Solo Play Toys for Cats
To keep your cat entertained when you just don’t have the time or energy
We all know the best way to play is WITH your cat, but sometimes our cats have more energy than we can muster up. So solo play toys are great to keep your cat engaged when you’re low on time or energy but your cat needs to get out their hunting instincts.
If your cat is constantly bored and begging for attention, but doesn’t always engage with their toys after a while, we highly recommend toy cycling before you decide to buy new toys, and then integrate the new toys into new cycles. You can learn all about toy cycling and how to set up your cat for indoor enrichment success in our easy to understand guide HERE!
Solo play toys tend to attack sight, sounds, or scent. For example:
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A catnip kicker would be scent
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A shiny crinkly ball would be sight and sound
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One of our Lucy Goosie favorite, Hidden Hijinks, is sight
But the best solo play toys also engage your cat’s natural curiosity for not just physical but also mental exhaustion. So here are some great toys your cat can play with on their own! Below we've curated:
Shop the WHOLE collection HERE!
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Manual Toys!
Treat Puzzles
Of course one of the best ways to keep your cat engaged and mentally stimulated are treat puzzles! We’ve already gathered 17 puzzles for cats and categorized them by difficulty (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) you can check out HERE!
Ball Track Tower
The ball tower is an easy toy to keep around for your cat to swat at. Not the highest in terms of engagement but great for slower cats or maybe with some mobility or cognitive issues that can’t keep up with a more complex or faster toy. The analog nature lets kitty play at their own pace.
This specific tower from Catstages also fits a variety of attachments to go on top of the tower, like our favorite Spinning Fish and others that can turn this toy into two. And all those attachments also come with stable bases making them suitable for solo play on their own. See all of the attachments HERE!
Quirky Kitty Charcuterie
The charcuterie board consists of a crinkley soft board for extra excitement, and the charcuterie parings attach via hook-and-loop fasteners for kitty to figure out how to rip them off! And if you’re worried about the feathers (they're natural turkey features with non-toxic dye!) on the fig or string pieces on the salami, they’re easy to snip off for safety! Lucy goes absolutely WILD for hers pouncing and attacking the crinkley board and kicking at the accoutrements!
Available at Chewy!
Suction Standing Wand
Some cats don’t find this toy as enticing as a regular feather wand because it doesn’t move on its own or with your help and they can also get bored of it since it stays out all the time. If you keep suctioning and un-suctioning it to put it away, the sticker will wear out and lose all of its stickiness (we know from experience) rendering the toy useless after spending your hard earned money on it.
We’d recommend keeping the base attached to the floor, and taking away the wand element or cycling the attachments! This is best for simpler cats who enjoy playing on their own and don’t get bored of their toys easily.
Kitty Pool Table
Find something more Goosie than a pool table for cats! Your cat gets to play pool by swatting the balls into the holes. The pool sticks double as a feather wand or a toy for YOU to play pool with! You can also switch things up by adding different balls and smackers to the table for kitty to play with.
Next level up - Electronic toys!
Hidden Hijinks
The Hidden Hijinks has multiple speed levels so it’s easy to adjust and advance with your cat. When they think they’re used to the toy, there’s a way to switch it up and keep it in play! The wand moving under the cover also piques your cat’s natural curiosity with its hide-and-seek element.
Petfusion Ambush
The feathers rotate inside of the ambush and poke out of the different holes around the toy for kitty to swat at and try to catch! It’s movements are unpredictable since kitty can’t see where it’s spinning on the inside, so they have to anticipate and pounce around to where the feather ends up, and repeat!
Petfusion also sells replacement feathers you can buy here!
Catit Mushroom
A more adorable version of the ambush! This cute mushroom has all of the same attributes with the feather poking out of its holes. The feather moves FAST on this one! If your cat isn’t fast they might get disheartened by this toy and not engage with it.
Migipaws Migibox
Like the ambush & the mushroom but the cover does even more to help engage your cat’s natural curiosity. Be careful with this one if your cat tends to rip apart fabrics. If you know they’ll bite or scratch and tear the cover open this toy might not be worth your money.
If you don’t love the feathers on the ambush or the mushroom toy, this option may be better for you because of the cover, so your cat can’t get to the feathers.
Ball in Play Mat
Take the Goosie Game Hidden String mixed with the Hidden Hijinks toy and you get the Ball in Play Mat. Just charge the ball and stick it inside the playmat, then the ball rolls around on its own and kitty can try to stop it, grab it, and kick it through the mat. Like how they do to our feet under the comforters, but in this scenario it’s rewarded!
For Hyperactive Cats!
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Exercise wheel
If your cat has an abundance of energy but doesn’t enjoy playing Goosie Games, an exercise wheel might be the way for them to get out all of that energy. It’s an investment piece to really consider before buying it, but we’ve seen some amazing reviews from parents who have a high energy breed like a Bengal.
Available at Chewy and One Fast Cat!
Swiftpaws Pounce!
With a $200 price tag, this is definitely not an impulse buy. Like the exercise wheel, we’d really only recommend spending this much money if you’ve tried everything else and no matter what, your cat won’t run out of energy. If your cat likes to chase and needs motivation that even an exercise wheel won’t give, this might be something to save up for. Maybe as a gift for your cat’s birthday (or to add to your own birthday or Christmas wishlist!)
Wobbling Laser
This toy is NOT for everyone or every cat, and only for limited play time. But sometimes when Lucy is REALLY bored after a day alone and we just don’t have the energy, she loves a game of laser because she knows that it’s a laser and not a real toy (she brings the laser pointer TO us!) The laser straw spins around and if kitty knocks into the toy, it wobbles and makes the laser go crazy.
Lucy’s tip: Always be sure to reward your cat after playing laser with a toy they can catch or a treat as a reward.
Have any more solo play toys your cat loves? Have you tried any of these options? Let us know!