Predatory Play for Cats: Keep Your Cat Fit and Healthy

Cats are natural predators, and they love to stalk, chase, and pounce on their prey. This type of play is not only fun for your cat, but it’s also important for their physical and mental health. Predatory play for cats fills part of Kitty’s natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle. It lets Kitty use her instinctive hunting behaviors to get some exercise, burn off energy, and reduce stress or anxiety.  Choosing the right toys for your cat’s play style will keep her fit and healthy.

What is Predatory Play for Cats?

There are three main predatory play styles: stalking, chasing, and pouncing. Each of these play styles helps your cat develop important skills that they would use in the wild.

If you have the opportunity, watch a litter of kittens playing together. You will see them exercising all these play styles as they stalk, chase, and pounce on each other.

• Stalking involves your cat slowly moving towards their prey, often hiding behind furniture or other objects. Stalking helps them learn how to hide and approach their prey without being seen.
• Chasing is when your cat runs after their prey, and helps them develop their speed and agility. If you are training a cat to compete in feline agility competition, these are skills you want to develop. Watch a cat running agility, you will see examples of all three styles of predatory play for cats. 
• Pouncing is the finish of the hunt when Kitty jumps on their prey and ‘kills’ ‘ it. Pouncing helps them learn how to use their muscles and coordination to catch their prey.

In addition to helping your cat develop important skills, predatory play also provides them with a lot of exercise. Playing with your cat helps them stay fit and healthy. Play helps prevent obesity, and it can also help reduce stress and anxiety. It can also improve the relationship between Kitty and her guardian, or between multiple cats in a family.

Related Post: Benefits of Play

What is Your Cat’s Play Style? 

Some cats, especially young ones, don’t have a strong preference and will play with anything. But don’t write off your cat with “He doesn’t like toys” or ”He doesn’t play anymore” just because he doesn’t respond to the style of play you are offering.

Some cats have a preference for play that involves leaping and jumping into the air. Others would rather stick to play on the ground running after a toy. So if Kitty is not inclined to play with you, try another toy that gives Kitty an opportunity to exercise a different play style.

You might find he will engage more readily with a toy that feeds his favorite play style. One of my show cats will decline all the wand toys the judges offer her. But she happily bats at the wobble mouse one judge always has on her table. Her play style is totally different from what is normally offered at shows.

Keep in mind that Kitty’s preferred style of play can change as his life or physical conditions change. A cat that gains weight may exchange his desire to fly in the sky to a preference for chasing your “snake” around the house. An older cat is less likely to indulge in active play if he’s suffering from arthritis. But watching the toy from around corners and doing a little stalking is still play even if it is heavy on the observation and low on the actual action.

How to Encourage Your Cat to Play

If you want to encourage your cat to play, there are a few things you can do.

• Make sure he has plenty of cat toys to play with. Toys that mimic prey, such as mice or birds, are especially popular.
• Try playing with your cat using a wand toy mimicking a variety of prey. 
• Provide your cat with a stimulating environment. This means having plenty of places to hide and climb, as well as safe access to the outdoors if possible.

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How to Choose the Right Toy for Your Cat

A toy can simulate a bird flying in the air, a bug hopping, a snake slithering, or a mouse jumping around. One cat might love jumping in the air, while another prefers hiding behind the couch and pouncing on the toy as it goes by, and your third cat might just love following you around the house while you drag a string or a cat charmer toy. Choose a basic, simple, cat toy for a shy kitty. You can get something more challenging for a bolder, more athletic cat.

Related Post: How to Choose a Toy

Here are some suggestions for toys for Kitty depending on her preferred predatory play styles:

All-Purpose Toys for Any Play Style

• Cat Dancer: Every cat needs one of these no matter what their play style. You can operate it to keep your Kitty excited. It is especially effective for the jumpers and flyers.
• Wand toys: Wand toys can fly like birds, slither like snakes, or skitter like mice.
• Robotic Fish: These are fun for watchers and fun for pouncers to poke.
• Laser Pointers: Some cats are frustrated by laser pointers but if your furbaby isn’t, these are great to simulate any kind of play.

Chasers:

A chaser is built for speed. Encourage him to chase a wand toy, run after a ball thrown down the hall. A laser toy that you control finishing up with a pounce on a treat to provide satisfaction. 

• Cat Crazies: Toss these down the hall or across your kitchen and watch Kitty run. These toys slide, flip and bounce for erratic, unpredictable fun. They make great fetch toys.
• Chirping Woolen Balls: Catnip scented, chirping, woolen balls. Chirps when touched (Bird, Frog & Cricket Sound)
• Cat Chasers: Another great fetch toy.

Stalkers: 

These cats think like leopards. They stalk their prey around corners and up and down high spaces. They need tall cat trees and shelves to climb. 

• Cardboard Castle: Tall cat castle to provide our little leopards a place to take their toys to enjoy them
• Large Cat Tree
• Large Catnip Kickers Soft toys that can be dragged off.
• Yeowww! Catnip Toys Famously strong, everyone’s favorite, catnip toys

Pouncers:

Catnip toys, plush toys, and kickers are great options for cats with this predatory play style. Distribute them around the house and let Kitty stalk them and attack them.

• Set of three chirpy toys: 3 piece set of interactive cat toys including cat bird squeaky toy, cat mouse toy, feather cricket cat toy. Realistic animal shapes and sounds will catch the cat’s attention to chase and play, and satisfy your cat’s hunting instinct.
• Plush Kickers: Plush catnip kicker toys.
• Feather Flips: ideal shape, size, and style for swatting and pouncing; great for interactive or solo play.
• Variety Pack: A variety of toys for the pouncer cat.

Ambush Predators:

Ambush predators are cats that wait behind the sofa or in a box and watch, watch, watch; then come bursting out to grab the toy. I have a couple of cats that play like this and they are the most frustrating playmates. Motorized toys, whack-a-mole, and animated toys that make noise are good choices for cats that play like this

• Cat Charmer: One of my favorite wand toys, especially for cats that have an ambush predatory play style.
• Racing Mouse: Runs for 4 minutes dragging it’s little worm tail behind. Fun for ambush predators, and seniors who might like watching more than chasing.
• SmartyKat Concealed Toy: Erratic spinning motions and unpredictable changes in directions engages Kitty’s prey drive for an exciting and stimulating playtime for any cat. But these are very appealing for the ambush predator.
• Animated Butterflies: Interactive Cat Toy has fluttering butterfly,feather tail with flashing LED lights and moving base.

Non Hunters

Some cats aren’t good hunters. These cats never learned to play as kittens. They likely didn’t have their mothers around to teach them how to act like cats, were raised as singleton kittens, or lived with a family that didn’t understand how to socialize a kitten. For these cats hiding toys like tunnels, box forts, and tall cat trees that allow your cat to watch others.

• Tunnel: Choose a tunnel toy that suits your furbaby. There are the simple tunnels, a three-way tunnel, tunnels with tents or playcubes attached.
• Peek and Play Tent: Hanging toys, crinkle mat, peep holes, and play pop-up tunnels.
• Ripple Rug: Activity/Forage rug. Add treats and small toys for Kitty to find.
• Tall Cat Tree: A cat tree can provide a place for Kitty to climb, hide, explore, discover toys and treats you hide there.

Summary

A successful hunt for a cat is all about the reward. In a cat’s mind, that reward is dinner; or at least an extra treat. Each play session with Kitty should include a treat or a meal. Schedule daily play sessions

By providing Kitty with plenty of opportunities for predatory play for cats, you can help her stay healthy, happy, and well-adjusted. Predatory play allows Kitty to exercise her instincts and fulfill her natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep cycle. Cat play prevents obesity, reduces stress, improves the bond between a cat and her guardians.