Hiya, got two very playful cats that both love to play. However often one ends up watching the other play with X toy. So was wondering if there are any specific toys where cats are “meant” to btoh use it at the same time? If so that would be cool.
So far we’ve mostly stuck to these original/typical toys, as in, paper bags, mouse on a thread and simple balls with bells, etc… Feel free to suggest cat toys you’ve had most success with, need something new for our ones. Anyone here tried these automatically moving balls - any good?
Our two cats will sometimes play by one grabbing a cat dancer or string toy and dragging it around while the other follows, so you could try that sort of toy where it’s all attached but they can each have their own piece of string to grab.
The other way our cats will play together is one will get up on the dining table and start knocking shit off the table for the other to play with… But that’s not really our preferred method.
Our cats are siblings/bonded pair so your milage may vary. They also sometimes just chase each other which is fun for them too I guess.
I remember when we were trying to slow down one cat’s eating, we got her a ball that released food as she knocked it around. She would knock it, grab some, and knock it again, leaving tons of food behind. Our second cat would hoover those up. That was unintended two cat play, however.
I think ripple rugs are meant for multiple cats?
This sounds funny, could you link the device you bought?
If they both seem interested you could use 2 boxes and throw a toy, ball, or crumpled piece of paper into each box. Cats being cats, they may still just take turns watching each other, but you could get some side by side play.
You may have to lower your expectations. I’ve never seen cats play together with a toy. It’s always either taking turns or one watching the other. If one is too timid to play while the other is around, then you might have to play with them separately.
Toys with motors (moving ball, floppy fish, etc) have all scared my cats because of the noise.
They did like cork balls though. Something about the texture and weight. And tissue paper, cats love crinkly tissue paper.
Cork balls is a good call! I’ll have a look for these.
And yeah, it’s not really something I’d expect just something that would be fun to see.
The toys that either have balls that get launched into the air, or ones that are small balls trapped in a loop for them to bat back and forth may be the kind of thing you’re looking for, especially if you can ones that allow for small treats or catnip to be placed inside the balls
Not something that’s available to buy, but could potentially build something similar with plexiglass and wood or 3d printing if you have one: https://youtu.be/CwVVBz6MNCk
It’s amazing to me how often people reproduce Thorndyke’s puzzle box to and discover the same things. Cats aren’t great learners. https://www.simplypsychology.org/edward-thorndike.html