Most cats are extremely playful and fun loving creatures and will spend lots of time inventing new games. They love to interact with their owners but will also play happily on their own with the correct toys such as a cat scratcher or a toy mouse.

As cats have a mind of their own your cat will not take kindly to you waving a toy in her face expecting her to suddenly wake up and become interested in playing with you. Unlike dogs, getting your cat to play, jump about and get excited about exercising to a schedule is not going to happen. Cats are very independent and so the key is to get them to think that playing is their own idea. It’s not difficult if you have the right cat play equipment.

Cats will often amuse themselves for hours inventing their own games. Provide your cat with a small ball like a ping-pong ball, a toy filled with catnip or even a tightly wound ball of wool and your cat will amuse herself for ages. If you use a catnip toy remember to replace it when your cat loses interest. Catnip loses its scent after a while and once the scent is gone, so has all the fun !! If you give your cat a ball of wool to play with, make sure that you supervise her play or she may end up trying to eat it and could choke or she may end up wound up in it !!

If you decide to treat your cat with the best then look for a good quality cat scratcher, cat scratching post or cat activity gym. Ideas-4-pets have a great selection to choose from and they suit all sizes of wallets and all sizes of cats !! Scratching is a natural part of your cat’s behaviour and not only is it great fun but it also helps to keep her claws in trim. With added catnip, Scratch Posts encourage cats to scratch the post - not your furniture!

Many scratch post also incorporate little places for your cat to sleep and hide and have little outposts on top for them to sit and survey the situation !!

A new concept in cat play is the activity gym which offers stimulation and exercise for you cat and hours of fun too !! Activity gyms are usually made from a tubular frame covered in both soft material and corded carpet. The design of them allows your cat to lie underneath them and they have little toys filled with catnip hanging from the frame for your cat to play with.

Whatever you decide to purchase for your cat, make sure that the activity is both safe and fun and that if offers the type of stimulation that cats crave.