Cat wants to play a lot but also doesn't play well?

Babypinkweeb

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Recently, likely due to better diet and the addition of a younger energetic second cat, my older cat has become more playful and energetic. However he has developed new habits that I'm not sure how to manage. He just had his full senior exam and testing a month ago with clean bill of health, and has a history of no health issues.

He went from not having interest in any toys for his entire life, to wanting to play at least 3 times a day. He is obsessed with a new toy I recently found for him, so that's the only toy he reacts to. Anything else I have he shows no interest. He always starts off sitting on top of the bin where I put the cat toys and start either knocking over things or pawing at the door. We take out the toy and he is a very very slow to play cat. He will spend most of his time looking at it while lying down, and only gets bursts of rolling/grabbing once in a while. His play sessions end up lasting anywhere from 10-40mins, but he is barely playing during majority of that time. It's frustrating cus every time he looks like he's done, and we think we can go back to work, he keeps knocking things over to show he wants it out again. He also plays with the other cat but seems to prefer the toy more. The second cat is energetic but he plays with any toy we use, and plays very intensely so he wears out quickly.

I'm happy my older cat is becoming more playful, but it's difficult to make time for him every time he wants to play. Right now we are both working and studying from home, but our work requires us to be in front of computer for 8-10 hrs a day, and in the future when we have to leave the house for work, I'm not sure what we can do about it. He's never been a troublemaker but now he has learned to make noise and knock things over when he demands play time. He shows 0 interest in any self-play toys, barely pays attention to cat TV, doesn't care for our big windows, etc. He literally just wants that one single toy all the time, and wants us to engage him with it (which is difficult as he is extremely difficult to tease!)

What can I do to better this situation for both my cat and us?

EDIT: I also do not think he is asking for food nor attention from us. He's always been more independent cat and doesn't care much for pets or scritches, and when he is hungry he begs in a totally different way. The only other behavior change I can think of is that he also pesters our new cat to play, but they seem to be mismatched on their play schedule. That results in times when he is mrrrping a TON while the other cat isn't engaging him, but other times when the other cat wants to play, he shows 0 interest.
 

KarenKat

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We had a very similar thing with our 7 year old cat Gohan. When we adopted our new 2 year old cat we tried play therapy to help them to get along. Gohan was the worst! I would sit there and tease him and drag his toy around for minutes while he would get more and more interested but would stay in his crouch. One pounce was a success and obviously he didn’t get tired.

Over time we learned what would cause him to run, what toys he liked, and he learned to be more active. Unfortunately I don’t have any fun tips and tricks other than experimenting with what movements and toys get him to most engage and play off of those. Hopefully he gets better at playing over time.
 
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Babypinkweeb

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We had a very similar thing with our 7 year old cat Gohan. When we adopted our new 2 year old cat we tried play therapy to help them to get along. Gohan was the worst! I would sit there and tease him and drag his toy around for minutes while he would get more and more interested but would stay in his crouch. One pounce was a success and obviously he didn’t get tired.

Over time we learned what would cause him to run, what toys he liked, and he learned to be more active. Unfortunately I don’t have any fun tips and tricks other than experimenting with what movements and toys get him to most engage and play off of those. Hopefully he gets better at playing over time.
Gohan sounds like my Boogie! He doesn't chase the toy nor make any jumps... at most he will slowly saunter over to where we are "hiding" it, and then do like a 3 inch pounce. His main form of play is lying on his side and wiggling his arms to try and grab it... Most of the time he lies on his side just looking at it, or looking elsewhere, etc... But as soon as we put it away, he acts all offended that we dared to end it prematurely! :headscratch:

They do run a lot when they play chase with each other, but those sessions are usually short. Half the time it's also one-sided, so it ends before it really began. I have a full bin of reject toys that haven 0 effect on him, but at least now they see use again with my second cat!:lol:
 

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I really don't have any solutions for you, but just wonder why you are putting the toy away? Perhaps, buy more of the same toy and keep them out for him to see all the time, even if he doesn't play with them. There could be a tad bit of 'jealousy' going on with Boogie, given he sees you giving the other cat attention at times, and he wants more - even if he didn't ask for that much play time from you before you brought a new cat into your home. I don't know how long you have had the new cat, but I still feel some of this behavior will wane as time passes.

Some cats are just lousy players! Feeby only loves one toy - and old shoe string that has nearly been around as long as she has. And, she too will mostly just lay on her back or side - paws up in the air trying to grab/bat at it. Once she seems to be 'over it' which is generally in a matter of moments, we stop - but, we leave the shoe string with her. That toy is left out all the time, along with the other ribbons/strings that once were her favorites too. She used to grab them from the toy box, and carry them around the house in her mouth all the while 'talking'. Since we have left those ribbons/strings out and available to her, she has stopped trying to get at them - to the point that she practically ignores them.
 
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Babypinkweeb

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I really don't have any solutions for you, but just wonder why you are putting the toy away? Perhaps, buy more of the same toy and keep them out for him to see all the time, even if he doesn't play with them. There could be a tad bit of 'jealousy' going on with Boogie, given he sees you giving the other cat attention at times, and he wants more - even if he didn't ask for that much play time from you before you brought a new cat into your home. I don't know how long you have had the new cat, but I still feel some of this behavior will wane as time passes.

Some cats are just lousy players! Feeby only loves one toy - and old shoe string that has nearly been around as long as she has. And, she too will mostly just lay on her back or side - paws up in the air trying to grab/bat at it. Once she seems to be 'over it' which is generally in a matter of moments, we stop - but, we leave the shoe string with her. That toy is left out all the time, along with the other ribbons/strings that once were her favorites too. She used to grab them from the toy box, and carry them around the house in her mouth all the while 'talking'. Since we have left those ribbons/strings out and available to her, she has stopped trying to get at them - to the point that she practically ignores them.
I read before it's not good to leave the toys out unsupervised in case something happens. The toy he loves isn't the most secure thing ever, as the first one already has parts falling off as well as the metal wire has snapped off from the handle due to their rough play. He also doesn't really play on his own. I've tried to set out the toy for him and he just looks at it and looks at me like "why is my toy dead" 😂 I also wondered if it could be jealousy! However he absolutely doesn't care about petting especially infront of the other cat. If I bring a finger to see how he feels he often ignores it or tries to bite it, so petting is out. He also follows me and has "his spots" in areas in the apartment we frequent, while the new cat mostly hangs on the floor or elsewhere, so Boogie tends to be closest to us. I think it's about the play cus often we would be working in the office and he used to come here to sleep on a spare chair, but now he stays in the living room where the toy bin is and make noises there. The new cat has been here almost a month and they are getting along well, and I definitely try to make sure Boogie gets enough solo attention especially when Nugget is also around.

I will try to leave it out at least when we can be in the same room as him, to see if it helps curb his desire for it all the time. I think my gf left it out this morning for a while cus she needed to work and it seems like it was completely ignored by both cats. They're so picky!
 
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