{"id":5874,"date":"2023-02-03T04:49:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T12:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5874"},"modified":"2023-02-02T04:56:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T12:56:06","slug":"feline-fun-friday-the-games-that-cats-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5874","title":{"rendered":"Feline Fun Friday \u2013 The Games That Cats Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Does your cat have favorite games she likes to play either alone or with someone? Some of my cats liked to hide under a blanket and bat at fingers or toys we\u2019d push underneath or that we\u2019d tap on top of the blanket. Some cats like to leap high in the air after wads of paper or a light-weight toy. Most cats like to chase toys or other items. I\u2019ve even known some who followed a light beam. I don\u2019t use \"\"one of those laser pointers. I think cats prefer being able to catch the toy sometimes during the game\u2014catch and release. Some cats will even bring you their toys–you toss the toy and the cat retrieves it. In my experience the cat will soon tire of that game and, if the game is to continue, the human becomes the retriever.<\/p>\n

\"\"Olivia loves chasing chew sticks and balls across the wood floors in our long hallway. It\u2019s a great way for her to get good exercise. No worries if one of the toys gets lost\u2014Olivia knows where it is and she\u2019ll show us so we can get down on our hands and knees and dig it out from under a piece of furniture.<\/p>\n

Cats will sometimes invent games they can play alone. What a delight to watch a cat at \"\"play. She\u2019s in her own little world, chasing a bottle cap or jingle ball or just a piece of fluff around the kitchen floor among the table legs and chair rungs. You can see \"\"the jungle cat emerge as she stalks and chases and pounces, then rolls around victoriously with the toy between her paws.<\/p>\n

If a cat could talk, she would rarely say, \u201cI\u2019m bored,\u201d because cats seem to have the \"\"uncanny ability to live in the moment whether it is in a dream state or a full-on make-believe wild-cat-hunt in a marvelous jungle full of fascinating creatures and sounds. If you watch your cat closely, you\u2019ll see that she can charade as the king of the cats in that jungle and switch to the clever and crafty prey staying just out of the hunter\u2019s reach. Oh the imagination of a cat.<\/p>\n

How many times do you see her focused on something in the air or on the floor\u2014she stealthily stalks it, does her wiggle-butt thing and pounces on nothing at all. But it\u2019s something to her\u2014in her mind\u2014and after she claims her prize\u2014the prey, she may do a victory dance around the room, leap in the air triumphantly, or simply walk away knowing she\u2019s the queen of the jungle once again. Time for a nap or a lap cuddle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does your cat have favorite games she likes to play either alone or with someone? Some of my cats liked to hide under a blanket and bat at fingers or toys we\u2019d push underneath or that we\u2019d tap on top … 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\/5874"}],"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=5874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5875,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5874\/revisions\/5875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}