What to do for a 15+ yo cat who is bored but doesn't like to play?

[FeebysOwner]

Hi all. Some of you will recognize Feeby and me - I have another thread going on regarding her health/flea issues this year (I Don't Know What To Do - 15+yo Cat ). But, I think this may best be addressed separately. Feeby has never been much of a play-baby. She will occasionally go after a string that is dangled in front of her - that lasts about 30 seconds if we are lucky, mostly while laying on her back. She tires of all toys, bought or home-made in one shot. She isn't terribly mobile (age/arthritis), but still is curious about all new things - ONCE. New delivery box left out for a while, has to check it out - ONCE. Anything going on in the house that is out of the ordinary and she has got to check it out - ONCE. Then, ho-hum...

She has pre-occupied herself with looking out windows/doors at squirrels and birds, and with stair steps/footstools leading to other perches with views. But, since all of her issues this year, she does it less than before. However, she will squawk at me as if she is bored and wants entertained. I try to play with her - BORING... She has other squawks that mean she is hungry, etc. but I think I can tell the difference between them at this point - this one seems to say 'Hey, I am BORED'. She is not a cuddler unless it is on her terms, but I have even tried to cuddle with her, pet her, kiss her to see if attention is what she wants - sometimes it stops her, other times it does not.

What does one do to help alleviate a bored old lady cat?

I forgot to mention - she has hated all other cats that she has ever been exposed to, so new cat friend is out of the question!

 

[ArtNJ]

Get her a kitten as revenge for all the times she has driven you a little crazy.

...just kidding, you know how that goes. That odds that it would be a positive for her are small.

I'm sure there are additional things you could try like putting a video on the tv. There are lots of youtube ones with birds that cats like. But realistically? She would probably show interest once.

 

[susanm9006]

One thing I used to do with my old girls was to pick them up and take them on a tour of all the places they couldn’t reach or see. They found sniffing the light switch or looking on top of the cabinet highly entertaining, and if we could find a spider, bonanza.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Thanks! Feeby doesn't typically like to be picked up and carried anywhere, so I don't do it a lot. My husband does pick her up a few times a week, either after work or on the weekends, and takes her for walks outside to smell tree leaves/hanging plants and touch tree bark. And he tells her when he picks her up - "Let's go find something to bite"! Despite her initial resistance, she 'tolerates' it and does seem somewhat interested, so I am OK with him doing it. Did you pick your old girls up multiple times a day? Were they OK with being picked up?

 

[susanm9006]

Thanks! Feeby doesn't typically like to be picked up and carried anywhere, so I don't do it a lot. My husband does pick her up a few times a week, either after work or on the weekends, and takes her for walks outside to smell tree leaves/hanging plants and touch tree bark. And he tells her when he picks her up - "Let's go find something to bite"! Despite her initial resistance, she 'tolerates' it and does seem somewhat interested, so I am OK with him doing it. Did you pick your old girls up multiple times a day? Were they OK with being picked up?

My girls, except current, were all very okay with being picked up and loved to be held against my shoulder. It was so enjoyable that they usually broke into a purr as soon as I picked them up. I don’t know that we went on our walks multiple times a day but definitely once a day.

 

[neely]

Most of our cats enjoyed gazing at this type of toy fish aquarium. Perhaps Feeby might enjoy one of these too.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Most of our cats enjoyed gazing at this type of toy fish aquarium. Perhaps Feeby might enjoy one of these too.

It is certainly worth a shot! Thanks!

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Most of our cats enjoyed gazing at this type of toy fish aquarium. Perhaps Feeby might enjoy one of these too.

Do these need to be plugged in? I"m thinking of something like this for my lazy but bored Cooper. Thanks.

 

[FeebysOwner]

According to what I looked up (just click on the pic to go to Amazon), they run off an electric cord - says it uses very little power.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Oh ok. I'll have to find something else then, no electricity outside. Darn

 

[FeebysOwner]

This one isn't quite as nice, but operates off of batteries. Wonder how often you might have to replace them though.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

I'll take a look. The reviews on the above ones aren't very good btw

 

[daftcat75]

Oh ok. I'll have to find something else then, no electricity outside. Darn

This summer I installed “cable TV” for Krista. I got it for the bird channel but the squirrel channel apparently came bundled for free. I hung a bird feeder for Krista somewhere she could see it.

Then we got fleas this summer and now I talk to squirrels telling them to keep their flea-bag distance.

I don’t know if they are related but I haven’t refilled the bird feeder in awhile.

I did just order the electric aquarium above though. No risk of fleas from that.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

I can just see these cats take interest one time and then there's no more interest. I did read that those acquariams tend to screech and make noises that scare cats. Hopefully yours doesn't but I always read the reviews instead of looking at stars (especially after Lester Holt did a segment on
how Amazon fakes the star rating to make sales)

 

[FeebysOwner]

This summer I installed “cable TV” for Krista. I got it for the bird channel but the squirrel channel apparently came bundled for free. I hung a bird feeder for Krista somewhere she could see it...I did just order the electric aquarium above though. No risk of fleas from that.

Feeby doesn't pay any attention to TV at all - even when she was close to it while she was spending time on the coffee table. The only thing she seems to care about when it comes to the TV is that late at night when it gets turned off it is time for her to join me in bed. She has bird & squirrel feeders to watch, but I think she is fairly well 'over them' for the most part. Let me know if the aquarium goes over well with Krista

I can just see these cats take interest one time and then there's no more interest.

That is exactly what I am thinking Feeby will do - if she even bothers to look at it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Since my husband laid a couple of pieces of tissue-type paper on the floor over a week ago that Feeby has been consistently laying on every day, I decided to take it to the next level (while I continue to look for potential toys for her) - at least for some sort of 'diversion". A box with loads of gift wrapping tissue in it - and below is the result - so far. But, it would appear that I need to get a little bigger box!!!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Day 2 - back in the box!!!! The only glitch in this plan is she wanted to be fed in this box last night!! OMG!! However, she finally decided that there is just not enough room for her and her dish, so she left it to go back to her other tissue-papers so she could eat with some 'space'! And, then right back in the box until bedtime!

 

[susanm9006]

Great enrichment! I rotate a box, a plastic bag and tissue paper. Willow has other toys she plays with but these three seem to encourage more play and clearly she likes them. Some times the tissue remains whole and sometimes it is quickly shredded, the cardboard box has its corners eaten off and the bag is chewed full of holes.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Day 3 - Maybe the box is going to backfire (for me anyway)! Feeby seems to want to treat this as a evening/night time bed. Yesterday evening she spent a bit of time in it before looking for human food hand-out at dinner time. Much later, after she ate her last meal for the day/night she immediately went to the box, where she proceeded to spend the entire night! She ignored my normal calls for her to come to bed, but did show up this morning when my husband was getting ready/leaving for work.

Today, since she has been up, she has pretty much ignored the box, other than a moment ago when she jumped in then right back out again - only to go rest on the tissue-type papers my husband set out a week or so ago. She is now napping on those papers.

So, bigger box in case somehow that is the issue? Or, at least during the day hours - this box is not the 'place of choice'? Or, 'none of the above' - I am almost willing to bet that after another day or two have passed that box will be considered 'old news'. In true 'Feeby fashion'!

 

[RangersMom]

Hmm that is tough. I have 1 cat who only likes string toys, 1 cat who only likes balls.
Sometimes you gotta keep trying and trying new stuff, but it sounds like you have.
When my cats are bored and wont play with toys, I put on a squirrel or bird show on youtube/the tv. They like to sit and watch it and sometimes swat at them lol. Petsmart also has this 'butterfly on a wire' toy that my cats so NUTS for, it looks and acts like a real butterfly, its about $8 but worth it.