: My cat is very affectionate and hungry My 8 year old adopted cat is great. He's super intelligent but a bit lazy... I've bought every toy and tried to entertain him, but nothing---- only when it comes to food. The thing is,

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If your cat is motivated by food so strongly, this gives you a powerful tool to both develop his play habits and relieve his boredom. Cat behavior is just like ours; they would prefer to get what they want with the least effort possible but will put effort into anything that they decide will benefit them.

Buy some kitty 'kibble' that your cat likes. You are looking for dry cat-food that comes in larger than normal cat-food pieces. Often sold as cat treats but some regular dry cat-food brands also come in larger than normal sizes. Look for pieces that are about 1/2 inch in size. The size is less important than your cat's desire to eat that kind of food.

Ideally the kibble is healthy food for your cat, rather than the equivalent of kitty 'junk food'. I like to use 'Hill's science Diet' but the important part is that your cat preferred food works best. Store the kibble in a cat-proof container in a convenient location. I use old plastic food containers like the one pictured below. Note the flip-top lid that allows dispensing but is also catproof:

Now for how to use that food to interact with your cat:

1) your cat comes up to you and begs. Grab the container of kitty kibble and find a hallway. Toss one kibble down the hallway so your cat can chase it. When he comes back, toss another kibble down the hallway.

2) Buy an interactive cat toy:

Once your cat reliably chases kitty kibble down the hallway, wait until your cat starts begging again and then hold a single kitty kibble in one hand and the cat toy in your other hand. Drag the toy in front of your cat. If he makes any attempt at grabbing the toy, immediately toss the kibble down the hall so he chases it. When he comes back for more, repeat. Eventually you should only toss kibble for him if he makes a really good grab; half-hearted attempts just means the lure escapes the cat. Caught lures result in another food treat tossed down the hall.

What you are doing is training your cat to develop prey catching habits that result in food, just like nature intended. It keeps him exercised and un-bored. One thing to remember is that the more intelligent you cat is the more you will want to vary the way you move/control the toy lure's 'behavior' to keep him interested. You don't want the lure to be either too easy or too hard to catch. Also, get different types of cat toys so you can change the toy you use to keep things from getting too boring.

Another fun things to do are to seal your cat into a bedroom or other room, and then walk around your house hiding kibbles. Now let your cat out and let him discover the kibbles over time. Just remember that where you place the kibbles is also an invitation for the cat to go to that location, so if you place kibble on your kitchen table, you encourage your cat to jump up to that location forever afterwards.

If your cat has problems finding the kibbles, get a laser pointer, do a hallway kibble toss and at the same time use the laser pointer to circle the location of the kibble you just threw. Do this a few more times. Now use the laser on an undiscovered 'hidden' kibble. You cat will quickly figure out the laser dot seems to knows where all that hidden food is hiding and start chasing it. Just remember to always allow your cat to find a kibble when you get him to chase the laser dot. After all, chasing that dot is just pointless exercise to your cat unless there is some food in it as a reward.