Cats are either Chaos or Sleep personified. Have you noticed this? Of course you have. When they’re not sleeping 14 hours, they’re tearing from one end of your home to the other in a wild dash of flailing limbs and joyful yawps. Sometimes this happens at 4 AM.
You can try to tire them out during the day. You swing the fishing line toy around until the bell is yanked off or the feathers are littering your floors. You point the laser pointer until your arm is crying for mercy. You have approximately a billion foil toys lurking in corners and under furniture.
The little monsters still want more.
What’s a body to do? Give your cats a little screen time! Pull out your tablet, close out Neko Atsume, and open up one of the these four video games for your cats to play.
How to Protect Your Screen
A word on protecting your electronic devices first:
So you want to let your cat play kitty-appropriate games on your tablet, but you don’t want a screen scratched to hell. What are you to do? As someone with a ridiculously oversized smartphone that my big tabby Tiger Jack put a scratch on the night I bought it, this is a Concern. Don’t let my pain be your pain.
First, make sure you have a screen protector to protect your screen’s glass from scratches. Basic common sense. Also, you’ll find quite a few arguments out there that a cat’s claws aren’t actually strong enough to scratch glass – my experience proves the opposite, although Tiger had weight and momentum on his side (from one of those wild, yawping parkour runs). So, if you feel like you need extra protection, consider trying nail caps like those from Soft Paws on your kitty’s claws.
Cat Fishing 2 – Friskies
Friskies, beyond making delicious vittles for your furry friend to enjoy, has had an app around long enough that it’s gotten a sequel. Cat Fishing 2 isn’t a game that encourages your cat to develop a false identity to romance an Internet stranger – no, it features colorful fish that dart across the screen to grab your cat’s attention. When they pounce on the fish and tap the glass accurately, they “catch” the fish.
You can switch it up by selecting from ten different fish options for your furry friend to chase, and you can customize the pond options as well. The game keeps their attention by periodically meowing at them if they start to lose interest.
This app is free.
Fish for Cats and Mouse for Cats – Kalisson Studios
Kalisson Studios has made multiple games for cats, including Fish for Cats and Mouse for Cats. Fish for Cats is similar to Cat Fishing 2, though more limited in its fish options. The functionality is the same, and it also promises fascinating noises to keep your cats involved in the game. This game also comes in rodent flavor in Mouse for Cats, featuring mice skittering across cheese! They invite you to let your cat hunt across the screen and try to score 500 points.
The app is free but there are ads throughout (some that interrupt gameplay).
CAT ALONE – GALBRO INC.
Cat Alone bucks the trend in fish-themed games to give you a bunch of different options in their levels for cat entertainment. You can choose to have the screen display a laser pointer dot, ladybug, fly, butterfly, cockroach, or a human finger. These pieces wiggle, waggle, skedaddle, and flutter across the screen to tempt your cat to play – and they squeak when your cat “catches” them.
This app costs 99 cents in the App store, and does contain ads.
YouTube Videos
YouTube is surprisingly a great source for free cat games, too! You probably knew already that there are “cat entertainment” videos galore, showing chirping birds or oblivious squirrels in their close-up glory (thanks, Mr. DeMille!) for your cat’s wicked amusement. But several channels have put up cat game videos as well! One of the most popular is a one-hour version of a catching fish video by CAT GAMES. Plenty of distraction for your cats to watch and pounce on as vibrant orange fish swim across a blue sea with watery sound effects.
Found something your cats like? We hope so! You can relax, your cats can play, and you can thank us by recording a video and sharing it with us on Instagram! Tag us at @catgenie. That’s what we call a win-win-win.
