once they get a solid wiff of what it is they are mezmorized and rip it out of my hands.