How to keep a cat amused...

[LMC]

Sorry, not a funny, a request for ideas!

Poor Boy (temporary name) is getting extremely irritable about being shut in - he bit me again last night - and is spending too much of his time howling by the door to get out.

As my half-feral Snowy surprisingly came in early last night, I locked the catflap, made sure all the windows and doors were closed and let him have the run of the rest of the house. He discovered the cat flap instantly, so I barricaded it to be on the safe side, but had to keep diverting him with fuss and toys to stop him tunnelling through. He's so unhappy with not being able to go out yet
The girls were all quite good with him - not a single hiss or run-away-and-hide from Snowy, very impressive, and all quite relaxed about him poking round - only hissed if he got quite close. But I don't want to leave them unsupervised yet, too early.

He's having his jabs tomorrow, and I'll book him for the snip when I go in. If I can get it done before next Thursday then he can have some supervised outings into the garden next weekend and see how he gets on.

Just so's you all know what he's already got (apart from the obvious litter/food/water!) -
the Alicante cat tree in there, all to himself and customised with an old fabric tie belt to dangle and play with (I'd be worried about string).
a floor scratch mat.
a brand new catnip toy (so catnip fresh and nice and smelly)
several ping pong balls, which he loves batting around
one of the Asda (material) "bags for life" to use as a hidey-hole/tunnel
an old vest top for a comforter that I wore last weekend (and will throw away once he's finished with it!).

Anything else I might put in there to keep him amused all by himself? Thanks

[Mags]

How about one of those toy/feeder thingies (sorry, forgot what they are called!) that you put treats and biscuits in and they can bat it around and learn how to get the treats out?

I bought one for Cassie from Sainsbury's last year and she has great fun with it.......

[Hreow]

You could have my swat-feeder, if you want. Rover doesn't eat dry food and I refuse to have bits of chicken scattered all over the flat in unknown and/or unreachable places. I'm an unreasonable person.

I will hide bits of chicken wrapped in bits of paper-towel when we're around to let Rover scout about. If your boy eats dry food, you could try hiding it here and there and letting him loose to scavange.

[LMC]

Good idea, will look in Pets at Home this weekend (need another litter tray to reinstate the "plus one").

He's not eating dry food normally (am soaking his biccies still 'cos he won't drink the water - I know he's thirsty 'cos he laps all the water out of the biccies before eating them, but he's *still* not drinking 'straight' water, even though it's out of the water butt rather than the tap). So hopefully he will eat the biccies out of the "toy" feeder rather than leaving them scattered on the carpet

Poor Boy, he is still lovable and affectionate and sociable - just turning round and biting me because he's an energetic young cat who needs more space than I can allow him at the moment.

[Donna]

You could try hiding his food around the room so he has to find it in all sorts of places??