Electronic Toys Can Get Boring: Make the Excitement Last By Modifying the Environment
Updated: Feb 9, 2022
Electronic toys can be great to supplement playtime, but many cats lose interest. Keep it exciting by changing up the environment around the toy.
It happens to all of us. You get a new electronic toy and your cat is batting at the mouse or tail as it moves around like it's the greatest toy ever. After a few days, your cat just stares at it when you turn it on like it's the most boring toy they have ever seen. What happened?
Unfortunately, cats are often too smart for many electronic toys. They understand it's going to move a certain way and the toy becomes predictable. The best cat toy is a wand toy that you move, since you can move it the way your cat likes. The battery operated toys movements are the same each time.
I do use electronic toys with my cats but I've discovered some tricks to make them last longer.
Rotation - I rotate about 4 of them so the cats don't see the same toy each day.
Location - I put them in a location that makes them more attractive. For example, right outside a tunnel, (as pictured) might be more interesting than just a middle of an open floor. Sometimes I'll put a toy inside a tunnel or a box, depending on it's size.
Add more layers - For larger flatter toys like the Cat's Meow Motorized Chaser Toy, I'll put packing or tissue paper on top to add some crinkle and another layer of challenge.
Replace prey toy part - I may attach a peacock feather (I bought a pack on Amazon - they claim no peacocks were harmed - the feathers fall off naturally), regular inanimate toy, wand attachment, or paper to the battery toy's tail (I often get creative with the wand toys too).
My cats respond well to these small adjustments.
Check out Luke in his tunnel enjoying a battery operated toy with a peacock feather attached which I simply duck-taped to the end of the tail that came with the toy. My cats like it much better with the added feather.
