Playing With My Kitten

[Artistwolf]

My kitten Pepper loves to play and always wants me to play with him. He's crazy about those fishing-type toys on the string. The problem is, as soon as he catches the thing (it's hard to keep it away from him for long, lol), he won't let go of it! He'll hold it in his mouth or his claws and won't let you get it away from him. So then I'm not sure how to continue the game. Only if I leave for a minute will he lose interest and drop the toy after playing with it by himself for a while. Any suggestions, or should I keep just trying to pry it from his paws? Bit of a funny question, sorry!

 

[dahli6]

Just let him play.

 

[susanm9006]

Let him have the toy. Sometimes they will drop it after a minute but sometimes after they have captured their prey they want to take it to a different room. Either way he is having fun. He might like chasing a laser or it might frustrate him because he can’t ever catch his prey.

Your guy would also be a good one to teach how to play fetch. That way he has the fun of the capture while still interacting with you.

 

[danteshuman]

I drop the toy and then when they release it I move the toy. That or I wiggle the wand to make it appear more alive *shrugs*

 

[Artistwolf]

dahli6 Alright! Thanks.
susanm9006 Okay. Yeah, he usually takes it into another room, which is a tad bit annoying because usually when I play with him it's just a quick break from my homework and I don't really want to have to walk away from my room as then it's much harder to get back to! But I guess I'll just have to get used to it! Thanks. Yeah, the laser seems to irritate him and not fully capture his interest. Ooh, how do I go about teaching a cat to plat fetch?
danteshuman Haha, yeah, that's what I've been doing!

 

[susanm9006]

To teach a cat to fetch you need wait until they are playing with a favorite toy, take it from them and. toss it. If they don’t run after it, you go get it, return to your starting spot and throw it again. you keep doing this over and over until the cat starts to run to the toy, then you wait to see if they will bring it back. If not, you take it away from them, return to your starting spot and toss it again. Most cats figure out the game fairly quickly and start bringing the toy back right to you and eventually will start dropping the toy on your lap or at your when they want to play.