A kitten brought home, plaintively meowing and looking around helplessly, causes tremendous sympathy and endless affection. Therefore, it is not surprising that the owners are ready to fulfill all his wishes all day long, play with him, bathe him in a basin with warm water, and then comb, pet and put him to bed.

Gladly accepting the constant care of his new friends, the young pet will quickly make it clear that with all the joys of life he is particularly attracted by the opportunity to chase a bundle of paper tied with thread and bouncing around the floor. It is precisely this that the predatory nature that is quickly waking up in him will demand, that is why he will be happy to spend the day for running, jumping, deft somersaults and insidious attacks from the shelter.

Surely the owners and especially their kids playing with a kitten will get no less joyful moments, delight and pleasure than he. Alas, just in three years, an adult pet will calmly react to calls to play, looking at the ball of paper jumping up and down bewildered but not willing to catch up with it and claw.

Understanding perfectly well that this irritant does not conceal any material benefit, the cat will not react to attempts to interest him with a stupid knickknack and, perhaps only out of courtesy, will strike it with a paw once and never move.

Nevertheless, the life experience acquired by the cat and his moderate temperament do not mean that playing with him as funny and exciting, as in his childhood, will not work. Considering the changes in his psyche since then, you just need to replace a paper ball with a piece of fried meat.

Unlike raw one, it has a certain stiffness allowing to fix reliably the edible bait at the end of the thread wrapping it in a pair of turns and tying one simple knot. From the very first seconds of the demonstration to the cat of the new prey, he will show genuine interest in it and after trying to capture it and making sure that he is in front of really tasty food but not a dummy will rush in its pursuit.

It should be noted that removing the bait from an adult and dexterous cat will be much more difficult than from him a few years ago when he was just mastering the predator's instinctive movements like the "imperceptible" crawling to the mouse and throwing the "fish" back over his shoulder. And this time he will unlikely have a wish to show the same performance because the realization of the possibility of refreshment will tell him a completely different tactic of actions.

It consists of continuous pursuit of prey and an attempt to capture it with the far-out claws. Naturally, the cat will run after a piece of meat much faster than after a lump of cellulose, so the owner will definitely have to show speed and skill so that the fun will not stop in half a minute.

The cat, of course, will not take such a chase as a game and rather regard it only as a result of the reluctance to give him food just like that. Therefore, he will not play up to the owner, as in childhood, but, on the contrary, will show serious excitement, recklessly trying to grab the bait and dig into it with his teeth. However, even such a chase will bring the cat a lot of pleasure and thrill, and the owner will be pleased with the serious passion for saturation shown by the pet.

To support his desire to chase around the apartment for a tasty-smelling bait, you need to let him catch up with it and pull the desired prey out of the thread loop with his teeth and claws. This will extend the serious game for an hour or two, as a successful hunt will give the cat an incentive for new sports achievements.

However, it cannot be said that the possibilities to engage a wise cat with fun are limited to such a simple substitute. In some cases, he himself will be happy to recall his childhood, but for this, the owners will have to show some patience. For example, it is precisely known that a woolen ball jumping on the floor little by little offsets even an adult strong cat who considers it unworthy to chase dummies for fun.

Therefore, if the hostess sits down to knit a sweater, you need to bring a cat into the same room and put him on the floor opposite. Short jerks of a woolen thread shifting a ball will surely attract the attention of a mustached predator, and he will begin to carefully observe the stimulus.

It`s easy to assume that from this moment the long-forgotten gameplay will begin, but its first act, in this case, will last for quite a long time. Approximately in five minutes after continuous observation of the ball, the cat will approach it and reluctantly hit it with his paw, without letting go of the claws. If the hostess does not drive him away, he will retreat himself, however, not far, and continue to observe.

For the next strike, you will have to wait a little less, and the cat will move away from the ball of yarn resembling a shaggy round mouse, not so far away. Moreover, he would even prefer to remain in the zone of direct reach of the "prey" with his paw, and it will become clear for the hostess that now she is not alone in the knitting process.

Further events will develop faster and more interesting, as the cat, having already rolled up on his side, will try to hit the ball with its hind legs, and if he will throw it away a little, then he will jump, catch up and additionally push the ball with his front paw. After waiting a little more and watching the hopping and rolling of the ball, he would seize his front paws at it, releasing claws and teeth, and at the same time, he would begin to tear it violently, shaking his head and hitting with his hind legs.

Understanding perfectly that the ball of yarn is not a mouse at all, the cat will reach such excitement, that admonitions like: "Vasya, you are an adult cat, aren't you ashamed?" - will not work, and the ball will have to be taken away from the pet so that his hunting passion will not result in a shortage of wool for the sweater due to tearing the ball into pieces.

Thus, even an adult and highly experienced cat can be drawn into an exciting game, but in order to do this, it will be necessary to show some ingenuity. It is likely that after several successful bait captures, the pet will understand that the owner invites him to have fun again, just like it was in cat`s early youth, and will agree to play along with him, chasing after the paper "prey" too.