Oops! My cat is an iPad kid

Pets, like children, come with the responsibility to keep them happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated — obligations I readily committed to before getting my cat, Trevor. I work from home, so he’s never lonely, and play with him using a mountain of toys at every opportunity outside of my working hours. But younger cats can be incredibly demanding of your attention. I simply don’t have the capacity to physically entertain Trevor every time he yowls at me (constantly) or distract him from chewing every cable he can get his paws on (also constantly).

Unlike children, one of the perks of having a blissfully simple animal is that there are far fewer concerns about inflicting them with screen-induced brainrot. Trevor will never have his cognitive development stunted by algorithmic, nonsensical AI slop or fall into some weird manosphere rabbit hole. I’m not proud of it, but iPad games and “cat TV” channels on YouTube have really come in handy since bringing home a kitten.

From the very start, he’s been an iPad kid. What Trevor really wants is to act on his natural instincts to stalk and catch small animals. He already has a sizable box of motorized balls and flapping bird / butterfly toys he can chase to satisfy this, but there’s thankfully an abundance of gaming apps on Apple’s App Store that are specifically designed to simulate that experience too. And they tend to be much quieter.

These cat entertainment games include “ Cat Fishing 2 ,” which is developed by the Purina pet care brand, and the inspiringly named “Games for Cats Cat Toy – Meow.” Many of these games work by engaging your cat’s prey drive, or as Purina describes it, “keep your cat’s mind active while also scratching their hunting itch.” I have an old 6th-generation iPad lying around that I’ve been using to run these games, conscious that Trevor is a heavy-pawed Maine coon and tablet displays aren’t really designed to be repeatedly smacked. It’s survived this abuse for over a year so far.

All of the apps I’ve tried provide a similar gameplay experience: Something zooms around on the display, and your cat has to tap the object with its paw, much like chasing a laser pointer. Sometimes that “something” is a fake laser dot, but mice, fish, bubbles, and bugs are also extremely common. Just set the game up on your tablet, place it on the floor to prevent it from being pushed off the edge of a table or countertop, and let your cat smush digital critters until they get bored. It keeps Trevor occupied for around 10 minutes, which is better than nothing.

YouTube is another great alternative. Searching for “ cat TV ” will surface thousands of video options that give your cat something engaging to watch. Like the games, these videos also provide a fairly common experience — it’s usually a lengthy recording of small outdoor animals like mice, squirrels, and birds scampering around on the screen, or a fish tank.