Entertaining a detained cat

[Melfish]

Fishcat has a horrible abscess on his side and is having to be confined to the house until it heals. He managed to get out of the cone of shame as we left the vets, and refused any attempts to get it on at home. I’ve ordered one of those soft petal looking cones, and have a baby’s t shirt ready to try and put on him if he persists in licking the abscess. He’s back at the vets in a couple of days to get it flushed out again.
He’s usually outdoors a lot and is desperate to go out. However, he’ll be in for at least 2 weeks which must be a lifetime to him.
I’ve got a squeaky bird on a string, a snake and one of those toys which looks like a giant polo mint with a ball that runs along the outer edge. He likes playing with those and attacking feet under blankets. Could anyone help with other games to play to ease his boredom over the next couple of weeks?

Mine will happily chase a walnut in a cardboard box for ages.

Da bird toy? Also if he likes catnip yeowww catnip toys (Amazon) are amazing
Mine also likes the cheap balls with a bell in, and the cardboard box scratch from pets at home which has ping pong balls in and catnip

YouTube have cat videos of mice and birds.

Boxes and bags may entertain him as well.

Thank you for all your suggestions! I’ve ordered the scratch board with the balls, and will see if there’s any decent sized boxes at work tomorrow. Will give Youtube a go- he was fascinated by a david attenborough programme on birds so you never know.

Is your squeaky bird the one that hangs on a door? If not I highly recommend them, although the noise will send you round the bend.

Can you tire him our running after balls? In my house it’s possible to throw a jingle ball through the living room door, across the hall and into another room. I have a huge number of such balls and have entertained many fosters by throwing them one by one so they chase one for a while and then come back for another go. Then I collect all the balls and start again. All done while sitting on the sofa drinking coffee. Ever the most energetic young cat need a rest after chasing 20 balls at full speed through the house.

A ping pong ball in the bath can be fun too.

We used to throw balls up and down the stairs for ours to chase at high speed, before they got too old and lazy to care.

We bought an old fashioned tassle dressing gown cord from a local craft shop and tied/dangled it from the bannister (one cat would try to jump up for it, the other would lean through the bannister to try to pull it up with their claws.

I second cardboard boxes. Mine used to love hiding underneath them and attacking toys dragged past on the outside.

Best treat of all was being allowed up in the attic (though you would probably need the tshirt on before considering that option.

Hope it heals quickly OP

Mine are under house arrest for a fortnight as the one which is free range has to stay in. They are both sleeping loads and wanting cuddles, but they are both almost 16. I have threatened the cattery if they don't behave!!!

Thank you everyone for your ideas. Fishcat now has a new scratching board (with balls), cardboard box filled with shredded newspaper, and the pet shop had a very long tunnel with portholes, which he is greatly enjoying. He also has a banana shaped catnip thing which he’s been mauling. We play fetch (lacking the bringing back part, however). He seems a good deal happier. His abscess is getting smaller and the vet was most impressed that he managed to remove the cone of shame, even when attached to his collar, in about 20 seconds.

It sounds as if he is having a very good time

I am not surprised that he doesn't bring anything back. That's Gatsby's idea, too. Chase it, find it, maybe attack it, lose interest in about 30 seconds.

He won't want to go out again
Mine had an abscess and was raging he had to sleep on a towel - he slept with one paw off the towel in defiance