Toy recommendations

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Drusilla&Finn

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Hi so my cats favorite enrichment is when I set out a bowl of water with ice. She loves to dig the ice out of the bowl. After that she doesn’t care but she loves “fishing” for ice. Obviously this is so messy haha water all over my kitchen and melted ice. Any good toys similar to this? I’m even willing to do a bowl full of water with some toys in it to dig out that will be less messy than ice melting but I can’t really find anything I can throw in? The electric fish freak me out bc they can malfunction and shock and are still so hard to find! I willing to try a non water option but I’m not sure if she will be as excited. I have boxes with paper crumpled and I’ll throw spring toys in but she’s not as excited as water and ice! Also she’s on a special diet and can’t do dry food or fry treats so I can’t do like puzzle toys or snuffle mats with food.
My girl and the aftermath pics! In summer we use a huge dog bowl and lots of ice so she stays cool and hydrated!
 

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iPappy

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It might be slightly less messy but ping pong balls floating in the filled bathroom sink is hours of entertainment for the cats (and humans 🤣)
 
Caspers Human

Caspers Human

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One of our cats' favorite toys is a fishing pole.

It's a miniature fishing pole with a reel and about ten feet of line. The lure on the end of the string is a tuft of feathers.
Cast it out and slowly reel it back in. When you have the cats' attention, dangle it over their heads and let them try to catch it.

Our cats will play together, chasing the feathers, if we make sure that each gets a turn to attack the feathers. The oldest, Casper, has always been a "low energy" player. The younger, Elliot, is a year old but still has a lot of kitten energy. Playing together is good for both cats. Not only does it build good relationships between cats and their humans, we think Elliot, the younger, inspires Casper, the elder, to play more.

For solo play, Casper has a toy mouse with spots and a pocket to hold catnip. If he's playing with his mouse and we say, "Kill that mouse!" he'll give it a death shake.

Elliot has a toy bird with catnip inside. He likes to pounce on it and throw it up into the air.

The two cats are good at sharing toys, for the most part, but we still like to have communal toys and toys that are just for one cat.

Yours, mine and ours, as the saying goes. :)
 
iPappy

iPappy

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Caspers Human said:
One of our cats' favorite toys is a fishing pole.

It's a miniature fishing pole with a reel and about ten feet of line. The lure on the end of the string is a tuft of feathers.
Cast it out and slowly reel it back in. When you have the cats' attention, dangle it over their heads and let them try to catch it.

Our cats will play together, chasing the feathers, if we make sure that each gets a turn to attack the feathers. The oldest, Casper, has always been a "low energy" player. The younger, Elliot, is a year old but still has a lot of kitten energy. Playing together is good for both cats. Not only does it build good relationships between cats and their humans, we think Elliot, the younger, inspires Casper, the elder, to play more.

For solo play, Casper has a toy mouse with spots and a pocket to hold catnip. If he's playing with his mouse and we say, "Kill that mouse!" he'll give it a death shake.

Elliot has a toy bird with catnip inside. He likes to pounce on it and throw it up into the air.

The two cats are good at sharing toys, for the most part, but we still like to have communal toys and toys that are just for one cat.

Yours, mine and ours, as the saying goes. :)
Click to expand...
The fishing pole reminded me that all of my cats think a tape measure is a great toy! 👍
 
neely

neely

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kakers

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Maybe she would enjoy one of those ball tracks? Those are popular with our kitties!
 
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Drusilla&Finn

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iPappy said:
It might be slightly less messy but ping pong balls floating in the filled bathroom sink is hours of entertainment for the cats (and humans 🤣)
Click to expand...
Oh my god this is genius!! Little kitty beer pong I would have never thought about ping pong balls! Thank you so much we will definitely be trying this out!
 
Caspers Human

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My former cat, Spike, used to like to play with ice cubes right on the kitchen floor. He'd paw at it a few times before swatting it and sending it sailing across the vinyl kitchen floor like a hockey puck. He'd chase it down then bat it in the other direction until the ice cube melted into a puddle of water. The amount of water in one ice cube is pretty trivial. Unless you've got really big ice cubes, it's easily an amount you can wipe up with a paper towel.

Something about fishing poles... They're good for guys who say that they don't like cats. Fishing is 'something that men do.' Why not "cat fishing?" ;)
 
cmshap

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This probably totally depends on the individual cat, but this was a cheap toy and I took a chance on the purchase. But my cat loves it.

He loves little toy mice, and I was looking for interactive toys, so I was specifically looking for wand toys with mice on the end. I found this one which has a toy mouse that squeaks every time it's bumped. It actually has a battery and speaker embedded in it, but it's strong enough not to be ripped apart to be dangerous. Its squeaks obviously have a limited lifespan, but I've been playing with him with this toy for months and it is still squeaking.

There are other variants that are non-interactive, if that's more appealing to a specific cat.

https://a.co/d/0Bcf2EO

Edit: when I click on the above link I am not getting the product on Amazon I am trying to link. I'm not sure why. I work in IT so this is a new problem I've never seen before and don't understand. In case the above link doesn't work for you, the specific product I am referencing is on Amazon called "Our Pets Play-N-Squeak".
 
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LokiLamia

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I have tried dozens of toys with my kittens. But their favorite are the plastic springs. Very lightweight these things bounce high and fly across the room with the slightest nudge of a paw. One of mine likes to play fetch so she brings them to me and squeaks at me in her maaa version of a meow. Amazon has them in multiple colors and they are fairly cheap. I bought a pack of 100, around $12 I think it was, so I don’t have to fish them out from under the stove and fridge as often. They like to bring toys to their bowls to play. The stick with the feathers or something hanging are great interactive toys. Good bonding time.
Happy playing.
 
Babypaws

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A lot of my cats love to play with pipe cleaners, I have 3 that play fetch with them. They also love carbon boxes and paper bags….and of course laser pointers
 
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