Playing with your cat : what are the rules?

If you have a cat, you probably know that waving absentmindingly a toy under its face while scrolling on internet isn't really very effective for either of you. You may even have given up the idea, thinking your cat is just not into playing.

In this article, I will explain why you should persevere and how you can make playing more interesting for both humains and cats. Why playing with your cat? When? How? With whom? You will know all about the cats' playing rules.

* Why should you play with your cat

Cats and kittens play to learn and train their natural predation, social and motor behaviours. It is a enjoyable activity which also:

- develops and maintains the cats neural activity and physical health
- creates and improves the human-cat relationship by positive associations
- clears out stress and frustrations, improves the well-being while reducing the frequency of unwanted behaviours (such as urine/feces out of the litter box, agressive, destructive behaviours, etc

Playing is very important for indoor cats with no access to nature or preys. A playing routine can not only maintain the physical and psychological health of your cat but also is a health monitoring system. Changes in playing motivation or habbits can be one indication there is something wrong, which always is good to know on a species who tends to hide it. Playing also lowers the probability of your outdoor cat bringing back a prey at home by getting it out of his/her system.

* When to play?

Pick a moment when your cat is active, and seems to want to do something (usually in the morning or the evening), and never when your cat is resting or eating. Playtime should be daily specially if the cat is kept indoor, or usually left alone for a long period time. Use the cats' natural predatory behaviour sequence : hunting, eating, self-grooming and sleeping and offer a snack at the end of the 15-20 minutes play session in the evening right before going to bed. This way, you will establish a rythm encouraging your cat to go sleep too!

* What to play with?

Playing with your hand or clothes would encourage predation attacks and destruction of your belongings: pick an appropriate toy. Cat wand toys are great to keep a security distance from those sharp teeth and claws while improving your reach. Cat prefers small sized toys which mimicated their natural preys' movements : birds, rodents, insects. Keep things interesting and new by making toys turnover, otherwise your cat will get bored and lose interest. Toys are made to redirect predation behaviours, remember they are supposed to be destroyed! Studies even show that cats get more intereted by a toy that changes forms and gets destroyed while playing...

That said, if you do not have any cat toy within reach and no way to make one, there are other interactive games you can play with your cat: hide and seak, treat chase, bonneteau etc.

* with whom ?

It is better to play one-to-one so you can focus all your reflexes and attention: a cat in hunting mode can be very swift. If the household has multiples humans and cats, assign one person per cat and set up a daily turnover so every humans is associated to nice activities by all the cats.

* how to play with your cat ?

Cats like rapid, impredictables, prey like movements: check how the prey you want to embody move and mimicate. Make the toy shift between swift, slow movements, freezing and slight shaking. Making it disappear under or behing a furniture can awake chasing instincts in your cat. If you cat shows no interest in his/her new toy, just switch with another one and try again another time (some cats need time to adjust and get use to things). Encourage your cat to chase the toy and jump on high places, and don't forget to praise when it catches the toy, it will reinforce your bond. By the way, let the cat catch and bit the toy to avoid frustrations, you can even leave the toy at the end in case of unfinished business.
Remember all cats are different, they have their own preferences, personnalities, if you have several cats, they will probablay won't like the same thing. One word: adapt.

* How to read your cat's behaviour?

You have got the attention of your cat when it stares at the toy, ears (and often whiskers) turned upfront. But the real game is on when you see dilated pupils, low body position and butt wiggle. Prowling is an important part of the hunting session, even if the cat doesn't move, prowling is already being active. Some cats open their mouth while playing : the grin is often associated with social play. However, a waving tail or (flattened) ears sideways or backways mean annoyance (i.e: due to an invasion of personnal space, trying too much etc.). Harrassing the cat by touching it with the toy or waving is way too close is not prey-like and can be found annoying. If the cat's ears are bakway and the tail is waving, the cat doesn't play : it defends itself.

* When should you stop playing?

If a cat stops playing for a while during a session, it does not mean the playing time is finished : cats are sprinters, they can need a 1 or 2 minutes break before starting to play again. You can use this time to switch with another toy to renew the cat's interest. The cat can also take some distances to practice ambush strategies. Just so you known: studies show that the longer the playing session (more than 5-10 minutes), the less owners report annoying stress adaptative behaviours (such as peeing/pooping out of the litter box, sratchings, aggressions, intensive meowing ect.). After several intensive playing and break, you will wittess the cat energy lowering down and the cat being less and less interested. Congrats! Your cat exerciced enough for now : all the stress you got out won't be redirected on, let say, your couch ;)

Sources :

Delgado, Mikel; Hecht, Julie (2019). A Review of the Development and Functions of Cat Play, and Future Research Considerations. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, (), S0168159118304556–. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2019.03.004

Henning J, Nielsen T, Fernandez E, Hazel S. Cats just want to have fun: Associations between play and welfare in domestic cats. Animal Welfare. 2023;32:e9. doi:10.1017/awf.2023.2

Henning, JSL, Nielsen, T, Fernandez, EJ and Hazel, S 2022b Factors associated with play behaviour in human-cat dyads. Journal of Veterinary Behaviour 52–53, 21–30.

Strickler, Beth L.; Shull, Elizabeth A. (2014). An owner survey of toys, activities, and behavior problems in indoor cats. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 9(5), 207–214. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2014.06.005