Oh yeah you're very right! Every cat is a case on its own, but as a general rule I'd say try 15 minutes every day and go from there. Some cats will fully engage and 15 minutes won't be enough, some don't feel like it every day but most days - some cats just track with their heads and watch the prey forever until finally pouncing after 10 minutes. Some elderly cats don't pounce at all and just track the prey or are perfectly content watching the youngsters play. Every cat is different, but we can all agree we're dealing with predators who have an innate drive to kill stuff - if they're allowed all day long. It's not just a physical need, it's mental too.As a dog and horse person, I have to add to the "dogs need to walked" idea (which is very true.)
Most dogs need to be walked.
Some dogs need to be ran.
Some need to be worked (physical and mental) in order to be happy.
This is the difference between an older Basset Hound and a 1 year old Border Collie or a young Belgian Malinois living in a small home with a very non-active person.
Some horses need a nice slow exercise once or twice a week and time to graze on pasture, and some horses need to be worked until they can hardly catch their breath. If sweat isn't rolling off them, you need to work them more because this is what they were born to do. Move, run, be active. This is the difference between your old grade mare and your young Thoroughbred.
Never really thought about it much but I suppose some cats are like this. An elderly Persian (my guess) will need less than a 6 month old Bengal (or snowshow, that may murder you while you sleep. Just joking but aren't I kind of right, @1CatOverTheLine ?) But I wonder if this guy isn't one of those rare natural active leader types that needs to be ran and needs to hunt things on strings until he's content. I don't know.
Even if I was a vet (which I'm not) and even if I were there with you right now (which I'm not), I find Charlie's situation interesting enough to want to know what happens. Hoping for good news.
Thanks for your replies and I don't blame you at all for taking in the other cats. I can feel you want the best for all of them and I admire that. I will definitely try to keep up and help with any problems you run into along the way.I feel bad for him too. Really bad. The last thing I want is to save the other kitties and have something bad befall him as a result.
When I had to bring in the outside kitties I can fully admit I was concerned the behavior would worsen - I hoped if I did things slow - followed what I should etc be would be okay.
You mentioned him being picky or disinterested with toys and that is definitely a struggle. My Elf gets very easily bored with toys. I got a "Tabby Tiger" rod, it comes with a feather toy but you can take the feather toy off and switch it up. For Elfie I've noticed she will only go for very small ground prey. A rat-sized thing she will go after but if it's any bigger she won't. The smaller the better. My other cat liked his prey a little bigger and he just, in general, isn't as picky with the toys. Elfie needs everything to be as realistic as possible and if I pull out the same toy more than twice a week she will get bored with it very quick.
Anyway. I buy one new toy attachment for the Tabby Tiger rod maybe once a month or once every two months so it doesn't get too expensive. I'm not sure where you can buy all of these things in the US but I buy from PurrfectDesign in Belgium