My Cat Is Broken... He Doesn't Like Boxes (toy Suggestion)

[daremo]

I think that my cat is broken, he has never liked boxes and I am so devastated and confused (believe it or not this might actually be humor). Every time I buy something I leave the box for Max and he ignores it. Right now I have 3 boxes on the floor for him to play with. Or is it just because I am too lazy to clean them up.

I find it interesting that my cat has NEVER been interested in a box.

"The Max of Zorro" does like iPads though. My cat is far to much like me, he like geek toys, not sure I am ready to buy him an iPad though.

I am wondering what people suggest for toys that will engage and keep your cat engaged for a while. What cat toys do you suggest for a sophisticated cat geek?

 

[susanm9006]

Boxes make my cat nervous, but when we cut the bottom and top off it became a fort instead of a box and she spends hours in it, peeking over the top spying on us and pulling her toys in and out. Whether it is box or kinds of toys you just need to try things until you find what they like.

If she is a smart kitty there are a bunch of treat puzzle toys where the cat has to find and fish out a toy.

You can make a treat puzzle out of a water bottle by cutting circles in it and filling it with treats so kitty need to roll it and knock it around to get a goodie.

You can try to teach your cat to fetch, most of mine learned the game easily. You basically take their favorite toy away from them while they are playing, toss it and retrieve it yourself until they start joining in. Some cats learn the game almost immediately, others take weeks but most learn eventually.

 

[aradasky]

My cats do not like boxes to be in, actually the boyo will pee in them. Now the brown packing paper that comes in them is s different story. I lay it on the floor or hang it over the coffee table and they love it, running over, under and through it. They also love tissue paper.

 

[mokapi]

My squirrelly kitten really likes stupid things that shouldn't cat as cat toys. Balls of aluminum foil, empty mylar balloons, pheasant feathers, his tail...earlier this afternoon, I clipped a leash to my dog's harness and left it on him for about an hour. The kitten chased him around for the entire hour before remembering he had a tail and started doing floor rolls to catch it.

We've had luck with a "play mat" that crinkles, a large kickeroo, and random toys that I spray catnip on.

My older cat adores empty water bottle packaging (like, the actual case packaging, not empty water bottles). He will sit them for hours. Paper bags are strangely interesting. Tissue paper, like aradasky said. I stopped spending tons of money on cat toys when my older cat was young, because he'd rather play with a milk carton ring than a 25$ cat toy.

 

[Lalka]

your cat isnt broken, he is maybe too smart!
buy him a dog puzzle toy for treats

 

[madzoya]

Bruce didn't like boxes at first. He would even be a little scared of them when we put them out.

Then one day I had a few stacked to go to the recycling bin later that week and he climbed them and went in and out and he found a new favourite thing (for about 10 minutes, that's how long new fav things last for Bruce).

So, while we wanted him to play with boxes we wouldn't, now we can't keep him out of the ones we don't want him in.

CATS!

 

[di and bob]

There are programs to install on your TV and ipad for cats. Nature scenes and interesting things for cats to watch. Your cat may like something like that.There are even some interactive ones that your cat can paw at the screen and get a result. Almost all toys are interesting for a while, then they lose interest. I exchange toys weekly, putting old ones in a bag filled with catnip to refresh them. Cats need lots of variety and stimulation. I had a foot square cat puzzle box that had holes cut out all over it and you hid toys and treats inside. They completely ignored it while I was there. I brought it out to keep them busy when we left on overnight trips. When we would return, every toy was scattered around and every treat was gone. Your cat may think of a box as a trap. Try opening both ends and see if that helps.
You might get on the floor and see if you can teach him to play in a box, please video so we can see you doing it!

 

[Lalka]

bought the Bergan star chaser last week and my cats still prefer brown paper

where can we buy these very long strip of brown paper?

 

[sargon]

My cat loves boxes (and boy did she end up with the right human caretaker in that sense), but a window perch with a bird feeder outside will provide endless hours of entertainment for most cats. Doubly so for cat who doesn't like boxes, since many cats who dislike "caves" often are especially fond of vertical spaces.

Another toy is the cat dancer compleat , which is basically a little adhesive pad that holds a cat cancer ( a sort of wand toy designed to emulate an insect, that most cats love.) it pairs well with a window hammock

Most cats will enjoy the Bergan turbo scratcher, as well as ping pong or wiffle golf balls.

 

[sparrowhawk]

You really might want to go with it. My cat loves watching me play games on my computer. When he first started doing this, he was fascinated by it. He would go up to the monitor, watch the things moving on the screen, then look behind the monitor, repeat like 5x. He was so amazed that the people/animals/environments disappeared.

He still actively watches it. If I'm playing an action game, he'll duck from the explosions, growl bad guys, etc. If it's a game where I'm outdoors, he loves it when I'm walking around and will get excited if a bird or some other animal he can imagine hunting walks by.

Other toys? Every cat I have ever met loves the little ring seal that comes on milk cartons - mine will play with it forever.

Another fun idea? Ball with bell in bath tub that has curves instead of corners.

 

[fluffernutter]

Mine is tough to entertain (he only plays with about 3 of his roughly 5 million toys) and is not a fan of boxes. A consistent favorite, though, is his mini tunnel system (this is the one). He loves to lunge at his select favorite toys inside-- sometimes I've seen him purposely sticking a toy under one of the of the tubes so he can pretend to hunt for it.

P.S. Out of curiosity, I just read some reviews on the Amazon page and several mention the wires in this tunnel dangerously coming loose. I haven't had that problem, despite my fur-child's semi-regular pouncing on the thing, but there might be some more reliable versions out there.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

A set of non-toxic watercolors?

I remember this decades-old book...
Why Cats Paint