How Much Do You Play With Your Cats?

[sargon]

1-3 15 to 60 ( occasionally 90 minute sessions.) often if the wand isn't enough, Freya will grab a kitty boink and drop it by me to demand that we play fetch. She also will shout "rat" for her wand toy, or, when excited "rat-rat-rat"

Playing with Freya with her usual toy. She says Rat at 18 or so seconds in.

Freya playing fetch with a kitty boink. (she's a lot younger in the video, so i really ought to make a new one sometime.)

 

[saleri]

1-3 15 to 60 ( occasionally 90 minute sessions.) often if the wand isn't enough, Freya will grab a kitty boink and drop it by me to demand that we play fetch. She also will shout "rat" for her wand toy, or, when excited "rat-rat-rat"

Playing with Freya with her usual toy. She says Rat at 18 or so seconds in.

Freya playing fetch with a kitty boink. (she's a lot younger in the video, so i really ought to make a new one sometime.)

How old was Freya in the first video? How on earth do you keep your cat's attention for 90 minutes?! What do you do? I've never played longer then 20 minutes at a time.

 

[sargon]

The wand toy video? She's about a year and a half (and she usually is a lot more hyper as she plays). It is pretty recent ( she'll be 2 in August.) My problem isn't convincing her to play, it is convincing her that it is okay to stop. After a half hour or more of play I'll set the wand down by me, and she'll often grab at it and drag it around to let me know she wants to play more. She'll also stare at me and scream "rat"at me (or just plain scream) demanding to be played with.

While most of keeping her interest is just her high desire to play, I do do something a bit unusual with my play, though. First of all i play hard and without much mercy. If I make it too easy, Freya is disappointed, so I'll make her run at full sprint, jumping on and off furnature till she honestly catches it (or if she's clearly getting winded I'll go just tiny bit easier, for obvious reasons.) the other big thing I do is let her drag the toy off when she catches it. I have a long string on the back of the wand that I can use to bring it back to me. letting her drag off the "prey" after she works hard to catch it seems to really satisfy her.

My wife made a video of what she's like when she's really playing all out , but it's on her computer not mine, so I can't upload it at the moment.

Da rat and Da mouse are the usual toys on the end of the wand that I use for her, though I actually use the cheapo Chinese made fishing pole type instead of the da rat/dabird/damouse brand wands. I will occasionally use a da bird type bird, and she loves it, but they break quickly ( and freya isn't especially hard on toys), and are expensive, so they are an occasional toy.

So, I guess, while most of it is Freya, my general opinion is that we tend to take it a bit easy on our cats when playing, and we (mostly) don't have to. My previous cat was one of the least athletic cats I have ever had or seen (she was also intelligent and probably the best behaved cat I have ever had, so...) , and was 12 or 13 years old at the time she saw a mouse in my room. She tensed up, jumped 8 feet to the mouse, grabbed it, jumped another 6 feet and dropped its corpse on the ground, all in the span of maybe 2-3 seconds, tops.

 

[saleri]

The wand toy video? She's about a year and a half (and she usually is a lot more hyper as she plays). It is pretty recent ( she'll be 2 in August.) My problem isn't convincing her to play, it is convincing her that it is okay to stop. After a half hour or more of play I'll set the wand down by me, and she'll often grab at it and drag it around to let me know she wants to play more. She'll also stare at me and scream "rat"at me (or just plain scream) demanding to be played with.

While most of keeping her interest is just her high desire to play, I do do something a bit unusual with my play, though. First of all i play hard and without much mercy. If I make it too easy, Freya is disappointed, so I'll make her run at full sprint, jumping on and off furnature till she honestly catches it (or if she's clearly getting winded I'll go just tiny bit easier, for obvious reasons.) the other big thing I do is let her drag the toy off when she catches it. I have a long string on the back of the wand that I can use to bring it back to me. letting her drag off the "prey" after she works hard to catch it seems to really satisfy her.

My wife made a video of what she's like when she's really playing all out , but it's on her computer not mine, so I can't upload it at the moment.

Da rat and Da mouse are the usual toys on the end of the wand that I use for her, though I actually use the cheapo Chinese made fishing pole type instead of the da rat/dabird/damouse brand wands. I will occasionally use a da bird type bird, and she loves it, but they break quickly ( and freya isn't especially hard on toys), and are expensive, so they are an occasional toy.

So, I guess, while most of it is Freya, my general opinion is that we tend to take it a bit easy on our cats when playing, and we (mostly) don't have to. My previous cat was one of the least athletic cats I have ever had or seen (she was also intelligent and probably the best behaved cat I have ever had, so...) , and was 12 or 13 years old at the time she saw a mouse in my room. She tensed up, jumped 8 feet to the mouse, grabbed it, jumped another 6 feet and dropped its corpse on the ground, all in the span of maybe 2-3 seconds, tops.

Okay thanks for hsaring!

 

[sargon]

You are welcome.

 

[saleri]

The wand toy video? She's about a year and a half (and she usually is a lot more hyper as she plays). It is pretty recent ( she'll be 2 in August.) My problem isn't convincing her to play, it is convincing her that it is okay to stop. After a half hour or more of play I'll set the wand down by me, and she'll often grab at it and drag it around to let me know she wants to play more. She'll also stare at me and scream "rat"at me (or just plain scream) demanding to be played with.

While most of keeping her interest is just her high desire to play, I do do something a bit unusual with my play, though. First of all i play hard and without much mercy. If I make it too easy, Freya is disappointed, so I'll make her run at full sprint, jumping on and off furnature till she honestly catches it (or if she's clearly getting winded I'll go just tiny bit easier, for obvious reasons.) the other big thing I do is let her drag the toy off when she catches it. I have a long string on the back of the wand that I can use to bring it back to me. letting her drag off the "prey" after she works hard to catch it seems to really satisfy her.

My wife made a video of what she's like when she's really playing all out , but it's on her computer not mine, so I can't upload it at the moment.

Da rat and Da mouse are the usual toys on the end of the wand that I use for her, though I actually use the cheapo Chinese made fishing pole type instead of the da rat/dabird/damouse brand wands. I will occasionally use a da bird type bird, and she loves it, but they break quickly ( and freya isn't especially hard on toys), and are expensive, so they are an occasional toy.

So, I guess, while most of it is Freya, my general opinion is that we tend to take it a bit easy on our cats when playing, and we (mostly) don't have to. My previous cat was one of the least athletic cats I have ever had or seen (she was also intelligent and probably the best behaved cat I have ever had, so...) , and was 12 or 13 years old at the time she saw a mouse in my room. She tensed up, jumped 8 feet to the mouse, grabbed it, jumped another 6 feet and dropped its corpse on the ground, all in the span of maybe 2-3 seconds, tops.

Also, just curious does your cat every breath hard after a lot of moving around?

 

[aliceneko]

I used to play with the boys for a few hours everyday when I first got them; though now that I have become busier and they have become more confident around the house I play with them for half an hour everyday (though they do spend the whole day with me when I'm at home, and spend a lot of time having cuddles on my lap). Wand toys, plush mice and balls with bells in are their favourite forms of playtime but Toffee and Fudge are also very good at amusing themselves with their toys. I spend lots of time tummy tickling the boys as tummy tickles are their favourite forms of cuddles; especially with Fudge, who is the more affectionate out to the two.

 

[LAL]

The wand toy video? She's about a year and a half (and she usually is a lot more hyper as she plays). It is pretty recent ( she'll be 2 in August.) My problem isn't convincing her to play, it is convincing her that it is okay to stop. After a half hour or more of play I'll set the wand down by me, and she'll often grab at it and drag it around to let me know she wants to play more. She'll also stare at me and scream "rat"at me (or just plain scream) demanding to be played with.

While most of keeping her interest is just her high desire to play, I do do something a bit unusual with my play, though. First of all i play hard and without much mercy. If I make it too easy, Freya is disappointed, so I'll make her run at full sprint, jumping on and off furnature till she honestly catches it (or if she's clearly getting winded I'll go just tiny bit easier, for obvious reasons.) the other big thing I do is let her drag the toy off when she catches it. I have a long string on the back of the wand that I can use to bring it back to me. letting her drag off the "prey" after she works hard to catch it seems to really satisfy her.

My wife made a video of what she's like when she's really playing all out , but it's on her computer not mine, so I can't upload it at the moment.

Da rat and Da mouse are the usual toys on the end of the wand that I use for her, though I actually use the cheapo Chinese made fishing pole type instead of the da rat/dabird/damouse brand wands. I will occasionally use a da bird type bird, and she loves it, but they break quickly ( and freya isn't especially hard on toys), and are expensive, so they are an occasional toy.

So, I guess, while most of it is Freya, my general opinion is that we tend to take it a bit easy on our cats when playing, and we (mostly) don't have to. My previous cat was one of the least athletic cats I have ever had or seen (she was also intelligent and probably the best behaved cat I have ever had, so...) , and was 12 or 13 years old at the time she saw a mouse in my room. She tensed up, jumped 8 feet to the mouse, grabbed it, jumped another 6 feet and dropped its corpse on the ground, all in the span of maybe 2-3 seconds, tops.

How do you get them to fetch? [If I say, that is MY job, you will get the picture of what happens when we play.]

 

[Hugospal]

My year old orange cat plays really hard for about 10 minutes per day. My 8 year old is content to watch him play and smack at the toy a few times if it passes close to him. 4am is cat on cat wrestlemania which they do just about every morning before I get up for work and feed them.

 

[sabrinah]

I try to play with Cookie every day but at almost 15 she has absolutely no interest. I'm more amused with her toys than she is! I would say it's been at least 2 years since the last time I was able to play with her, despite my efforts. A few months ago I gave over 20 toys to my mom for her new kitten since my cat refuses to touch them, and yet even after all those failed toys I still bought her a couple more, hoping she'll suddenly decide to get spunky. Every great once in a while she'll discover something fascinating and invisible to the human eye on the floor and absolutely lose it for about 30 seconds. She requires a very long nap after the brief crazy period. The only time she'll run is when I'm getting her breakfast, and even then it's still more of a gentle trot. I do enjoy having an old kitty because she's pretty undemanding and does her own thing the vast majority of the time, but it would be nice if to play sometimes, even if it's just for one minute once a week.

 

[Purr-fect]

Ive become a bad parent. I turn on a video of birds, squirrels, chipmunks darting back and forth and the boys are glued to the screen.

But I also play pong tub, laser pointer, bleeding finger, chase me around the house and peekaboo with them. (Can you tell im a 56 year old male?) And we often spend an hour or more daily outside on leads.......but not today......its raining.

 

[sargon]

Also, just curious does your cat every breath hard after a lot of moving around?

Freya is young and very fit, but yes. If she sprints long enough, she'll get a bit winded, and if she's getting visibly winded, I'll subtly make it easier for her to catch the toy.

As to teaching fetch, it is, to an extent, just something some cats figure out. There are some guides to help, and having appropriate toys ( soft mice, or better yet, kitty boinks) helps, too. I also have a pick-up-stick/grabber, because my cat loves to drop ti just out of reach ;> Also, praise any nominally close behavior and never scold for doing a bad job. Cats respond much better to positive reinforcement. last of all, cats often have a preferred place and toy to play it with, so be on the lookout for that.
My cat started in my bedroom, because she's a sneaky rules lawyer, and my bedroom is a "calm place" where I won't normally play with her. so, one day she brought me a toy, and I tossed it, because it seemed like maybe she was trying to play fetch (i'd made occasional attempts to get her to play previously with little apparent luck, including having my wife model the behavior for Freya (needles to say *that* took a lot of convincing/bribery ;> ) ). She fetched it, and I tossed it maybe 6 times more that time. 6-12 throws is fairly usual in my experience for how long a session lasts, and often she'll chase the toy and play with it for 30-60 seconds before returning it. So, these days, an average fetch game is 5-10 minutes, often after a wand play session that was shorter than freya would have wanted.

 

[Spyro87]

At the moment play in our house consists of playing with Corey the kitten for as long as he wants! which I swear if he didn't start falling asleep on his feet after about an hour, would be ALL day!!
He is insatiable! (but at only 9weeks old, that's to be expected!)

Merlin on the other hand, being almost 3 and a LOT calmer, doesn't have a whole lot of interest in play all the time. He will give in to a good session every once in a while though. We vary his games up, where sometimes it's a little rough and tumble on the floor with me - this goes down really well! and, I know, I know, that = injuries for me, but surprisingly enough Merlin has always been very gentle even during rough and tumble play with my hands. He has never bitten hard and never scratched rough even when play gets a little crazy!
He loves the lazer pointer!! But again, just flops down after about 15minutes and lets it pass him by like he couldn't care less haha.
But he will bat a ball around all day if he finds an interesting one and can keep it from rolling under the couch!
As for wands, or teasers, not a lot of interest no matter what we try.

 

[ara11]

The short answer is "whenever they want to and I around". It's typically five minutes here, two minutes there whenever they want to play. That might happen several times a day. You might ask "how often do you cuddle your cats" and the answer would be the same. Loki and Mia are pretty communicative, and basically tell me when they want affection, or for me to play with them.

Mia especially has a miaow which means 'cuddle time' which she then follows up by running upstairs and waiting on the bed. I then follow her upstairs (see how well trained I am) at which point she flops over and I cuddle her. This happens whenever she wants. I don't care if I am late for work, or about to miss an appointment.It takes priority over pretty much anything except the baby needing attention.

Never turn down a cuddle. You never know if it will be the last one.

Yes. This

 

[tarasgirl06]

1-3 15 to 60 ( occasionally 90 minute sessions.) often if the wand isn't enough, Freya will grab a kitty boink and drop it by me to demand that we play fetch. She also will shout "rat" for her wand toy, or, when excited "rat-rat-rat"

Playing with Freya with her usual toy. She says Rat at 18 or so seconds in.

Freya playing fetch with a kitty boink. (she's a lot younger in the video, so i really ought to make a new one sometime.)

WOW! There's no mistaking the word. Even if you hadn't told us, and even if she wasn't playing with one. "RAT!"