My cat gets tired of toys QUICKLY

Destp113

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I have a 2 yo cat that has tons of energy. If I don’t play with him he takes this energy out on my other cat. It’s really hard to find wand toys that get him moving. When I finally find a toy he likes it lasts a day or two and then he completely ignores it when I bring it out. I am consistently buying new wands so there’s always a variety but it doesn’t matter. I also put them away when I’m not playing with him to kind of prevent him from losing interest. Any suggestions on how I can keep him interested or just ways to get his energy out?
 

Maria Bayote

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My cats are the same. :)

Most cats prefer empty carton boxes, crumpled papers, shoe laces. So there is really no need to keep buying toys if your cat already has plenty of them. :)

Have you also tried those interactive cat toys?

I also suggest putting up additional shelves and cat trees.
 

suzeanna

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You could try tying a toy to the end of the wand. I tie a slightly big fox catnip toy to the end of the fleece wand we have (using the end of the wand string itself as a tight single knot around the fox's neck). That kind of makes the wand a "new" toy.

Edit: Have you tried a laser pointer yet? Mine (8 y/o) plays with it every. single. day!
 

susanm9006

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I have found that as cats get older they lose interest in wand type toys as well as track balls. I guess they figure if they can’t ever get the toy then the heck with it. Anyway, you need to offer lots of other type toys, balls, springs, mice etc where they can play their own games. You can also teach your cat to fetch which is a game that most pick up quickly and love.
 

Carolina SA

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My favourite tip that my cats taught me: Buy an expensive wand toy that you really like, then ignore the fancy end and play with the stick end. :rolleyes:
My cats have moods and novelty fatigue so some play-games work for a few days and then don't....
However, wiggling a stick around under a towel so they can hunt the end bit remains their favorite hunting game. I can play it on the ground or on the bed or on the desk.
It gets their hunt/attack juices flowing and during their rest periods they often work up to zoomies with other throw balls.

My 3 cats are 2.5 to 4ish years old. They love running through the house when I sing-song their name... and then jump in a box which I tap with the stick end of a wand toy for them to kill.....*sigh* all that money I spent on kitty gadgets and they prefer a close up human and a tap tap stick to hunt ;)
 

Flybynight

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D Destp113
Hi,
My five year old cat still loves his Da Bird. You can switch up the attachments on it, great toy. I have not seen any decrease in his interest in play. We play usually around at the same time each evening and he waits by the closet for me to get the Da Bird.
He also recently got a new wand toy with an end but sort of like a fuzzy pipe cleaner. He loves it and I found him sleeping with it today.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FWAP8A/?tag=thecatsite
 

hannahe01

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I have the same problem. My cat is super difficult to engage in play and apparently he’s the only cat that doesn’t like da bird as well. It’s exhausting and frustrating trying to get him to play most days
 

danteshuman

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Hexabugs has remote control mice but even their regular hexabugs cat toys work great. I suggest buying your cat interactive toys that you rotate.

Also when playing with your cat, get your cat to climb up & down things while chasing the wand toys. Have you tried the cat dancer? No idea why but it really gets all the cats moving! (Plus it is only like 3$ off amazon!) You can try dragging wand toys under a sheet or under the shower curtain. You want your cat to chase the toy around the room. In a pinch drag 5-8 feet of Suede cord behind you, then start running once your cat starts hunting it. Have you tried playing fetch with your cat? Try tossing a small rabbit fur mouse across the room. If your cat brings it back, toss it again (I like to throw in different directions to try to make it more interesting. My guy plays fetch with my hairbands or his collar.)

On rainy days I put tissue paper or packing paper in a box or tub with catnip and a few toys.
 

danteshuman

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Lastly I couldn't tire my hyper terror Dante out with hours of play. He taught me that if you tire a cat’s mind, you tire their body. He would bully his brother whenever he got bored! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Dante was so naughty that he convinced me to let him out. He was so naughty that when he was a kitten I called him a wee terrorist of doom! When he got older I just called him a punk. If I had known about prozac back then, he would have been on it!!!

For the rest of Dante’s life he would spend a couple of hours outside & he was an Angel..... except for when it rained. Now I have Jackie who is pretty well behaved twerp provided he gets at least 2 hours outside every day. In fact I adopted him because I knew how to deal with hyper cats & I didn’t want him to be rehomed again! So if you can, hang some bird feeders & take your cat outside every day!

Dante(RIP) in his favorite bird blind:
B32FCE9E-B896-4B63-A0A5-B28C7AD7B1C6.jpeg
Jackie having a blast in his harness. He even climbs tees in his harness! (& he has tons of toys!)
E5A4DBEE-D586-473D-9921-C7D2B6EBEE8F.jpeg
FF8F5803-F8CE-4286-8525-BB1EE457651F.jpeg
C45F6828-B23F-4989-AF79-B1AD6EA92A68.jpeg
 

Mark Write

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I get the feeling your concern isn’t so much about the toys but about what the little bugger does when he loses interest in them. Which is to “take it out“ on your other cat. Am I right?

Sounds to me like he’d rather be playing with the cat than an inanimate toy.

My question is what does your other cat do when he pounces on him/her?

How old is the other cat?

What are the cat’s sexes? Are they both fixed? How old when they were fixed?

All of the above can affect the dynamics. I don’t think the real problem is about toys. It’s about how the two of them interact and whether it’s really a problem. Sometimes it’s not and they just need to work things out between themselves.

Is any real harm being done?
 

fionasmom

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I was just reading yesterday that cats lose interest in toys because they quickly realize that the toy is not real prey and there is no "end game" for it. This is certainly true of mine, speaking here of indoor only cats, and the most successful toy for the longest period of time has been Da Bird. Specifically Da Bird, not another wand type toy.
 

tarasgirl06

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I have a 2 yo cat that has tons of energy. If I don’t play with him he takes this energy out on my other cat. It’s really hard to find wand toys that get him moving. When I finally find a toy he likes it lasts a day or two and then he completely ignores it when I bring it out. I am consistently buying new wands so there’s always a variety but it doesn’t matter. I also put them away when I’m not playing with him to kind of prevent him from losing interest. Any suggestions on how I can keep him interested or just ways to get his energy out?
Hello D Destp113 and felines, and welcome to TCS! da Bird and the Cat Dancer are perennial favorites here. They never get tired of them. Move them as if they are prey -- mice along the ground, and birds up in the air, swooping down and then rising up. Also, all of the battery-operated plastic toys my ex bought for them are quickly abandoned. Cats prefer soft, prey-sized toys, in my experience. We have lots of refillable and non-refillable, differently shaped catnip toys that get "refreshed' by rotating from time to time. I put them in resealable plastic bags and store them in secure locations, in cupboards, away from the reach of little paws and claws. Some are also "seasoned" by putting in our plastic jar of loose catnip, or sprayed with catnip spray. Twinkle balls are another favorite. Small shapes like "jacks" and curly corkscrew toys for cats are also entertaining. I'd just stay away from the hard plastic, battery-operated toys and stick to the traditional "prey" type toys.
I just went back to email and read this:
What is toy fatigue and how do we treat it?
I'm on this business' listserv so I get regular emails from them. AND they have a product that we absolutely love -- Cloud Nine Silvervine. Check it out on their site. It's like catnip, on steroids. And yes, it's completely safe.
 
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IndyJones

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Someone gave my cat the smartycat chickadee and both love it. I don't though because it makes noise like a cross between a injured bird and a squeaky toy.

They also like the bamboozler wand toy. I tried the bird wand toy but the ends keep getting destroyed after one use. Both my cats will eat feathers so I avoid them.
 

Caspers Human

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I guess they figure if they can’t ever get the toy then the heck with it.
One thing to remember is that you need to let the cat catch the toy every so often or else they will lose interest.

I always go by the rule of letting Casper catch the toy at least one out of every four tries. Yes, if we don't let him catch it, he will get peeved off and quit playing... I imagine him saying, "Well, if you're not going to let me have any fun, I guess I'll go do something else!" ;)

Remember: A cat's modus operandi is "Chase - Catch - Kill - Eat"... Repeat ad infinitum.

Also, if you're using a wand with a feather on the end of it, try changing up the attachment.

Maybe you could change your wand so that you an tie on different things like a feather, a small mouse or a puffball in order to keep your cat from losing interest.

I imagine a cat might think, "I've already killed that thing 1,000 times." ;)
 

slowblink

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Random suggestion that has worked for me -- my surprising cat toy of the year goes to a graduation cord! it's a shiny rope, and our cat who loves wand toys loves it. We remove the ends that have the tiny tassel strings on them, and found more can be ordered (took about 3 months for cat to unravel the rope) here !

She will tug-of-war, chase, pounce on this rope without pause. Somewhere I even have a video of her climbing a chair with it in her mouth, dropping it to the floor, and then pouncing after it only to repeat the cycle and begin climbing up the chair with it again... But mostly we play with it like we would a wand toy.
 

Caspers Human

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You can try dragging wand toys under a sheet or under the shower curtain.
Random suggestion that has worked for me -- my surprising cat toy of the year goes to a graduation cord! it's a shiny rope, and our cat who loves wand toys loves it.
Casper's favorite toy is a rope. We made it by twisting a long piece of yarn into a thicker rope.

Take a long piece of yarn, ten feet long or longer, and double it over then tie the loose ends to something stationary like a doorknob or the leg of a chair. Put a pencil, a chopstick or something similar through the looped end, pull taut then twist it about a hundred times until it is wound tight. Pinch the middle of the twisted strand and keep it tight while you bring the chopstick end over to the doorknob. When you let the tension off, the yarn will twist into a rope by itself. Tie good, strong knots in the ends then clip off the ends to with a scissors to make a fuzzy tassel on each end. One rope kitty toy for cheaps! ;)

Like danteshuman danteshuman says, drag the rope under something like a blanket or carpet.

I don't know why but Casper's favorite way to play with his rope toy is to attack it when it's under something or around a corner.

It's really strange how Casper seems to look right at the end of the rope even when it's under a piece of newspaper. It's like he knows right where it is even though he can't see it.

Casper will chase or toy with the end of his rope for a minute or two but, then, he wants it to go under something.
If you don't make it "go under" he'll just sit there with this look that seems to say, "You're not doing it right!"
 

Xena44

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Hello D Destp113 and felines, and welcome to TCS! da Bird and the Cat Dancer are perennial favorites here. They never get tired of them. Move them as if they are prey -- mice along the ground, and birds up in the air, swooping down and then rising up. Also, all of the battery-operated plastic toys my ex bought for them are quickly abandoned. Cats prefer soft, prey-sized toys, in my experience. We have lots of refillable and non-refillable, differently shaped catnip toys that get "refreshed' by rotating from time to time. I put them in resealable plastic bags and store them in secure locations, in cupboards, away from the reach of little paws and claws. Some are also "seasoned" by putting in our plastic jar of loose catnip, or sprayed with catnip spray. Twinkle balls are another favorite. Small shapes like "jacks" and curly corkscrew toys for cats are also entertaining. I'd just stay away from the hard plastic, battery-operated toys and stick to the traditional "prey" type toys.
I just went back to email and read this:
What is toy fatigue and how do we treat it?
I'm on this business' listserv so I get regular emails from them. AND they have a product that we absolutely love -- Cloud Nine Silvervine. Check it out on their site. It's like catnip, on steroids. And yes, it's completely safe.
I just signed up for emails from that site. Could be interesting. I’ve wondered about silvervine too. I’ve a.ways been concerned of stick wands with log strings. I’d never leave them out without supervision. I really worry about a strangulation hazard. No different than a window shade pull string. I live by the thought “if you think that could never happen, it could”. And believe me, I’ve seen enough of “I never in my wildest dreams thought that could happen!” scenarios.
 

tarasgirl06

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I just signed up for emails from that site. Could be interesting. I’ve wondered about silvervine too. I’ve a.ways been concerned of stick wands with log strings. I’d never leave them out without supervision. I really worry about a strangulation hazard. No different than a window shade pull string. I live by the thought “if you think that could never happen, it could”. And believe me, I’ve seen enough of “I never in my wildest dreams thought that could happen!” scenarios.
ABSOLUTELY. But then, you're very intelligent. Fortunately, my blinds, both horizontal and vertical, have the double adjusters rather than one circular one. If they didn't, I'd cut them. Everything in our environment always gets cat-proofed before anything else, because I don't want any bad scenarios. My mom was really good about kid-proofing and cat-proofing and I learned from her and my dad.
And yeah, I put the wand toys away when we're done. Behind securely closed doors. Easy and safe!
If you don't get anything else from them, you owe it to your loved ones to get a tin of silvervine powder. Just a TINY -- and I mean tiny -- pinch on toys does it. Baby Su and Elvis love catnip. But he goes ABSOLUTELY bat$%!^ crazy over the 'vine. We have refillable toys. One of them is a little crocodile that belonged to my beloved angel Rani. EVERY night, Elvis jumps up on the bed and gets Lyle Crocodile and gets BLITZED. TOASTED. Then he gets the munchies. He raids Baby Su's food which is on the bed. He's like a teenage stoner boy cat. :crackup::dizzycat:
 

danteshuman

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I buy my cat (& my mom’s cats) catnip with silvervine in it. They go crazy for it! I give each kitty a pinch full & they get stoned. That extra bit of silvervine in it makes a huge difference! I may need to buy them some silvervine powder.
2F54B03B-96FD-4EBB-97BC-4305897092F1.jpeg
 

Xena44

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ABSOLUTELY. But then, you're very intelligent. Fortunately, my blinds, both horizontal and vertical, have the double adjusters rather than one circular one. If they didn't, I'd cut them. Everything in our environment always gets cat-proofed before anything else, because I don't want any bad scenarios. My mom was really good about kid-proofing and cat-proofing and I learned from her and my dad.
And yeah, I put the wand toys away when we're done. Behind securely closed doors. Easy and safe!
If you don't get anything else from them, you owe it to your loved ones to get a tin of silvervine powder. Just a TINY -- and I mean tiny -- pinch on toys does it. Baby Su and Elvis love catnip. But he goes ABSOLUTELY bat$%!^ crazy over the 'vine. We have refillable toys. One of them is a little crocodile that belonged to my beloved angel Rani. EVERY night, Elvis jumps up on the bed and gets Lyle Crocodile and gets BLITZED. TOASTED. Then he gets the munchies. He raids Baby Su's food which is on the bed. He's like a teenage stoner boy cat. :crackup::dizzycat:
Oh gosh, thank you forever what you said. ☺ sounds like your parents to did a great job raising you!!! 😉. Mine did too. They are who taught me respect for all creatures. ❤ What do you think about the silvervine sticks?
 
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