How Much Play Do Cats Need?

In total, it seems the word around the net is that cats need somewhere between 20-30 minutes of playtime a day.

Playtime is useful for two purposes:

• Playing with cats helps them get much-needed exercise, but possibly more importantly (since there are plenty of other ways to get cats to exercise, like with a workout inspired by kibble for example)
• Playing with cats helps cats relieve their prey drive; something we as humans don’t have, but many animals that need to hunt to survive have biologically built into them.

Without a good 15-20 minutes a day of play, cats can develop both physical and behavioral problems – from weight gain and constipation to acting out by doing things like hissing, scratching, and biting humans, crying regularly, demanding attention at all hours of the day, or even bullying other cats in the household.
Needless to say, it’s important to play with a pet cat, and making extra sure an indoor-only cat is played with daily is a really important matter.
A tip to make sure your cat is getting as much as possible out of your playtime session with him or her? Try using not just any toys, but specifically exercise toys like these that require a high-energy output when cats play.
Physically draining a cat of as much energy as possible is a huge boost to play because cats’ style of life and hunting is just that in the wild: extremely lazy and conservative of as much energy as possible until *boom* – hunting time, where cats will jump and pounce and run ridiculously fast to catch up to and snag their prey. Expending huge bursts of energy is how they catch dinner, so your goal is to try to emulate that as closely as you can during play so they can get their prey drive all revved up and spent just like they would if they were really hunting.

How often should playtime be?
The ideal frequency of daily play sessions with a cat depends on your individual cat.
Some cats prefer to be played with more intensively for a long period of time, some find it hard to engage and stay playing for more than a few minutes, but are happy to engage in short bursts of intensive activity through play spread throughout the day.
Try playing with your cat once, twice, then three times a day to test out if your cat’s happier with one system or another.
Cat calling quits on playtime pretty early after only a few short minutes of intensive exercise? Try sticking to more times a day than less.
Cat playing for long amounts of time when he or she finally engages, but doesn’t seem to like being engaged in play very often? Try sticking to one really long, intensive play session a day.
For the record, if you ever find it hard to get your cat to play with you, try using some of these techniques to encourage cats to play.

How long should playtime be?
Since the total amount cats should be spending in play is roughly 20-30 minutes a day, if your cat prefers to play with you only once a day, try making the single session an intensive workout that lasts a full 20-30 minutes.
Cat prefer two play times instead of one? Try making each playtime session around 10-15 minutes long. Three times a day the best bet? Try quick 7-10 minute sessions.
If your cat always seems ready and rearing to go, and doesn’t seem to have a personal preference with regards to frequency or length of play – do what works best with your schedule.
Have a good chunk of time to play with kitty each night while you’re waiting for your dinner to pop out of the oven? Use that time for a play session.
Prefer to do a quick session right before and right after you go to work, to make sure your cat is up and at it at least during these two spread apart times times? Definitely a good idea. Cats sleep between 16-18 hours a day and if you’re gone, there usually isn’t much they’ll do to entertain themselves besides napping. Of course there’s plenty you can do to make sure they don’t get bored in your absence, but they’re still a lot more likely to snooze for extended periods of time if their seemingly favourite hobby – human watching -is not momentarily available to them.