Play is an important part of a kitten’s development, and it remains important for a cat’s mental and physical health throughout life. Just a few minutes of exercise and enrichment each day is enough to help cats maintain interest in life and keep boredom at bay.
Most important, playing with your kitten or cat builds and strengthens the human-feline bond. Here are some fun ways to enhance his brainpower and keep him occupied both with and without you.
PetSafe FroliCat Pounce Interactive Pet Toy
This automatic cat toy features an electronic mouse that zips around the circular path, zooming forward, reversing, hiding under obstacles, and occasionally twitching back and forth. The unpredictable movements stimulate a cat’s natural instinct to hunt, chase, and pounce on prey. The game has four speed settings and turns off automatically after 10 minutes, or manually with an on/off button.
Petlinks Mystery Motion Concealed Electronic Motion Cat Toy
This battery-operated toy has a mouse-tail that peeps out from under a plastic cover. It shoots around erratically in different directions and can be operated at four different speeds. This toy replicates a cat’s instinct to hunt and consequently encourages exercise, enticing even elderly cats to play. This toy is ideal for single cats as well as multicat households.
Petstages The Mix & Scratch
This feline puzzle and game board consists of four corrugated play stations that link together in different combinations, offering cats different activities for interactive play. The corrugated areas are infused with catnip, and all four pieces are designed to work with small balls and other toys that can be fitted into the cutout sections and grooves to keep cats busy and engaged. Puzzle boards are sold individually.
Catit Senses 2.0 Super Circuit
The special peek-a-boo design of the cover of the Catit Senses 2.0 Super Circuit stimulates cats to chase and swat a ball around it and can be set out in more than 100 different layouts. It’s easy to assemble and clean. A motion-activated ball lights up to spice up playtime. Additional games (sold separately) can be worked into the design. They include the Catit vertical cardboard scratcher, a grass planter for real grass, and a food tree, creating a fabulous feline play station that will keep single and multiple cats busy for hours.
The Pawbo Theme Park
This high-tech “play land” has a pet camera that works in conjunction with an app on a smartphone, allowing pet parents to see how their pets interact. The main unit has a built-in treat dispenser and the option to talk to pets and invite them over for a snack. A built-in laser operated via the app entices pets to play and can be set to initiate games automatically. In addition, the unit can remotely control an interactive teaser toy. The manufacturers promise more games to come.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT
