- Joined
- Nov 5, 2020
- Messages
- 55
- Purraise
- 64
This might be normal or in my head, but I think Millie is weirdly picky about playtime.
I have literally dozens of toys for her. I mean, dozens of types of toys, probably at least a hundred individual toys. Some are out all the time, some are not. In addition to the toys that are always available, she has three cat trees of different heights, four window perches, two cat shelves, and two cat tunnels. I play with her every time she 'requests' it (with a certain meow, or bringing me a ball). Lately (I've had her since November, but she was sick for about a month in there), she seems to want a particular type of play, and will not really engage until/unless I can get it right. For example, sometimes she'll bring me a ball, but if I roll it, or throw it onto the couch, or throw it onto the table, or throw it onto the desk and it falls off, she'll just look at it (and if I walk away, she'll do her play-with-me meow or bring another ball to me), but if I throw it onto the desk and it stays up on the desk, bingo, she'll go nuts. She goes through phases - like, we'll play with the cat dancer on the floor every day for a couple of days, but then suddenly she's completely disinterested and wants something else. Problem is, I have no idea what she wants until I accidentally get it right.
Is this normal? Can I somehow condition her to be more flexible? It's a little stressful sometimes trying to figure out what kind of playing will make her happy, on the days that I just strike out over and over. Right now it's okay because I work from home and, touch wood, so far I've ultimately been able to figure out what she wants, but eventually I may go back to working from the office 50% of the time or more.
For reference, she's almost 2, but is from a large, slow-growing breed that I'm told retains kitten-like behavior for up to 5 years. There are days she'll play hard for 1-1.5 hours, but most days I can't quite get it right so she plays very half-heartedly/unenthusiastically for like 4 hours spread throughout the day. Before she came to me, she lived with lots of other cats, so I think she's always been quite active.
I have literally dozens of toys for her. I mean, dozens of types of toys, probably at least a hundred individual toys. Some are out all the time, some are not. In addition to the toys that are always available, she has three cat trees of different heights, four window perches, two cat shelves, and two cat tunnels. I play with her every time she 'requests' it (with a certain meow, or bringing me a ball). Lately (I've had her since November, but she was sick for about a month in there), she seems to want a particular type of play, and will not really engage until/unless I can get it right. For example, sometimes she'll bring me a ball, but if I roll it, or throw it onto the couch, or throw it onto the table, or throw it onto the desk and it falls off, she'll just look at it (and if I walk away, she'll do her play-with-me meow or bring another ball to me), but if I throw it onto the desk and it stays up on the desk, bingo, she'll go nuts. She goes through phases - like, we'll play with the cat dancer on the floor every day for a couple of days, but then suddenly she's completely disinterested and wants something else. Problem is, I have no idea what she wants until I accidentally get it right.
Is this normal? Can I somehow condition her to be more flexible? It's a little stressful sometimes trying to figure out what kind of playing will make her happy, on the days that I just strike out over and over. Right now it's okay because I work from home and, touch wood, so far I've ultimately been able to figure out what she wants, but eventually I may go back to working from the office 50% of the time or more.
For reference, she's almost 2, but is from a large, slow-growing breed that I'm told retains kitten-like behavior for up to 5 years. There are days she'll play hard for 1-1.5 hours, but most days I can't quite get it right so she plays very half-heartedly/unenthusiastically for like 4 hours spread throughout the day. Before she came to me, she lived with lots of other cats, so I think she's always been quite active.