To ask how you play with your cat

[Cheeseandlobster]

My lovely rescue boy is an indoor cat with a catio. However he is getting a bit tubby. He has a tunnel, foil things, mice, bell balls,a cat tree and toilet roll tubes. We play with him with a laser pen, bubbles and his favourite thing which is a back scratcher with a shoe lace attached. But it's not enough and running a shoe lace around gets a bit boring sometimes.

So what do you do to exercise your cat? I would love some new ideas please 😊

If he's chubby, he might be food orientated. You can try one of the food dispensing puzzle balls they roll around.

Ours allows you to adjust opening size to make it easy to start but harder once they get the hang of it.

www.amazon.co.uk/PetSafe-Food-Dispensing-Interactive-Dispenser-Activity/dp/B0018CG40O

Ping pong ball

My cat just has a plant she loves (it's an invasive weed, a vine like thing) that she wants me to pull out the ground and wave around for her. She loves it more than any wand toy. Laser pointers can be a bit frustrating to them as they don't ever get to "catch" something, so if he does go for it give him something to physically catch after. Honestly I've found a lot just depends on the personality of a cat (I've fostered almost 20 now and no two like the same things, and some just really don't want to play..) but catnip can get the more reluctant hunters going. IMO (and the opinion of everyone at the shelter I foster for!) this wand toy (Amazon link) is the best for getting reluctant hunters going.

Also combining a wand toy with the tunnel can work really well especially for cats who are used to "real life hunting". With the cat in the tunnel kind of brush the toy over the top of the tunnel so it rustles. The limited vision of the cat means they can get quite excited before they realise it's a toy rather than a real animal. Following up play with food mimics their natural cycle of hunting and eating as well which can be good.

Final suggestion is to look at slow feeders / enrichment feeders. They're not play per se but make cats work (and move) for their food.

Tin foil balls and a laser pen (on the wall, not in his eyes!)

l have four cats and they all play and chase one another, l have a big garden with lots of trees, that keeps them busy.

Let the cat out, they can then do what cars like doing

Toasty Boy Cat has a thing about knocking pens off the coffee table. He's also partial to chasing toes that are under the duvet.

You need a ‘da bird’….

We got two rescues - a brother and sister- so they play together a lot. We had a lot of cat toys for them, but the only ones they ever liked were fluffy pretend mice, so we just chuck them about for them.

Ours mostly just prefer cuddles though, to be honest.

I’ve read laser pens aren’t a good idea for cats - they can’t work out where the light goes, or ever catch it, so the cats get frustrated.

Run them over?

Dcat loves green beans (the raw vegetables) to play with. We throw one for her and she chases it, then she’ll start throwing it around herself and sometimes carries it around in her mouth before playing again. Her other favourite at the moment is joining in with dice and counter based board games and knocking pieces into the floor whilst walking all over then sitting on the board - never fails!

@Cheeseandlobster you sound as if you are doing all the right things . Mine have all of those - one in particular loves the sparkly balls like this from Amazon and he loves the feather thingy. I down think the amount of food you are talking about is a lot. My two eat 3 lots of wet food a day and biscuits!

Mine absolutely love this motorized wand cat toy as did their predecessors.
It's a mat with a motor underneath and a wand which moves around.
It's great because they will play with this by themselves for hours. They won't play with other toys on their own and insist on me playing with them - which isn't always possible as I'm WFH. So if I need quiet - the Cat's Meow gets switched on!

One of mine likes the Catit Design track with an illuminated ball in it. However, I've tried it with four cats and he is the only one who has played with it so it's a bit hit and miss.

They also like hexbugs - but you have to be careful with them because they are small - so make sure they are supervised.
We've also had hexbug fish too and I made an aquarium out of a plastic box - only problem with that was that water ended up all over the floor.

Someone else mentioned "Da Bird" - that's a fantastic toy.

One of mine loved.green beans too! Another one now loves little brussels sprouts and will chase them all over the house.

Look at potentially investing in a cat wheel if you have the space and budget. Basically a hamster wheel, but for cats. My cat loves his wheel.

I play hide and seek with one of mine. I'll hide upstairs and call her name. She comes and tries to find me. When she does find me I'll chase her and she hides. I then pretend I can't find her until I do then I chase her again.

Throwing a ball up the stairs is another game. It rolls down and they chase it.

I forgot to mention these springs in my previous post. These are great. Cheap and cheerful and move fast across laminate floors! Hours of entertainment.

Mine loves a little foil ball, which I throw into a paper carrier bag lying on it's side. He hurls himself into the bag in hot pursuit and skids, inside the bag, along the floor. Keeps him amused for ages, and cheers me up no end.

We play chase the nibble. Basically DH gets about 5 or six bits of dry food and throws them the length of the living room. She chases after them!

At the moment the favourite toy is a bath mat and a bit of ribbon. I pull the ribbon along under the bath mat, the bath mat gets killed to death.

Mine’s outdoor and pours scorn on all toys but he likes a) being chased around the house (you wait round a corner and scare him, he loves it) and b) when he thinks there’s something under something so if you put a stick or anything really under a bath mat or a duvet, he gets very excited.

Ha snap @PriamFarrl!

My cat likes to hide then jumpout at me

another favourite is stroke tummy time pretend to snooze and then attack and he really does attack ears go back grabs my hand and his eyes are terrifying. It’s a game he enjoys and I don’t

Some blooming brilliant ideas and links. I never thought of chasing him around the house but this sounds like great fun and I think he would enjoy that too

Mine likes "fighting" with my arm under the duvet cover. She loves this game and gets very excited when she sees me making the bed.

why isn't he an outdoor cat? I have never had to play with my cats!