When it comes to dogs, running and playing is easy to encourage. With cats, however, a more sedentary life style is usually preferred. Although there are lots of toys available to encourage your cat to exercise and play, cats can become bored with them very quickly. Cats can be a bit finicky when deciding whether or not a toy is worthy of their time. Feedback from many of our cat owners has told us what toys tend to work the best for cats. So, here is the list of options (not necessarily in order of popularity):

1) Food Dispensing Toys- Instead of or in conjunction with feeding meals from bowls, try food dispensing, especially for cats that are very food motivated. Some of these toys can be purchased from a retailer, but it is easy to make a homemade food dispensing toy by using an empty yogurt container or something similar. Drill holes in the sides that are slightly larger than the kibbles of food. Usually, the lid of the container will need to be taped closed. Then, food will fall out while your cat bats the new toy around providing a reward for playing. As your cat gets to know how to use them, make them more difficult. For example, put the yogurt container with holes in it inside of a larger container with holes in it so that it takes longer for food to fall out. Some of the commercially available food dispensing toys includes: the MultiVet Slim Cat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser (by PetSafe), the Pipolino (available at www.pipolino.com), or Play-N-Treat Balls (by GoCatGo).

MultiVet Slim Cat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser

 

  

Play-N-Treat Food Dispensing Ball

 

 

The Pipolino Food Dispensing Toy

 

2)  Toys to Chase- A good toy to chase is the Feline Flyer (made by Cats Claws), which is basically a wand with feathers attached to it that a lot of cats love to play with. Kitty Go Crazy (by Panic Mouse) and other similar toys that are battery operated and move “on their own”. Panic Mouse randomizes the motion of the wand that holds the feather or “mouse” that the cat chases so it stays interesting. An inexpensive chasing toy option is placing a ping pong ball in empty (dry) bathtub; many cats love to bat it around.

The Feline Flyer

3) Boxes and Bags- Cats love boxes and bags, and talk about an inexpensive toy. They love to hide and climb in and out of them. If you use bags, only use paper shopping bags, NOT plastic bags as they can be hazardous. And for those that have front claws, boxes make great scratching posts. There are also boxes made for cats if you do not mind spending a little money. Peek-a-Prize Toy Box is one of the more popular ones. Your cat does not actually climb in and out of it. Rather, it is designed to hide toys to provide hours of entertainment.

 

 

 4) Laser pointers- Cats love chasing the light from a laser pointer. Some cats will spend 15-30 minutes running and chasing the laser light. Just make sure you do not shine the light in your cat’s eyes. There are several different types available on Amazon.com.

5) Make Feeding Time a Game- hiding small dishes of food in different places in the house (along with or instead of using food dispensing toys) or floaters (small handful of dry food floating on bowl of water) will make feeding more challenging making it less likely your cat will overeat.

6) Cat DVD- There is a DVD called Mewvie Birdland. Some cats will watch the twittering birds in an outdoor setting for several hours. Make the TV screen reachable so your cat can bat at the birds. The DVD can be set to play in a loop for extended continuous play. Mewvie also makes other cat videos.

Mewvie cat video featuring a squirrel

 

7) Catnip Toys- Most cats love catnip. With most cats, it causes them to “mellow out”. However, some seem slightly irritable when exposed to catnip, so it is not necessarily a good toy for every cat. But if you choose to try a catnip toy, I would suggest the catnip-stuffed cigar or mouse. Hiding these in a box can provide hours of entertainment.

 

Cat Game Apps for Smart Phones- there is a great app made for cats that is essentially a light or image that moves around on the screen for cats to play with. The three most popular are Pocket Pond, Cat Toy, and Cat Game.

 

Cat playing with an iPhone app

 

Bottom-line: Exercise and mental stimulation are essential to keeping your cat healthy. Toys are the best way to stimulate activity and provide a mental challenge. But any toy can become boring. It is important to use more than one of the options above and alternate them to keep your cat active. Also, if you purchase toys, I would suggest reading the reviews first as some can be pricey and rarely does a toy work well with every cat.

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