by Ruth
(England)
Some people think cats are very self-sufficient and sleep so much that they don’t need attention.
Not only do the cats of those people miss out, but their caretakers do too.
Playing simple games with cats can be so much fun!
Here are a few of the games we devised to play with our cats, the two we have now are coming up to 11 years old and still love playing.
Poster by Ruth. This is a thumbnail. Click on it to see a full size poster that you can use.
Cats don’t have a long attention span so amusing them doesn’t have to take up a lot of time and surely everyone who loves their cat should be happy to spend some quality time with them. Some people say they are too busy, but in my opinion if they have time to watch TV, then they have time to play with their cats.
BUMP BUMP
How to make this toy and play the game. Take an old clean soft towel and cut a square, then cut the rest into strips, sprinkle some dried catnip on and wrap it up in the square, fasten it into a large ball with a longish strip of towel and leave a length to swing it by.
This is Walter’s favourite game of all, when he wants to play he sits by the toy box until one of us goes and gets out the toy and gently swings it by him saying ‘bump bump’ He loves to grab it and roll around giving it a really good kicking.
A CARDBOARD BOX
I think all cat lovers already know how much cats love to play in a box, a hole cut in makes a good place to jump in and out and maybe have a snooze in after playtime too.
MONSTER UNDER THE RUG
Both our cats love this game. it can be played with a toy mouse, a cat wand, even a ruler or similar. Just wobble it under the rug and see the cat leap to ‘kill’ it. Poke it out under the edge for a grabbing game.
GRAB THE COMB
Make daily grooming time fun time, let the cat grab the comb when he’s had enough. Both our cats love their grooming time, in fact if we pick up a brush or comb for our own hair they come and queue up for another turn.
KNOCK THE MOUSE OFF THE SCRATCHER
Speaks for itself really, cats love nothing better than knocking off something you keep putting back on for them. It doesn’t even have to be a real toy, a bit of screwed up paper is just as much fun.
GOAL
This game is one of Jozef’s favourite, I roll the ball and as it goes past him I shout GOAL and he runs to bat it back to me, we roll it to and fro for a while then he usually ends up batting it all over the room until he gets tired of the game and he bats it under the couch or an armchair lol
BOO
Can be played indoors or outdoors, hiding and popping out shouting BOO. Another of Jozef’s favourites, he loves to double back and creep up behind me shouting BBBRRR, his version of BOO
There are lots of fun and games to be had and quality time spent with cats is very important.
Seeing a cat sleeping all the time with boredom is very sad, they don’t ask for much and we owe it to them to enrich their lives as best we can.
Even sadder must be seeing a declawed cat, kept indoors always with nothing to do but sleep or sit in a window watching the world go by, unable to exercise even, as cats do by digging their claws into their scratching post or pad.
I can’t understand why anyone would want to have a cat only to prevent him from the fulfilled life, with his claws, which all cats are surely entitled to enjoy.
We treasure every moment with our cats and enjoy spending as much time with them as is possible, they let us know when they want to play or if they want peaceful time to themselves and we always respect their wishes.
