# how much do you play with your cat?



## catnapped (Nov 11, 2010)

My newly adopted kitty is probably a little under a year old and has been with us for five weeks. She was picked up by the rescue centre from a life on the streets at six months and kept in a room by a foster family for about three. She's pretty sociable, likes to be petted a little and sit near us, though not on us yet. My main concern is her huge appetite for play. After a minute or two petting leads to rolling over and gently nipping, which is a signal that she wants to play, and when she plays she's very fierce and serious and looks like she'd be a great hunter. I live in an apartment so she has no garden and although we play with her for 10-15 minutes regularly throughout the day, she never has enough! She does play by herself a bit but wants to play with us more, and throws herself at our feet every time we walk around. I'm afraid she might be frustrated and bored. How much do you play with your cat every day, and do you have any tips on good games (mostly she likes to pounce on a piece of string while sitting in an armchair!)?
Thanks!


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Hi and welcome! It seems like kittens in that 6 months to a year age frame are just insatiable when it comes to play. I play(ed) with my cats for about 10 minutes 2-3 times a toy called da' bird. Its a long light pole with a long string and a cluster of feathers on the end that when you flip it around it "flies" like a bird. My cats go NUTS for this toy and really exert themselves. They are usually pretty satisfied for a while after that and they will have a wash and a sleep.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

I have two and they each get 10-15 minutes in the morning and again at night. Franny loves to chase her blue fish toy, which is at the end of a 3' string attached to a 2' wand. She gets going pretty good, including flips and flying lunges. After about 15 minutes she's usually had enough. Franklin is not as animated but loves to play with the same toy, after the fish has been removed. After about 15 minutes he wanders into the kitchen for a little chow  My GF has a 9 month old kitten and we have yet to figure out how to tire her out


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## paperbacknovel (Jun 9, 2010)

My cats love Da Bird too, and it really wears them out!

Actually, my best advice is to get another cat around her age. They will wear each other out playing with each other, and will probably start going for your ankles.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

I agree that a second cat helps. My apartment is carpeted and I am astounded at the speed these two can generate chasing each other  He chases her into the bed room at Mach I and half a second later she is chasing him out at the same speed. After 3 or four laps they're good for a nap


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## rketto (Aug 22, 2010)

Definitely get two kittens. They will have a lifelong best friend and be generally happier/healthier in the long run.


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## Ducman69 (Aug 28, 2010)

My two wear each other out, but I actually really enjoy playing with them and I don't have television service, so about an hour a day I would guess. 

Probably why they eat so dang much.


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## catnapped (Nov 11, 2010)

Thanks everyone who replied! Genie gets played with for 10-15 minutes between 4 and 6 times a day but it's never enough. Even when her body is tired she'll lie on the floor and bat at a toy! She spends hours playing by herself too, running around the house and peering fiercely at us from behind chairs. I'd love to get her a playmate but can't really afford to care for two cats properly at the moment. I guess she'll grow up and out of it, or we can move somewhere with a garden next year! She's getting a bit more cuddly though, which is nice.


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## reprot (Nov 11, 2004)

I try to get one on one at least once a day. Da Bird is da bomb. My cats are nuts over that thing.


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## iunipera (Nov 7, 2010)

My cat (13yo) has her exercise every night...usually not initiated by me. She randomly and frantically runs up and down the stairs (usually at 2am) and sometimes just runs around the house. I keep a few toys out and around that she seemed to like- small batting mice, catnip mouse, pingpong ball, tackle sacks. She seems to get enough exercise that way.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

We call that going into Rocketbutt mode! :grin: I love when my cats do that. It was Cleo tonight and it was soooo funny!!


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## iunipera (Nov 7, 2010)

HA! Love it! Rocketbutt mode! I've always referred to the Ghost Mouse. Before she was an indoor kitty and I lived in a forest, she was a great hunter. When I moved to an urban area, she had to give up hunting to be inside all day


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Oh, I love Ghost Mouse!!! What a purrfect description!


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## missy (Apr 23, 2010)

Interactive play is ... interesting to say the least with a Bengal and a Feline Flyer (same as Da Bird) in one hand and a Siamese and a Feline Flyer in the other.:smile:

What you end up with is a Bengal with TWO feather toys in its mouth, growling, and swinging her body one foot off the ground (my way of trying to get her to let go of the feather toys) and a Siamese with no feather toys.:smiles

So clearly I need to play interactively with them separately. I can do this by shutting my Bengal in a room (MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! Why am I not allowed to be out there playing?) and playing with Tsuki my Siamese as she plays with the feather toy. She plays with it, lets go of it, and we play a good rousing game.

Then it's my Bengal's turn. CHOMP. She catches the feather toy in one fell swoop.:love2 I do try, believe me. I flitter it all over the room. I make it go high and low. But sooner or later I will mess up, and the second I do, she will grab it. Once she grabs it, she has a death grip like an alligator. She is never letting go of it, not ever. Game over! And sometimes, the poor feather toy doesn't even get out of the gate. I'm trying to get it ready and she grabs it. I have to spray her in the face with water to get it away from her.:wink

Serena isn't so much into the feather toy. What Serena really loves most of all is a big ole tub of catnip.:love2 Or her favorite catnip toys.:love2 Those make her go ga-ga.:kittyturnI have the greatest video of Serena with a tub of catnip that she has knocked over and rolled around in.


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## catnapped (Nov 11, 2010)

Love Rocketbutt mode! Genie goes into that at least three times a day, and she makes this little noise like a muffled bicycle bell constantly as she runs around the house, I don't know how to spell it! New kitty-initiated game involves pouncing on me every time I move under a blanket!


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

I have to admit that I'm not especially great with playing with Murphy; I find it pretty tedious. Since I'm the one who feeds him, scoops his litterbox twice a day, and changes the litter completely every other week, I fully expect my husband to be the one who plays with him. See, once again mothers get no appreciation and fathers get all the glory. :-(


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Wow, we play constantly throughout the day. If I'm walking through the apartment he's always waiting around a corner to pounce out at me. If I'm at the computer he's on the desk batting at stuff I'm using. If we're watching TV in bed he's chasing my fingers under the blanket... so unless he's asleep or I'm not home we're interacting in some way.


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## BarbieAnn (Nov 8, 2010)

My Kitty loves to play in the AM and PM - so I play for about 1 hour in the AM and then a couple of hours in the evening before bedtime. She is 10 weeks old and loves heavy duty plastic shopping bags - a rolled up knee high tossed into a pair of shoes and she loves looking for it. She jumps on her scratching post - loves balls and small stuffed animals.


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