*More* Henry problems...

[juniper]

If anyone recalls my post from a few weeks ago, I was having trouble with Henry being restless and bored, because my apartment was too small for all four cats. I took everyone's advice and created lots of vertical space for him (bought a new cat tree, made space on my fridge and the shelves of my desk), which seemed to make a huge difference. Also, we are moving to a much larger apartment on Sept. 15, so this should make an even bigger difference, I'm sure. He doesn't seem as restless any more (no more pacing, meowing, etc.), but he is bugging my other cats non-stop and driving them nuts - he is not aggressive with them, he just wants to play (he wants to play chase and wrestle with them, he is only a year and a half old), but my oldest two, Meeko and Esmeralda, are older (9 and 10) and at a stage in their lives where they want to spend their time sleeping, sunbathing in the windows, and cuddling, not playing rambunctiously with Henry. Phineas is fairly young (4), but he has a very gentle, docile temperment, and actually fits much better with Meeko and Essie in that he likes to do the same stuff as them (the three of them tend to sleep in a big pile together) - none of them wants to give poor Henry the time of day, and the fact that he keeps persistantly chasing them and jumping on them (again, not in an aggressive way, he really just wants to play with them) is bothering them. I have a play session with Henry every day, take him outside on the harness to explore every day, and he has lots of toys (two cat trees, a cat spa, another little cat house, one of those ball on a track toys, lots of toy mice and balls) with which to play the rest of the time, but he doesn't seem satisfied - I can't play with him all day long, and I really don't think the others are going to change their minds and start playing with him, so I am not sure what to do to satisfy his desire to play with the others. Can anyone offer suggestions? How do you keep your cat entertained (especially if you have a young, rambunctious cat)? Thanks!

 

[loraandjeff]

Hi Juniper,
I have a 5-month old brother/sister combo, and Duke (the boy) drives his sister Cosmo NUTS because he is just soooo rambunctious at this age.

What I did it to split my playtime with him into 2, and then we bought him "interactive" toys that I could get him running & jumping with. The wand toys work perfectly for this. I now spend only 10 minutes with him playing and he is POOPED! This has relieved a lot of pressure on Cosmo.

Even with the toys that you already have, such as his mice & balls, it is much more fun for him if you take those and actually throw them so that he has to chase them, he will have a bawl doing that and will also tire himself out in the process. Also, then you don't have to play with him "constantly" but can just throw something here & there to get him going. I also found that tin foil wrapped into a ball works great! Duke just LOVES to play hockey with that thing...but ONLY if I throw it...if he has to play with it by himself he could care less, but just tossing it so he has to chase it gets him right revved up LOL.

Hope these suggestions help.

Lora

 

[juniper]

Thanks! I should clarify that I do have interactive play time with him each day, usally around an hour a day, with the cat dancer, etc. but he still seems to crave the interaction from the other cats - unfortunately they don't want to interact with him in the way thaty he wants to.

 

[ccsr79]

Have you tried the "Da Bird" it's just great and leaves Lucas very tired afterwards from jumping so much. I also have a furry possum that hangs with elastic from the door and Lucas spends all day jumping at that. He was (finally) able to rip it out of the door for good and now he keeps playing with the elastic string that's still there. Go figure...