A Furbulous Guide To Playtime That Will Level Up Your Cat's Wellbeing
Play is not a luxury; play is an indispensable necessity. This is because playing is crucial for the holistic wellbeing of your cat, keeping it happy and healthy. That is why we think that the habit of playing hard is a survival skill that all cats should adopt. Of course, as a feline pawrent, it is your duty to ensure that your cat plays adequately.
One way would be to provide your precious pet with a thrilling array of toys, using these toys to entice your cat into playing regularly.
This article shall:
-Highlight the importance of playing with your cat
-Provide an overview of the various cat toy categories
-Recommend specific cat toys
1. The importance of playing with cats
Entertains your cat (and keeps it away from trouble)
Trust us, playing does wonders for your cat’s mental wellbeing. For your cat to be happy, it needs to receive enough mental stimulation. Because cats are intelligent creatures, their active mind thrives on challenges. That is why if you do not stimulate your cat adequately, there is a good chance that your bored cat may find its naughty ways to entertain and challenge itself. It may choose to bust its boredom by misbehaving (e.g. knocking things off the table, uprooting potted plants, urinating outside its litter box). After all, the devil finds work for idle hands.
Hence, to keep your cat safe, you should offer constructive challenges for your cat (e.g. playing with your cat and teaching it basic commands). By doing so, your cat will probably become happier as well as more obedient.
Relieves your cat’s stress
Did you know that cats are highly sensitive creatures that often get stressed by changes in their environment (e.g. moving house, moving litter box, being fed at a different time)? Thankfully, play is an excellent outlet to calm cats down, relieving their stress. Bonus: if you play with your cat at the same time daily, this creates a comforting routine that helps it feel safe and confident.
Strengthens your cat’s body
Not only is play beneficial to cats' mental health, but it is also a fantastic way to boost their physical health. Play helps your cat to expend excessive energy which keeps obesity at bay, plus it strengthens its heart, muscles and joints.
In sum, kitty playtime is crucial for the wellbeing of your cat which is why pawrents should invest time into learning how to best play with their cat.
2. How you should play with your cat
Provide your cat with a variety of toys (interactive, stationary, etc). As each type of toy is unique, you can find more details about how to get the most out of them by reading the information in the following table.
Overview of the various cat toy categories
|
Introduction |
Advantages |
How to use |
Interactive toys |
Toys that facilitate active play between a cat and its owner are considered interactive.
Hailed as the ideal toy type, feline experts highly recommend interactive toys. |
-Particularly effective in strengthening the bond between a cat and its owner, because owners are highly involved in this type of play -Offers more mental & physical stimulation than highly predictable stationary toys that may bore your cat after prolonged use |
To further lower the risk of your cat getting bored of its interactive toys, consider storing them somewhere inaccessible to your cat. Only take out the interactive toys when you use them to play with your cat. |
Stationary toys |
Toys that stay in one place (do not move around by themselves) are considered stationary.
Stationary toys are a great complement to interactive toys. |
-Convenient as you can just let your cat play with these stationary toys by itself -Especially useful for busy pet cat owners |
Although stationary toys are less stimulating than interactive toys, they are still important. They’re awesome for filling in the gaps when you’re too busy to play with your cat. Take out these stationary toys and you’ll be able to entertain your cat for some time. |
Self-activated toys |
Toys that are automated, which will entertain your cat when turned on, are considered self-activated.
Stationary toys are an awesome complement to interactive toys. |
-Convenient as you can just let your cat play with these stationary toys by itself -Requires minimal effort from owner who only needs to insert batteries and turn on the electronic toy |
If you are too physically drained to stand up and run around with interactive toys, you can opt for self-activated toys. All you need to do is to just switch on the toy. |
Treat-dispensing toys |
Toys that allow you to stuff treats inside are considered to be treat-dispensing.
Instead of free-feeding your cat, you can stimulate your cat by letting it figure out how to get the treats out of the toy. |
-Offers varying levels of intellectual stimulation as these toys can come in the form of simple treat-dispensing toys to more elaborate foraging puzzles -Encourages your cat to do more physical exercise as it needs to move its paws to manipulate the toy until the treats drop out |
Stuff the toys with only healthy treats to reduce your cat’s risk of obesity. Be mindful not to overuse treat-dispensing toys. Failure to do so may encourage your cat to refuse its regular healthy meals—since it prefers to be fed treats.
It’s good practice to get a recommendation from your vet to understand how frequently you should be using treat-dispensing toys. |
Of course, just like a human toddler, your feline craves your affection and attention. This means that although the type of toys you buy for your cat is important, leaving your cat alone with a bunch of toys is not enough. Rather, it is imperative for you to dedicate at least 10-15 minutes per day to playtime by, for example, creating a daily ritual to interact with your cat directly before dinner time.
For more details about how to pick the best toys for your cat, click here.
Recommended cat toys
If you need help deciding which toys to buy for your cat, we encourage you to read on to learn about several toys recommended by CatSmart, Singapore’s largest cat specialty store.
Interactive toys |
- Zolux Fishing Rod With Colourful Ribbons And Bell For Cats
The brightly-coloured ribbons and the cheerful chiming of the bell are bound to excite your kitty. Your feline will love chasing the rod to catch the coloured ribbons.
- AFP Kitty Wand Bird Fly, little bird, fly! Grab your kitty’s attention with this catnip-filled little bird on a stick. Cats can try to catch the bird to fulfil their hunting instinct to capture prey.
|
Stationary toys |
- Zolux Pack Of 2 Toy Mice For Cats 5 cm
This enticing stationary toy mouse pack will excite your curious kitty because mice are the natural prey of cats so felines are hardwired to pay special attention to them! These toys shall meet your feline's primal needs to chase, pounce and capture.
– Zolux Brown Canvas Toy Fish 7.5cm
This pawsome stationary brown toy fish, which has a long fluffy tail, is perfect for an interactive game of toss and fetch between cat and owner. Its fluffy feather tail will stimulate the tactile sensation of your kitty. |
Self-activated toys |
- Zolux Passion Player 3
Nab me if you can! Indulge your cat's natural hunting instincts with the Zolux Passion Player series, which will stimulate your kitty’s passion for the ultimate play session. There are 3 play speeds (slow, fast & random), so you can tailor the moving toy mouse’s speed according to your kitty’s energy level. The erratic movements of the hidden running mouse enhances your cat's agility & reaction speed. It develops cats’ physical and psychological balance as well as reflexes.
- Dooee Automated Spinning Butterly Interactive Cat Teaser Toy
If a standard mouse toy or feather on a stick doesn't do the job, this moving interactive butterfly cat teaser will be the perfect option. The toy is made up of an electronic base and a butterfly on the rod. The base is strong and secure, keeping the toy in place even though your cat will be having a lot of fun and jumping around to capture the butterfly. It also ensures a 360-degree range of motion to awaken the hunter within your kitty.
|
Treat toys |
- Petmate Jackson Galaxy Go Fish cat toy
Highly configurable and re-playable, the toy is a puzzle game that stimulates your cats with food. The fishtails can be turned indefinitely to any configuration you want, after which simply put your pet’s favourite treats in the centre and watch them try their best to get these treats out!
- Tom Cat Pakeway Interactive Treat Dispensing Toy
Let the fun begin with this Tom Cat Pakeway Interactive Treat Dispensing Toy! This will be the purr-fect toy for inquisitive cats that enjoy a snack every now and then.
All you've got to do is twist the top open, fill it with your cat's favourite goodies, close it, and watch as it stimulates their natural hunting instincts. The toy will tumble and roll, dispensing treats as your cat bats and swats it.
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3. Visit CatSmart’s retail stores or shop online today
If you need further advice about how to best play with your cat, you can visit CatSmart’s retail stores. Our friendly and knowledgeable retail staff will be more than happy to help you out by providing solid advice and recommending popular feline toys. Another alternative would be to shop online via our e-commerce website and mobile app (Android and IOS).
Follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Telegram) so that you can easily learn about our product promotions and cat-related trivia.
Finally, if you are interested to learn more about the cat toys that we recommend, read this article.