Games for a Cat That Needs Exercise: Easy Treat Jump Game

Just as with us humans, cats live their best life when they have good food, fresh air, social time, and exercise (aka: cat enrichment). For a cat parent, the first three requirements are fairly easy to incorporate into their cat’s daily routine—healthy meals, an open window/catio, and some pets and playtime. 

Exercise can be harder to come by, yet is no less important. It keeps our feline friends physically and mentally in shape and is a powerful tool for cat parents who are trying to figure out how to tire out a cat with extra energy or how to entertain a bored cat who needs more stimulation. 

But it’s not exactly like you can buy your cat a gym membership and call it a day. So what are you to do to meet your cat’s need for exercise?! One word—GAMES! 

Providing more physical enrichment opportunities, such as games for a cat, can be a simple and fun way to satisfy those activity and exercise needs. And I’ve got a fun and easy game your cat will love that provides movement and enrichment, so keep reading!

Physical Enrichment

There are five types of enrichment your cat needs to thrive. A cat’s natural instincts developed around hunting, climbing, scratching, foraging, and playing. The opportunity to express these innate behaviors through enrichment helps our cat friends stay in good health and reduces stress and unwanted behaviors. You can begin exploring and incorporating indoor cat enrichment ideas with my Top 12 Best Cat Enrichment Toys.

Physical Enrichment, specifically in the form of exercise, offers benefits that help your cat by: 

• providing activities for bored cats to get them up and moving
• promoting weight loss for cats who could benefit from more movement
• helping to burn off excess energy for those cats who can’t stop zooming around the house

If the benefits of physical enrichment for your cat aren’t enough to convince you of its importance, these types of activities are also fun! There are no reps or miles to count here. Bringing more movement and excitement into your cat’s routine can be as simple as: 

• interactive play with your cat using a wand toy
• leash walking your cat
• clicker training movement activities
• games

And the Treat Jump Game is a great place to start to provide your cat with more physical enrichment.  It will keep your cat on the move with plenty of opportunities for jumping and running.

Games for a Cat – The Treat Jump (3 Levels)

The Treat Jump Game is just one of many games for a cat that can help bring more exercise into their routine. It’s one of my favorites, and a great starter game that is accessible for whatever physical and skill level your cat may be at. It’s never ending fun, as the game can be customized and changed each time you play.

As with any game, let’s go over the rules and equipment you’ll need to start.

1. Treats are essential. You likely already have a go-to stash of your cat’s favorite treats on hand—any type will do. In case your cat is not easily impressed by treats, there are ways to increase your cat’s food motivation to make playing this game more enticing.
2. You will want to play in a room that has several cat-friendly surfaces for your cat to jump on. You can even provide additional jumping opportunities by adding in safe and stable surfaces like chairs, ottomans, or boxes to make the terrain more dynamic and interesting.
3. There are three levels to play in the Treat Jump Game. You can play one level, move through them sequentially, or mix them up in whatever way is most enjoyable for your cat. The most important thing is that your cat is moving and that you both are having fun. Now let’s *jump* (😉) into the three levels…

Level 1

For level 1, use the treat as a lure to get your cat to jump onto different surfaces. Show them the treat and drag it to a surface where you want them to jump. Once your cat has jumped onto that surface, reward them with the treat.

Grab another treat, and use it to lure them to the next jump spot. Move around the room in this way luring your cat to jump on many different surfaces. 

Vary the heights and distance of the surfaces you lure them to to give your cat optimum exercise—keeping your cat’s capabilities in mind—we want this to be fun and easy while making sure our cats are safe.

Level 2

To make things a bit more interesting for your cat, in Level 2, you will do the same as you did in Level 1 but instead of using the treats as a lure, you will place the treat on the surface where you want them to jump.

After they jump up and get the treat, place another treat on a different surface so they have to run and jump to get their reward. Keep moving around the room from surface to surface, repeating this process.

This small shift in the way you are presenting the treat makes the game a little more difficult and also helps to activate your cat’s hunting instincts as they have to pay closer attention to where the treat will end up next.

If your cat is having difficulty seeing the treat, you can point to it so they understand where you want them to go next.

Level 3

Level 3* uses a target stick to show your cat where to jump next in lieu of a treat. Once your cat jumps up to touch the target stick, reward them with their treat. Move around the room, as you have before, using the target stick to get your cat to jump up on a variety of surfaces around the room.

If you’re looking to add some extra exercise into the game, after your cat has jumped onto a surface, throw their treat reward onto the floor away from you so they have to run after it. Then use the target stick to indicate the next surface you want them to jump on. This way your cat gets some extra running in between jumps. 

*This level does require your cat to have basic clicker and target training skills. If they don’t, you can keep playing at Levels 1 and 2 and still get the benefits of the game. If you are interested in teaching them clicker and target training skills, be sure to check out my cat enrichment guide, Your Cat’s Playground to learn and take your Treat Jump Game skills to this next level!

Why I Love This Cat Game Idea

Hopefully, the Treat Jump Game showed you how games for a cat can bring more play and activity into your cat’s life.

I love cat game ideas for exercise because they simultaneously check off so many boxes of enrichment in one fun and easy package!

Mostly, I love cat games because they’re played together with you and your cat. Playtime is better when shared. When you play with your cat, it supports their need for social enrichment and releases those feel-good brain chemicals for both cats and their humans. It’s a win-win! 

It’s also a wonderful opportunity to bond with your cat. Playing interactive games with your cat is a way to let them know that you are their person, you want to spend time with them, and that you love them and care about their well-being.

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