Picking The Best Toys For Cats Home Alone – Cat Entertainment

If you didn’t let your busy work life come in the way of your urge to get a cat, then you must also let your hours away from home cause stress to your friend, and the best toys for cats home alone can be a great help towards this. We are going to help you with some toy ideas for your cat that needs to spend time alone.

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Importance of toys for home alone cats

Toys are important for the mental and physical simulation of cats but they become all the more important when they are home alone and here are a few reasons why:

Keep the cats engaged so that they don’t get bored
Provide stimulation to cats for protecting them from stress and separation anxiety
Prevent the cats from getting aggressive or destructive in absence of activity and company
Training the cats while they play
Establish a daily routine for them and help them adjust to it
Help them feed when they are alone
Provide a constructive medium for their instinctual urges to come out

Toy options to choose for your indoor kitty

We have arranged the huge mound of cat toys into separate categories based on the stimulation needs they can serve for your cats. You can narrow down your choice by observing the likes and dislikes of your cat and keep making additions to your set of best toys for cats home alone.

Simple toys

The first set of toys that we would like to talk about are the ones that cat owners generally get for their cats. The variety includes mice models, feathers, sticks, balls of different sizes, ball-and-track, catnip-infused toys, etc. These simple toys serve the purpose of being always present around the cats and turn out to be a great option when you have more than one cat in the house as each cat can get their desired share of them without having to put up a fight.

These toys can also be a good option to start with when the cat is new in the house and you don’t know what she likes. See what toy has been messed up with the most when you come back home and you'll have the answer.

Interactive toys

The toys that stimulate cats and help you interact with them also are the ones that you must definitely have when you plan to leave your cat home alone. Interactive toys are essentially designed by focusing on the stimulation needs of cats, especially the indoor ones as they need more of it, to keep them engaged in an activity and entertained via different means. You can pick the right interactive toy by observing the temperament and activity level of your cat.

Here are some of the varieties of interactive toys that you can choose from:

There are a lot of motorized toys that operate on battery and will go about moving around the house only to make the cats chase them. These toys come in the shape and size of various prey and can easily lure the cats into playing with them.
Another set of electronic toys that use light beams or sparkles can also be great toys for cats home alone that seems fascinated by lights always. Things like laser pointers, circuit toys, blinking animals, etc. can keep your cat dazzled and they would never get bored looking at them or trying to catch them.
Springy toys also amuse the cats greatly. They can be small in size but that doesn’t compromise on the fun factor. They bounce, are light, and quiet which may just be the perfect toy for your cat when it’s in the mood for some silent play.
Cats love games like hide-and-seek and this is why you can install toys like DIY cat boxes, tunnels, etc. that will keep the cats moving a lot. An interesting benefit of these toys is that the whole act will give the cats the benefit of a good workout too.
Treasure hunts are also a good example of toys for cats home alone. You can set up the maze before you leave the house and your cat will keep busy searching the objects the entire time.
Model fish tanks can also give a great amount of stimulation to your cat where they can spend their time staring and trying to grab the colorful fishes that every cat likes usually.

Bonus tip: You can make any toy interactive and liked by the cats with some tricks. Place them at strategic places in different ways to make them look mysterious to the cats and they will be instantly attracted to grab them.

Playful feeders

Your cat may once ignore the food that you left for it while away from home but would not be able to resist the same food when kept in interactive feeders. Cats exhibit a natural urge to hunt for their food and dig to find it with their claws. Interactive toys like puzzle feeders, activity trays, peek-a-boo treats, etc. can be best home alone cat toys cum feeders that can not only serve the purpose of getting the cat fed but also satisfy their instinctual urges.

There is a huge variety of such toys available in the market with different challenging levels and treats with the toys. Thus, If your cat loves to treat rewards after or during playtime, these toys are a must have for their alone time as a reward is what they must get, right?

Scratch-proof posts-cum-toys

Scratching is a part of the instinctual behavior set of felines and you will not want to see your furniture to be all torn when you come back home. This is why you can install interesting scratch posts in the house like cat trees, benches, rugs that will also serve the play needs of the cats as they can jump, climb, nap, hang, and do much more with them than just scratch.

Chew toys

Every object that cats grab ends up making its way into their mouth as they try to get a fuller grasp of it and that would be incomplete without tasting it. Cats like to chew on things and thus chewing and bite-proof toys must be a part of their home-alone toy kit otherwise they may end up chewing your papers or poly-bags. There come a lot of chew toys that are made of mesh or soft net that not only are safe for chew but also improve the oral hygiene of cats.

Sound making toys

The best toys for cats home alone can also be the ones that make different kinds of sounds as they make the cat feel accompanied in the house. A huge variety of such toys is available that include things like crackling balls, noisy mice, mini robots, etc. that will attract your cat by their sounds and your cat would stay busy catching them.

Fragrance toys

The smell of catnip can make your cat go bonkers and that is why you can always leave some catnip infused toys or catgrass pots at home for your cat to enjoy. These can be enough to strike the boredom out and your cat will just get stimulated enough.

Choosing the right toy for your cat home alone

There is a huge pile of toys to choose from and it can be a difficult job too sometimes, especially when you can’t figure out the likes of your cat. If that confusion crops up, the best option is to have plenty of toys at home so that the cat can experiment and pick its favorite on its own.

However, some concerns are important to consider for the toys that are going to accompany your cat home alone and those are related to the safety aspect. Watch out for these things while buying home alone cat toys:

Small and moving toy parts that can injure
Loose electric ends or detachable battery
A breakable toy that can be swallowed
The material of the toy
Any risky attachment parts
Insufficient space that can cause congestion
Small size enough to be wholly swallowed

If any of these factors are there in the toy, then you may have to cut that option from the list as it can prove detrimental for your cat.

Conclusion

Getting the best toys for cats home alone doesn’t end your responsibility. Keep checking on your cay whenever possible and make sure to spend time with them when you are home. Test the toys under your supervision first and then only leave the cat to play with them while alone.

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Luna Tran

My name is Luna and I am a great cat lover and a cat owner of three lovely cats. I have owned many cats till now and have dedicated many years to nurturing and caring cats. Through this blog, I am here to share my knowledge and experience about cats.