Just like perches and scratching posts, toys are also important in providing entertainment for your cat.
Two fifteen-minute interactive play sessions a day with your cat will decrease your cats stress levels, provide exercise, mental stimulation and encourages quality time spent with your cat.
Predator-prey stimulating play is the best form of play you can offer your feline. It mimics the cat’s natural instincts to hunt.
Wand toys are the best option for stimulating prey behavior and lets your cat stalk and catch its “prey”.
You can also use a laser pointer to stimulate prey. However, it’s important that at the end of the chase, you provide your cat with a real toy to catch.
With a real toy, you’re allowing your cat to practice pouncing and biting.
If you don’t provide your cat with a real toy to catch, your cat might experience frustration/stress due to never catching its prey. The catch is as important as the chase!
There is a huge market of electronic toy options such as robotic motion activated activity toys, electronic laser pointers, and ball launcher toys.
These are a great added stimulation when cats are left home alone for long periods of time.
Cat towers and perches are never an acceptable replacement for interactive play sessions! Lack of interactive play is the number one cause of behavioral problems in cats.