My cat will play fetch for as long as I throw her little mouse toy. She'll even let me throw it from bed and she'll bring it right back up for me to throw again.

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Note: if you cat loves to play catch that is awesome but also many cats if anything love the opposite of catch even more.

A strong predator drive in cats is to want to pick up and drag off a new kill. You can bring this into play by letting your cat drag off their cat toy when they get it.

Don't play tug of war with your cat, they aren't like dogs they don't generally get into that. They want to pounce, kill and triumphantly drag their prey off up a tree or into a hideout or something. Integrate that last beat into your play with your cat and they will have a lot more fun!

Even better, reward your cat with praise when they stalk off with the cat toy they just pounced on, give them a quick scratch or back rub as they walk away with a proud lion gate and then success flop. This will make it WAYYY easier to rescue... or cleanup an actual animal your cat has gotten because they won't connect you with being near them after a successful "kill" as frustrating, stressful or unnatural.

If you do it enough with an indoor cat they will begin to associate a successful hunt with you hanging around, and that makes handling cats when they go into hunt mode way easier.

TL;DR praise your cat for hiding the body they will love you more for it and let you cleanup murder scenes easier because of it.