Things to Do With Your Cat: Play, Quiet and Noticing

The best things to do with your cat copy what a cat would do anyway: short bursts of hunting-style play, food it has to find, and quiet company on its own terms. Add safe time outside if your cat enjoys it. Then there is a gentler set of ideas that ask nothing of the cat at all: notice what it already does and keep a small record of it.

Below are ideas in that order, from the most active to the most still. Most need nothing you don't already have in the house.

Fun things to do with your cat: play that copies the hunt

A cat at play is running a hunting sequence: locate, stalk, chase, pounce, catch. The feline environmental needs guidelines from the AAFP and ISFM put this plainly: cats should be able to play and behave like predators, and they do it even when well fed. The games that work best let your cat go through the whole sequence.

• Wand toy, moved like prey. Swoop a feather through the air like a bird, or drag a fur toy along the floor in quick straight lines away from the cat, like a mouse running for cover.
• Let it win. Let your cat catch the toy at the end of the wand. A chase with no capture is half a game.
• Toss and pounce. Throw a small soft toy for your cat to bat, chase and carry.
• Kick toys. A large soft toy your cat can hold and rake with its back feet.
• Rotate the toy box. Put some toys away and swap them back in a week later. The guidelines suggest rotating toys so they don't go stale.

Keep sessions short and stop while the game still feels easy. If you want a gentle cue for when to play, many cats are most lively around dawn and dusk; our piece on your cat's daily routine goes into the shape of a cat's day. Some cats end a game by carrying a toy to you or leaving it on your bed; we look at why your cat brings you toys separately.

Things to do with your cat at home: food games

Food is the easiest way to give a house cat something to hunt. The same guidelines suggest hiding food in several places, scattering dry kibble or tossing pieces for the cat to chase, and using puzzle feeders to turn one big meal into small, frequent ones.

You don't need to buy anything:

1. Egg-box feeder. Drop a few pieces of dry food into the cups of a clean cardboard egg box.
2. Toilet-roll pyramid. Glue empty tubes upright side by side on a piece of card, put kibble in a few, and let your cat fish it out with a paw.
3. Hide-and-find. Put small portions of the cat's usual food on a shelf, behind a chair leg, in a box. Start easy so the cat wins.
4. Paper bag. An open paper bag (handles cut off) with a couple of treats inside.

Use part of the daily food ration for these games so the total stays the same.

Quiet things to do together

Not every good thing to do with a cat involves a toy. In a 2017 study by Kristyn Vitale Shreve and colleagues, cats were offered human company, food, toys and scents. For most of the cats, interaction with a person came first, ahead of food. The study also found clear differences between individual cats, which is worth remembering before you pick up a cat that would rather sit beside you.

The AAFP and ISFM guidance gives a simple rule: let the cat start, choose and control the contact. Many cats like frequent, low-key contact more than long, intense sessions. Some ideas:

• Sit on the floor and let your cat come to you. Offer a hand to sniff first.
• Stroke the head and cheeks, where most cats like it best, and stop when the cat moves away. We cover this in more detail in where cats like to be petted.
• Read or work near your cat's favourite chair without asking anything of it.
• Brush your cat if it enjoys it, in short sessions.

Signs a cat is relaxed and open to company include slow blinking, purring or chirruping, head rubbing against your hand, and trying to climb onto your lap. A cat that keeps following you from room to room is often asking for exactly this kind of company; see why your cat follows you. The tail is worth watching as well, and our guide to cat tail behavior and its meaning shows what each position usually says. If you want to know what tends to start a purr, read how to make a cat purr.

Things to do with your cat outside

The guidelines treat outdoor access as a choice for each household, and list two safe options for cats that live indoors:

• An enclosure or catio. It keeps the cat away from traffic, other cats and wildlife while giving it air, sun and smells.
• A harness and a loose lead. Only after the cat has been trained with rewards to accept them. The cat chooses where to walk; you follow.

Plenty of cats never take to a harness. That is fine. A safe window perch with a view of birds or a busy street gives a lot of the same interest. Keep windows closed or securely screened.

Things to do with your cat that ask nothing of it

This is the part most lists leave out. A cat already lives a full life in your house: it has routes, chosen places, a time it turns up, a way of greeting you. Watching that closely, and keeping a little of it, is something you can do with any cat on any day, including a shy one and one that does not care for toys.

These come from our book The House Your Cat Knows, which has 31 activities in four parts: Places, Patterns, Nearness and Traces. A few to start with:

The one rule that runs through all of it: don't change what you are watching. Don't wake your cat, call it into place, move furniture, open a window or hold it still for a photo. If the cat leaves, the leaving is part of the record.

Two of our other guides go deeper into this. Cat sleeping spots and what they mean helps you read the places your cat chooses, and keeping a cat behavior journal shows a simple way to write things down without turning it into a chore. For something you will keep for years, there is a cat memory book, and our cat keepsake ideas cover small things like a whisker your cat shed on its own. Cats remember more than people expect, too: see how good a cat's memory is.

Things to do with your cat when you're bored

Here is a short menu by how much time you have.

Five minutes

• A wand-toy chase that ends with a catch.
• Scatter a few pieces of kibble across the floor.
• Write where your cat is right now, and what time it is.

Fifteen minutes

• Make an egg-box or toilet-roll puzzle feeder.
• Set a cardboard box on its side in a quiet corner. A box like this works as a small safe place.
• Take a short video of one ordinary movement: a stretch, a walk across the room, the pause before a jump. If filming changes what the cat does, stop.

A whole day

• Pick one ordinary day and save a few details as they happen on their own: one place, one sound, one route. Our book calls this "One Day in This House."
• Record your cat's purr on a quiet evening, if it is already purring beside you. Our guide on how to record cat purring explains how to get a clean recording without fuss.
• Take a few photos around the house using the light you already have; see our cat photoshoot ideas at home for ways that keep the cat comfortable. In December, our cat Christmas photo ideas do the same with a tree and fairy lights. If you are shopping for someone who lives with a cat, our Christmas gift ideas for cat lovers start from what they would actually use.

What to skip

Some popular ideas cause more trouble than fun.

• Hands and feet as toys. The guidelines advise against it to prevent injury to both cat and person.
• String left out. Put away wand toys, string, ribbon and anything with small parts the cat could swallow once play ends.
• Laser as the main game. A dot can never be caught. If you use one, finish with a toy your cat can grab.
• Staged scenes. Costumes, props, waking a sleeping cat for a photo, or holding it in a pose. If the cat would not choose it, it is not an activity for the cat.
• Forcing contact. Picking up a cat that wants to stay on the floor, or blocking its way out.

The RSPCA also reminds owners that cats need constant access to safe hiding places. A good day with your cat leaves its refuges alone.