Thread: Playing with your Maine Coon Cats

folded up crisp packet is one of my boys favourites ... and heaven help me if i try to throw one in the bin before he has a chance to play , the other as some 'rabbit fur' toys ( not sure if they are real but sure feel like it and by the way he eyes up our rabbit they may well be lol) he will play fetch with that for a good 20 minutes and then chew it and beat it to death ... oh and my tights , preferrbly pulled off the airer and then run round as fast as he can and then kill them ...costing me a fortune !!

My two boys don't really play much now -- although like other posts they do play with each other. One thing I have done though is to get rid of the food bowls -- all dry food is now served in a variety of 'games' -- I have a ball,a tower so they have to push it down, we have an activitiy board, which is really good -- and a twirling thing -- that is very advanced and only one of them can do that. What this has done is make them work for food -- there fore think --- also it has slowed the greedy one down and the picky eater-- who is cleverer has more of a chance

I have an activity board and it's one of my best buys ever! Max - who is also a very picky eater - will sit for ages carefully eating dry food out of this. It's in a different room from the other food dishes and I fill it up every morning while the gang are having breakfast. I think Max's appetite has greatly improved since I got it. The other two are also entertained and try to get food out of the more challenging shapes. I have wondered about the twirling thing and hearing how Charlie's boys like it I think I'll give it a try.

Hi Wivelspiker -- it was my daughter who recommneded the activitiy board to us and I agree its one of the best things I have bought -- I have three maine coons -- charlie and ottis from the same litter and big boys and cobweb who is a closed down queen we re homed -- she is less smart than the boys and lots smaller --- the twirling thing is great for charle -- but the other 2 struggle with it -- they are just not smart enough LOl -- charlie loves it. I am thinking of making a food dispencer out of plastic bottles -- I found a pattern on google but have lost again -- never mind -- I will look again and see what that throws up.


here we go found it --http://rmassaioli.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/cat-or-dog-powered-food-dispenser.html

Mine have old boxes with crinkled up newspaper and cat nip sprinkled over, they love this. we have two large cat scratchers upstairs and downstairs they chase each other around the house like mad things. They love pheasant feathers and will run around with them in their mouths.

love the idea of hunting for food , but i have no idea which one to get , if anyone who has one their coonies love would be really grateful for a link ....thanks

This is so true about adult coonies. Our cats always expect us to play with them at bedtime, 10 pm.
If I stay at the computer until midnight they find multiple ways to remind me that the time is up, and they are displeased.
We have huge collection of toys attached to fishing rods. Sometimes I have to go through 3-4 toys to get them interested.
My husband and I also catch moths, cover it with inverted glass and then slowly tilt the glass allowing the girls to recapture
poor insect and eat it. I thinks moth is their favorite. We can not even mention this word in their presence; they get .so excited
and start peering at the walls and ceiling. Spiders irritate their delicate palate, and flies are too juicy

I know what you mean about wanting to play late at night........We have had our kittens for 3 weeks now and they play until about lunchtime, sleep on and off untill 9pm then seemingly play most of the night! They particularly like the toys on sticks for us to wave around for them........ and playing with each other.

They also love the catit track which was recommended by someone on here- we only put it out if we are out for the evening so they dont get bored of it. If I scrunch up paper or tie straws together then pretend to drop them by accident they love playing...... especially if I join in and pretend to try and get them back! Terrijane Ilove that idea about the box with catnip! They have a big box with various hoes cut out so when they begin to get bored of it I'll try your idea :-)

Ours rarely play with their 'expensive' toys (i.e. anything that cost more than £2 for example)
the laser light gets their attention every time, as does rolling up a bit of foil or sweetie wrapper,
the rest they ignore, I instigate play every day even if just for 5 minutes, but only one will play at a time, they won't go for the same foil ball, whoever gets there first, the other will just watch, they play chase together though