Toys for a kitty who doesn't know how to play....

[tragichero]

DD and I have just become the proud owners of the most beautiful little kitty cat, who was found abandoned in a rental property when the owners left, and quite possibly has spent most of her short life locked in a garage (it was a bit of an animal-hoardinf situation, from what we can tell).

Don't know her age until we get her to a vets for a best estimate, but she seems very young. It was all a bit sudden so I only had the chance to pick up a few basic toys from Poundland/B and M, plus my lovely exH (who has more or less a cat colony!) donated some simple ones he thought she would love - but she has so far shown no interest in any, and seems to have zero chase instinct, bless her....

Has anybody got any links or recommendations for toys your cats absolutely love! I would like to try her with good quality cat-nip ones especially if I can source some - she has utterly ignored the Poundland catnip balls I got her, but also not sure they smell of anything much....)

Would be so grateful - she is the most friendly and warm hearted little cat, but I would just love to see her playful side! (If the poor little mite still has one.....)

My girl loves her banana cat nip toy and a shoe lace x 2 tied together. Don’t give up on her. She might just require more time to learn.

https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/yeowww-catnip-banana?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22797231270&gbraid=0AAAAADL7Hz6O9xPtqf4J4eL6QJyxu_CPz&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwYy7gfu1kAMVn4lQBh2RIA1AEAQYAyABEgJwofD_BwE#646=43913

She may just be a 1 toy kinda kitty. Our 2 both are, 1 likes springs the other mice, neither are interested in any other toys

Best toys for ours are

Fishing rod toys
Those kicker cat toys with catnip in (some won't have as good catnip as others though)
Laser toys

You can’t go wrong with a cardboard box!

Thank you - brilliant ideas here!

Please keep them coming. I will try anything for this lovely little cat!

I’ve got a semi feral approximately 14 week old kitten who doesn’t really know how to play either. It took a couple of weeks to get her interested in any toys and even now she’s been with me for six weeks, she would rather play with her toys alone.

She really likes balls of tin foil and will chase them
for ages, dangling toys tied to door handles are popular as well as a small scratching post and little crinkly toys she can throw up in the air and catch. She will occasionally chase a laser pointer but if she sees me holding a toy and trying to interact with her, then she’ll walk away.

Here’s my kitten tax!

I strongly recomnend Molly's Mice catnip toys.
Otherwise large feathers are good and cardboard boxes are always fun.

Our little cherub is 11 weeks old and now playing properly.

She loves the dangly fishing rod with bright blue fish from pets at home and a little squishy ball that came free With a McDonald's happy meal.

We also got a laser and her best toy of all is a cat tunnel from home bargains Tunnel

Also any cardboard box will do too

Here's my kitten tax

The most popular 'toy' with our senior cat and both youngsters is a long length of garden twine dragged along behind us/occasionally flicked up into the air. Our young girl will carry the string to us when she wants to play. Of the bought toys, they like fishing rod-type with feathers and any balls with feathers. They also all like the small cuddly birds that cheep when batted/chucked around and this catnip-filled thing that looks like a dead rat that's had its entire insides removed (basically an unstuffed cuddly toy with a big fluffy tail).

On the catnip front, not all cats respond to it and I believe those that do only become interested as they become a little older. My old girl has never shown an interest. Our youngsters became interested once they were 8-9 months old, having shown no interest up to that point. They love it now though: they go nuts and are completely unable to decided to eat it or roll in it first, so try to do both badly and simultaneously 😬

She also might be too busy still figuring out where she is/if she's safe to give any energy to playing yet. She probably needs a bit more time.

I usually start with a stick, like a piece of willow which is swishy from the garden, small balls that I flick around once they get more used to playing and a cardboard box which my semi ferals love to shred from the inside out. When they were kittens and we had 4 of them living on the terrace I made a climbing frame with dangly sticks and a plank to walk up and another to sit on, all from some wood cutting trestles and a few plants of wood, some string and some sticks. They still play with it now 2 years later.

It took my boy a long long time to play. Oddly he has picked a tennis ball as his favourite toy.

I'd also check out Jackson Galaxy on Youtube on how to play with cats.

Turned out I was a rubbish playmate and games were much better when I upped my skills.

The 2 brands of catnip toys that seem to be the best are Mollie's Mice, and the Yeowww range. But as a pp said, cats rarely get into catnip until they are at least 8-9 months old.

Seconding the crinkly ball things, and mine love tiny little toy mice which they can throw about the place. Things you can drag along the floor & wiggle about, like a ribbon or bit of faux fur in a stick can be good. One of DSis's cats has a "thing" about when they wiggle a stick around underneath a towel or throw, pounces on it like you see in the films of arctic foxes diving into the snow.

My rescue cat will not play with anything. Despite me spending a fortune on toys. I think it’s just her!

Our boy likes the catnip mice from Pets at Home, and little felt balls I got from Amazon but I think were actually sold via Battersea. He has a wicker basket of toys and will get them out and play by himself, but he also likes me to play with him with a ribbon (currently a waist tie cord from a pair of trousers as the last ribbon got quite frayed). He goes and sits at the drawer the ribbon lives in and miaows until I get it out. I don’t leave that in the toy box in case he ends up caught up in it on his own.

Our previous girl wasn’t much interested in toys and I always got the impression she was humouring me if she played with me. She did like a track thing with balls in it and would go through phases of being absolutely obsessed with it, then ignore it for months. The day she actually got one of the balls out of it was a very proud moment for all of us!

Hadn't realised there were more replies! Thanks all, some great ideas on here.

My mom ordered her the Yeowww banana linked to above and she does at least seem to like the smell of it, and will sit sniffing it for a while. (I think the catnip must be very strong as even I can smell it, and I can't usually smell catnip in cat toys at all...

Still wouldn't say I have actually seen her play though. But she is growing in confidence generally every day, so I suppose you never know. As the friend who rescued her from the garage said to me today, maybe she is so used to her little life being a struggle, just waiting and hoping for the next bit of food to come, she may be too tired at the moment and just relieved she isn't starving any more.

She certainly enjoys her food! And cat treats. And cuddles. So as long as she is happy I guess it doesn't matter.

I will definitely check out the video on how to play with cats, though!

Thanks again all. And your kittens are beautiful!

Small plastic ball/ping pong ball.
Fishing rod toy with feathers on.

I’ve found that a cardboard box (Amazon ones seem to be the favourite) 😻 and a sheet of greaseproof paper on the floor with toys underneath it. Little balls, screwed up tin foil, plastic bottle tops etc. They really like the sound the paper makes trying to get the toys out. Oh and also cat nip. Everywhere!!!

Just a little word of warning re the fishing rod toys. One of my kitties got the string wrapped around her tail. It frightened so she ran but, of course, it followed her. Luckily I was here so all was well. Might be worth bearing in mind

Our cat loves small soft toys to carry about ( Siamese so quite dog like ) and she also likes wand toys . Her favourite at the moment is the Zoon flamingo .
https://www.coolings.co.uk/shop/products/pet-care/pet-accessories/zoon-nip-it-flamingo-tickle-stick.html

I would get her a tiny soft mouse filled with cat nip.. smal enough for her to chase and get in her little jaws. She doesn’t need to mean to play, it’s her instinct. She will love being teased and chasing a shoelace. The simplest toys are the best. If you want to splash some cash, there is a toy called ‘Da Bird’ which is feathers on a wand that mimic a flying bird- my cat’s are obsessed with it.

Sorry, should read.. she doesn’t need to learn to play..

Even more good ideas here, thanks!

I have ordered a cat tree in case she likes to climb (I have a separated thread on this) and today for some small soft furry mice as suggested above from B and M, and also this thing that you fill with treats and hang on the doorknob and if the cat pulls down a pompom it releases treats.

All ignored so far! But they don't take up much space so I will keep it all in the hope she may recover from her garage ordeal and become more confident in time.

She already looks a lot glossier and less bony, so fingers crossed!

Well, I just came back to say that this morning, for the first time since I took her in (I think it has been about three weeks now) she actually played with a toy! I noticed she was almost stalking a shadow on the wall, so I got one of those elastic fishing rod toys out, and she played with it with moderate enthusiasm for about four minutes!

This feels like massive progress! But also makes me sad for her, that what she went through (abandoned, locked in a garage for months) clearly had such an impact on her. But every day she does seem more and more herself, by degrees.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations on this thread by the way - we bought nearly all of them, just in case, and I think we now have enough cat toys to open a kitten daycare! But it will be worth it if even some of them make her happy.

(She does also occasionally carry her expensive catnip banana into my room at night. But she doesn't play with it as such. I think it's more of a comfort banana).

@tragichero if you have a TV have you tried putting cat tv on for her ? Ours regularly watches the birds and chipmunk ones on You Tube and her late brother used to enjoy the fish ones .