The Challenge Of Playing With Multiple Cats

Last Updated on October 19, 2021 by Holly Anne Dustin

Cats are not aloof, low-maintenance companions. They actually thrive on social experiences with their humans. Cats are also social with other cats if they have adequate resources for space, food, water, litter boxes, scratching surfaces. Time with their humans is an important resource for cats. Interactive play helps reduce aggression in groups of cats. All cats benefit from interactive play. Playing is especially important when you have a multiple cat household.

Play keeps cats mentally and physically healthy. It allows them to engage in normal “cat” behaviors. Play is a fundamental part of an enriched life for our indoor cats. The act of play is vitally important to a cat’s mental and physical development and well-being. A cat living wild would typically engage in eight to ten hunts a day. Compare that to the number of times your furbaby gets off the couch and exercises in play. Probably not that often.

As cat guardians, we need to play with our kitties at least once or twice daily for 10-15 minutes per session.

Contents

1 Why Play with Your Cat?
2 How to Play with Your Cat
3 How to Play with Two Cats at Once
4 Playing with Multiple Cats
5 Pick an Environment Conducive to Playing with Multiple Cats
6 Sources:

Why Play with Your Cat?

Play lets cats be cats. When we play with our kitties, we let them exercise their inner predator, which increases their physical and mental health.

Play prevents the aggression and behavior problems of bored cats. It reduces stress. A play session can distract Kitty in a fearful situation. It also increases the bond between you and your feline friends. And it’s fun!

Related Post: Click this link for a more detailed look at the benefits of play for your cat

How to Play with Your Cat

Successful interactive play respects the cat’s natural prey hunting sequence: staring, stalking and chasing, pouncing and grabbing, and performing a “kill” bite.

Give Kitty the chance to replicate that hunting behavior in her playtime. Don’t just wave the toy about. Make it act like prey, sneak the toy through a hole in a cardboard box or around a corner.

Each cat is unique in personality, likes, and dislikes, and habits. They are different in how they play too. My Plush takes forever to decide to participate in a play session, especially if another cat is playing along. Caramel, on the other hand, will just fling herself into any activity without thinking.

Consider the play style of your cat when you play with her. If she’s an analyzer like Plush, give her time to plan her attack. If you go too quickly, she’ll lose interest. Start and stop will get more interest than constant movement. Incorporate different toys into your play sessions to keep Kitty’s interest high.

If your Kitty is elderly or has health issues, you’ll have to tone down the intensity of the play session but still give him the chance to play.

End your play session on a high note. Let Kitty “win” by capturing the toy. Then give her a treat to wrap up the play session with a successful “hunt.”

How to Play with Two Cats at Once

Can you play with two – or more – cats at once? Yes, but it is more complicated. Cats living wild are solitary hunters by nature. Unlike a pack animal, they don’t work together to stalk their prey. Competing for toys or cooperating in play does not come naturally to our kitties. You may see intimidation or stress in a group play setting.

Two or more cats stalking one toy will distract each other. The more assertive cat will be the starter, leaving her friends on the bench watching her play. That certainly isn’t much fun for them. I see it all the time when I play with my cats. Plush always backs off as soon as one of the other cats shows up to take part.

So what is a multi-cat guardian to do? Practice your fishing skills and manage a wand toy in each hand. It won’t be as smooth. It is harder to get the lure to act like prey. But it will work. Or get another human to help with playtime. Make it a party,

Try taking one cat into a different part of the house for special playtime. That never works in my house. The cats get more interested in the closed door than playing with me. But you might have better results.

Playing with Multiple Cats

But what about the large multi-cat family? Two cats seems like nothing to you. You’re playing with 3,4, maybe upwards of 5 or more.

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Play a fetch game. Toss fetch toys in multiple directions. Toss the leader cat’s favorite toy the furthest away. While he works out finding it and bringing it back, play with your more laid back cats.
Play with two wands pointing in opposite directions
Use laser lights to distract the cats that are taking over the fun.
Use electronic whack-a-mole style toys. Encourage some of your cats to engage with those toys and some with you and the wands. Switch the cats around at another session. Just make sure everyone is having fun.
Have a play session with your assertive cats while the others are napping. Then play with your shyer or more deliberate cats while the boss cats are sleeping. Try grouping them by energy level and play style.
Give preference to kitties that don’t have a natural, built-in play buddy in your clowder.
For households with attention-seeking kitties, be sure to always try to draw out the others first.

Pick an Environment Conducive to Playing with Multiple Cats

Play with your brood around a large, multilevel cat tree. Getting up high will give your shyer cats more confidence. It will also naturally split up the group. Add bags, boxes, or tunnels to your play space for Kitty to hide in until she’s ready to pounce. Move your lure in among them. Throw some fetch toys into the spaces.

Add some catnip or silvervine to the mix, if it doesn’t make your cats aggressive.

Switch up the toys and keep things interesting. Vary the type of lure you put on your wand toys to make sure both your ground prey hunters and your high flyers get a chance at their preferred prey.

Playing with multiple cats at one time definitely has more challenges than solo cat play. But it is pretty entertaining too.

Related Post: Click on this link Living with Multiple Cats to learn more about living with multiple cats.