{"id":5471,"date":"2022-02-25T03:48:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T11:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5471"},"modified":"2022-02-25T03:48:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T11:48:53","slug":"feline-fun-friday-how-to-entertain-a-bored-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5471","title":{"rendered":"Feline Fun Friday \u2013 How to Entertain a Bored Cat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Olivia is a year old. She has plenty of toys and interesting cat condos, tunnels, furniture to play on. She has perching places at several windows where she loves to watch the neighbors, their pets, and wild birds. We\u2019re here with her practically 24\/7, yet she sometimes seems to be bored. In fact she will come into my office while I\u2019m working and attempt to entice me to take a break. Most times I can\u2019t resist her\u2014she can be persistent. But we all know some cats are more \"\"needy than others and when we work from home we have to set boundaries.<\/p>\n

Well, I often tickle her fancy when she wants to play and I want to work. I usually do need the break and the laughter and she evidently needs the connection and the workout. She likes me to throw her chew sticks and toys up and down the hallway for her to chase.\u00a0 \"\"Occasionally she\u2019ll bring me toys to throw\u2014yes, she will play fetch. But sometimes she just seems bored. Nothing I suggest to her interests her, so I try to change it up\u2014come up with something new and interesting for her. It\u2019s called enrichment.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll hide her treats around various cat condos and toys \"\"and encourage her to find them. I\u2019ll reconfigure things\u2014tip a cat condo over, make a tent for her\u2014toss a blanket over the tunnel or a chair. I\u2019ve created temporary cat condos out of boxes with doors and windows. That\u2019s always a popular distraction for the cats and entertaining for us.<\/p>\n

\"\"Catnip is a real mood booster for Olivia. Our 17-year-old cat, Sophie, also enjoys a little catnip. And don\u2019t forget about the plain old paper bag. With toys inside and out and a little participation on your part, a bag can entertain a cat for a long time.<\/p>\n

For Olivia\u2019s and my entertainment sometimes I\u2019ll toss wads of paper into the air and watch her jump after them. She loves catching or swatting them in the air. And boy can she jump.<\/p>\n

Have you tried an app on your phone designed to intrigue cats? I used to have an adorable program on my computer where you could play with kittens, feed them a bottle, pet them and hear them purr. It was so much fun for me and for my, then, kitten, Max.<\/p>\n

Entertaining a cat and being entertained by a cat is what it\u2019s all about. Shame on any of us for ever letting our cats become bored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olivia is a year old. She has plenty of toys and interesting cat condos, tunnels, furniture to play on. She has perching places at several windows where she loves to watch the neighbors, their pets, and wild birds. We\u2019re here … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5473,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471\/revisions\/5473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}