too smart for toys

[kencolleen]

My  baby is 5 years old in May. He has never liked cat toys much. I have to be creative. I have marbles in a box. and such. He figures things out and then becomes bored. mirrors don't even trip him up. I feel bad because I can not get him to play. Lasers sometimes work but then he just looks at my hand because he knows where it is coming from. He usually will lay on his back when I try cat toys and reach up from there. If I try to make him work for it he loses interest. He is an indoor only cat.  Any Ideas or thoughts on the matter. 

Thanks Gizmo's mom Colleen

 

[jasminlang]

Hey there! She seems like a very smart cat.  I don't have anything very creative to suggest, but I do know of a toy that I've never seen fail, called a weasel ball.  It's pretty hard to figure out for a cat because it moves around in no specific pattern, so it almost seems like it's a live animal.  Other than that, I don't really have any ideas as I've never had this problem, but hopefully someone will have some more ideas for you

Here's a link to the toy  I was talking about:


Good luck!

 

[kencolleen]

thank you for your suggestion. We did get one of those but I think mine is broken it just seems to go around in a circle. maybe cuz its on the carpet? maybe I should try to get a different one.

 

[tuxedoontheloos]

I do lots of foraging toys for my clever klutz boy. Boxes with holes and dry treats inside. Egg cartons with treats. A yogert container with holes in the bottom that I hung off the door knob. He's getting a bit too smart for these because he's figured out that he just has to pull the lids off to get all the food but it still keeps him entertained for a few minutes at a time.

He likes wand toys too, but won't play with them if theyre dangled over his head. I have to walk and drag the toy around the house and have it 'hide' behind boxes and furniture until he take interest and chases it down. After 'killing' it he always brings it to the cupboard where the food lives. I think he's trying to tell me somehing with this.

 

[kencolleen]

thank you so much those are really good ideas. yeah I play with the wand. I run around with it he seems interested but then he takes so long to stock it I don't have time lol. to hide behind things to pounce on it. thats even if and when I can get him interested at all. the hidden food thing might be an idea. I will definitely try keep you posted.

 

[djade]

I know exactly what you mean!  Harry Thomas is the same way.  He is 14months.  He learned to fetch, walk on a leash, follow simple commands on walks, etc.  Until now I've not heard another cat owner say mirrors don't fool their kitty.  Harry not only isn't fooled by a mirror, he uses them to his advantage, both in the car and house.  He hides behind the bed and uses the full-length mirror on the bedroom closet to watch down the hall so he can "ambush" us or our other kitty, when we walk in, and because he is behind the bed he is "invisible".  He used to play ball with me til he was about 6 months old, I'd roll the ball, he would smack it back.  Husband is more coordinated, he played "Ping-Pong" with him.  Harry watches the ball until he get the  pattern then "BAM" smacks it back.  But all this quickly got old for him.  He still likes to run and climb - we put the dangle toys with short wants on longer sticks and he will chase them up and over obstacles in the RV and house.  The only thing he is NOT tired of is going for walks and hunting lizards When we are in FL.  He does not hurt them, just puts them in a bucket or bag we hold for him so we can put them in his playpen where he chases them.  We make sure he has 5 lizards so he doesn't wear them out, and eventually he takes them out of the playpen and over to release in the grass when he gets bored with chasing them in a circle.  He has a pet lizard "Big Al" in a small cage that he will watch for hours.  So - Walks and live animals is all I can think of at the moment.  I'll be following to see if other posts have suggestions.  He does not like electronic toys, too much noise from the motor, wouldn't chase the weasel.  He was entertained by the mouse that moved (a kids toy) and the butterfly wand (another kids toy) but only for awhile..  We save the laser for occasional use because he gets bored with it quickly (also looks at the hand when we pick it up, then starts looking for where we point the light. Best of luck... 

 

[cicoccabim]

I use toys from Nina Ottosson to keep my cat challenged. Many of the toys are for dogs, but she loves the dog tornado , and the puzzles where she has to figure out how to get the treat.

I have a Da Bird, with MANY different attachments, and when she is bored of one of them, she gets to choose which one she wants next. I keep these toys on a shelf, and I lift her up and she can show me which one she wants to play with. Works every time! She is way to smart for me, so I go on walks in a leash (I´ve taught her to "stay" at the door until the harness is on and off). She knows "sit, right paw, left paw, turn around, stand (on hind legs), soft paw (no claws!) and fetch". A dog??? 

I hide food for her in the house, in places that she can´t see immediately, and she has to search the place to find the treats. 

I feed the birds outside the window, and that keeps her occupied quite a lot. But I still have to find out new things all the time. 

 

[furballsmeow]

He reminds me a lot of my cat, she is quite similar to him when it comes to toys.

She loves the little thing that wraps around the top of the milk jug, she'll bat it around for ever and ever.

Dipping the toy in some food he likes might also work.

Cats do have preferences, so I don't know if he would like that or not. 

 

[kencolleen]

thank you so much for all the great ideas! I never knew there were so many different things. I'm a first time cat owner. he's a lazy player though. but he does one around when I chase him. he starts it! Lol he'll bounce up on his legs with his back arched. invite me to play tag. so I do when he's done he just lays on my feet m. I will be trying a lot of these. the site is great

 

[sara457]

Hiding treats is good. We have a small place so they find them fast.

I also throw dry food down the hall for them to chase.

The latest game is pipe cleaners and tissue paper. Poke them out under the paper and the cats pounce!

 

[djade]

  I sometimes think we amuse the kitties - there they sit and watch us swing wands, throw toys, rattle toys, make noises, run thru the house, etc, .Harry likes milk  jug rings also.  He intentionally "loses" them under cabinets & stuff so he can "hunt" them.  I used to keep the "extras" in a box on my bedside table so I can throw them when I want to sleep in and he want's to play - except he saw me take one out one day and now he knows where I keep them and helps himself.  Brat Prince he is!

 

[furballsmeow]

Laura, my cat, loves to chew them to bits. Sometimes we'll bat them back and forth, I have to pretend to be interested as well.

Do you think it might be the smell of milk that makes cats like it so much?

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• furballsmeow
• Mar 18, 2015

 

[kencolleen]

I would not be surprised if that's why they like them so much. They basically bat anything around its not meant tO be.

 

[karma2222]

Sounds like my cat to a T ..... I got him a pet - a kitty friend to entertain him lol. And the birds and deer outside, the neighbour kids, my degus, his forage toys, his walks, his mountain of Pom poms, we play chase, volleyball and soccer with his toys twice a day at least I need some new kitty! Oh and he is 8 years old lol.

I love summer when the birds and the bugs will keep him entertained outside and all I have to do is sit out with a book or keep a eye of him from inside

 

[jonas]

My cat doesn`t care about toys/mirrors either. It also lays on the back sometimes and bites/scratches it. Although, sometimes it gets crazy when you drag a string over the floor.