Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:
My cat is approximately 5 years old. I adopted her from the ASPCA over a year ago. She seems to be afraid of her toys — the ones with little stuffed animals or feathers hanging from sticks — and runs away when I try to play with her. She prefers to pounce on my arm and grip it, play biting it. How can I make sure she is getting enough stimulation and exercise without sacrificing my arm?
~ Maureen
Siouxsie: This is an odd situation, Maureen, but we think we can help. We cats do love to play, but there’s a right way and a not-so-right way to play with us.
Thomas: A lot of people think they can play with their cats like they’d play with a dog — that is, getting them all riled up and excited by waving toys at them or perhaps even putting those toys near their faces. That doesn’t work so well for cats.
Dahlia: When you play with your cat, you need to exercise her prey drive.
Siouxsie: Think about the kinds of critters we hunt: Mice and birds. Some cats are “mousers” and some cats are “birders,” and you’ll find out which one your cat is when you play with her.
Thomas: Mice move along the ground in uneven jerks, sometimes standing still. They often seek shelter or move in quiet places. If you use a toy with a stuffed animal on the end, or even just a plain old six-foot-long shoestring, use these kind of motions.
Dahlia: Birds also move around on the ground, but then they suddenly take off. When you play with a feather toy, use this kind of motion.
Siouxsie: Most importantly, don’t wave the toy right in your cat’s face or aim it at her head. That will scare her and she won’t want to play with you.
Thomas: Start out by dragging the toy along the floor, several feet away from her, using slight jerking motions to attract her attention. You’ll probably notice that her eyes will start following the motion of the toy. If you keep doing this, making the toy’s movement unpredictable, she’ll get into a crouched pose. You might see her tail starting to twitch a little bit. Then her muscles will tense … and bam! She’ll be on the toy!
Dahlia: Make the toy “struggle” for a few seconds as she wraps her paws around it and bites it, and then let it “die.”
Siouxsie: When you play like that, you’re engaging her whole prey cycle: hunt, catch, kill. You can make the experience even more awesome by giving her a small treat afterwards so she gets to eat once she’s killed. (But keep the treats very small in size and adjust her regular feedings to compensate for the extra calories so she doesn’t start gaining weight.)
Thomas: As for what you can do about your kitty stalking and “killing” your arm, think about what kind of motions you’re making when she goes after your limbs. Are you making small motions like typing on a keyboard, knitting, writing or drawing? If so, she may be attracted to the motion of your fingers, the pencil, the knitting needles or the string.
Dahlia: What that’s telling you is that her prey drive is not being sufficiently exercised. If you’re able to play properly with your cat, so that your attempts to play with interactive toys don’t frighten her, you’ll be able to burn off a lot of that extra energy and it’s very likely that the arm-attacking behavior will stop.
Siouxsie: When she does attack you, cry “ow!” in a high-pitched but not excessively loud tone, and put her on the floor. This “ow! and down” technique has been very successful, particularly with kittens. The high-pitched squeak is a tool kittens use to tell each other that the play is getting too rough.
Thomas: Jackson Galaxy, cat behaviorist extraordinaire and star of the Animal Planet show My Cat From Hell, made this short video on how to properly play with your cat. This could be helpful, too.
(In a reader? Watch the video here.)
great explanation and enlightening understanding of our feline babies!
Not very good advice or article in general. “My cat is terrified of their toys and attacking my arm. What do I do?” “Well you’re obviously not doing it right and it’s your fault she’s attacking your arm.”
I completely agree. I know this is a bit old, but; I bought my hand raised, very trusting, and nearly fearless 4 month kitten a few new toys and I was super excited to see her play with them as I cuddled her in my lap and pulled them out of the bag. What happened was, as soon as she saw them, she clawed her way out of a relaxed on her back position, FLEW off the couch and bolted down the hallway, puffed up with her ears back. I had to lure her out of hiding with treats and she still won’t go near them. Since they’re all different types of toys I can only assume she is terrified of the color turquoise…
My cat only recently started running away from her toys. Sometimes she is interested and chases a string for a couple of seconds, then speeds off into another room or under the table. I still move the string around the floor but she isn’t interested.. She just sits there and stares, or even looks away. I tried playing with her with a laser pointer on the wall, the same thing happened. As soon as it’s paw-reach in front of her she speeds off. Also, she runs away when she’s on the floor and I’m walking in her direction. She always follows me around the house, everywhere, but when I actually go towards her she runs away and sits on the couch. The second I turn around she comes back and runs towards me. I’m so confused! I tried all sorts of things, paying attention to her, following her when she runs away and petting her (followed by her purring lounging on the couch). I tried ignoring her when she’s running away but even after a couple of weeks, she is still doing it. She doesn’t come when called anymore. She used to! I didn’t even have to give her treats. Now she only when I shake a bag of treats. I tried training her to come when I call her name by calling her name, shaking the bag, then giving her a treat when she comes. I did this for quite a while but it didn’t work long-term. She just doesn’t come when I don’t shake the bag. :// I’m at a loss.