The Best Cat Toys--What Does Your Cat Like?

We don't have a cat these days but when we did, his favorite toys were mice and birds. And he liked the idea of playing with daughter's hamster, but not allowed. One day he decided too play with the traffic and came off 2nd best.

Oldandknew, Mikey is an apartment cat. Although he's given every indication that he would love to play with birds (judging by his reaction to those that land on the window sill), he doesn't go outside, so no birds.

The one mouse that wandered into my apartment was a disaster from my point of view. Mikey never learned to hunt. So he caught it, played with it, and then let it go!

The advantages of indoor living for a feline--no cars.

I'm hoping to get some suggestions about toys that aren't alive.

I've bought my cat quite a few toys, most of which she ignores. The ones she does like are toy mice. Another thing she has fun with are those rings around the lids of milk cartons. Try that - I know other people whose cats like to play with those.

Ok - the big winners in my place are pipe cleaners twisted around each other, Vick's Vapodrops -( the ones that come in their own little cellophane packets - leave them in the packets, of course!), the little furry mice, plastic supermarket bags, odd bits of string and such and little toys with catnip inside.

Apparently they are now making cat-size "kongs" - which might keep 'em busy. I gor mine a ball which dribbled out a cat grit at a time if played with - they ignored it totally.

For sustained interest, the best has been a toy called 'spider.' It is a patch of soft leather with black fur and eight pipestem legs. The furry part is durable. The legs fall off, and they play with them too.

Corrigated cardboxes are great chew toys, but the residue is a mess.

The circular plastic tube with a ball inside will only hold their interest for a few days, but they go wild with it while it's new.

Heehee, my cat likes wads of paper. And the corregated cradboard scratching pads. He loves paper. My friends and family all buy him toys that he never uses...... He likes the plastic milk-bottle rings too.

We used to have one of these little mice where you pull a string it kinda wriggles. Of course, the cats took it apart pretty soon so that only the two plastic eyes were left connected by a small piece of fabric. That was Mysan's favourite toy - the eyes! We just dropped them on the floor and she would come running and play catch with them. Finally the piece of fabric vanished leaving only one eye. Can't find it anymore :-(

Paper bags are great, also. And the little furry mice. An old sock filled with catnip.

And we always have at least one cardboard box in our kitchen. At the moment, it's a pretty big one. Cat can sit in there and look at us - must be pretty cool if you are a cat.

How about newspaper surfing? Cat jumps up on the table right on the newspaper and slides over the table on top of the newspaper. Very much fun if the human is reading the newspaper!

Yes, the milk carton plugs are a hit here too. The little furry mice are a problem. Mikey eats the tails and then ignores the mice. He's not much interested in paper bags or boxes.

Roger, Mikey didn't like the spider. What can I tell ya.

The circular plastic tube with the ball inside is too small for Mikey to get his paw in. No interest at all.

I just got home and found a typewriter ribbon (!) unraveled on the floor. A typewriter ribbon?!!!

Hi, Roberta. Our Biggs likes thread spools -- when they're batted, they don't roll straight. Have you tried tearing a hole in the bottom corner of a grocery bag? The bag itself is boring, but who can resist trying to find out what's on the other side of a hole???

Might he like a video? There are several made for cats, with little birds and critters running around... I used to have a kitty that liked basketball games on TV...

My cats had two favorite toys they always came back to play with when bored with their other toys. One was a stinky old green sock stuffed full with catnip and knotted at the top. The cats would gnaw on the sock, tossing it into the air and then attacking it with all four paws as if fell to the ground.

The other was a rubber spidery thing tied to the end of a piece of wire that was attached to a wooden handle. When the cats wore me out, I'd stuff the handle into the side of an easy chair and the cats could still play for hours without my enticement.

They too were spoiled rotten with lots of various types of toys. The popularity of that sock and spidery thing outlasted all of them.

Wy, Mikey's video viewing days are over!!!! Dangerous. I got him a video called Catnip Video. Very charming. Birds, squirrels, and other park critters. Very relaxing for me. Mikey would watch while I worked. He watched for about a week. Riveted. Rapt. Then one night he made his decision. I'm getting those birds. Ran head first into the tv set. The tv tottered. He staggered. I caught the tv before it fell. That was the last of Mikey's video viewing.

Butrflynet. I might try the sock with the catnip. But I wonder how long the sock will survive.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I thought my cats would love the mechanical mouse I bought them, but they just sat and watched, then walked away! Hello?????????????????

That thing. The one that squeels and takes off in all directions when you touch it? Mine ignored it, so I left it with Nell's cats when I was cat sitting. I understand they ignored it too.

Yeah, the mouse sucked. BUT! The little ring tabs from the milk/orange juice containers keep the kitties entertained endlessly!

I've taken to removing them from a new container and just tossing them anywhere. The kitties find them, play with them, hide them and then make US hunt them down!

I am gonna try those placcy ring things.

Of course, as we all know, the very BEST toy is your toes, moving and dancing around under the bed covers at night!

Owie....

Please let us know how it goes with the plastic thingys, Deb!

Hello, Roberta!

As you know, I'm a sucker for ANY story of Mikey's antics, but have always been very impressed with his amazing toy collection. (Just curious: Has he received any new videos lately? Loved the tales of Mikey & the jungle creatures!)

My critters' favourites? I have come to the conclusion that maybe they are deprived in the toy area .... They don't really show much interest in the stuffed mice, etc.
But when Mozz was younger (she's now close to 18) she had this great routine with a miniature Aussie Rules football! They are not round like soccer balls, but closer to a sort of an elongated oval shape & bounce unpredictably .... Well, Mozz became an expert in predicting the direction in which the ball would travel, once bounced, & even took amazing sky-borne marks at dizzy heights. God, she was good at it! Kept us amused for hours, watching her. These days she tends to be a bit of a bed bug. <sigh>

Mikey has a several mechanical mice, a touch-activated mouse, and a remote radio-operated mouse, as well as an electronic bird. He stares blankly at these. But I enjoy them.

Olga. First, my VCR is broken. Second, even if it weren't, I would't be playing any videos for Mikey. Third. I can't be bouncing balls in a apartment. The downstairs neighbors wouldn't like it.

I forgot to mention that Mikey likes to play with my earplugs. And a pearl button earring--with the post removed.

I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to have to wait to see if anything new comes along. He appears to have all the toys that might work.

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