this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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My cat will play fetch for as long as I throw her little mouse toy. She'll even let me throw it from bed and she'll bring it right back up for me to throw again.

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[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 72 points 1 month ago

Another one!

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 53 points 1 month ago (2 children)

One of mine does! His name is Porkchop and he will only fetch and return plastic water bottle caps.

[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mine will only fetch the mice, she once brought us a real mouse in the middle of the night.

[–] jaennaet@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

"Look, I fetched!"

[–] TheGiantKorean@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

My cat Rocky fetched those, too! Also a jingle ball cat toy.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mine did as a kitten. He’d even bring the toy back to throw again!

At some point he stopped bringing the toy back so now we don’t play fetch. We play throw once and stare.

[–] limelight79@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

One of ours did that too, she also grew out of it.

Our dog doesn't even play fetch. :(

[–] tyler@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

Same for ours, but we think it’s cause she learned we’d go get it even if she didn’t.

[–] shish_mish@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago

My cat does

[–] Tinks@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

So cute! My Maine Coon played fetch too. He preferred the shiny little balls of tinsel, but would also play with toy mice. I never taught him, he just brought me a toy one day and stood on my chest so I threw it to get him off me (he was big) and he brought it back. After a few times doing this I realized I was playing fetch with him and we did it his whole life 😊

[–] celeste@kbin.earth 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have had a couple cats who do this! It's adorable. It does mean I've woken up with cat toys in my bed, though.

[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Gotta get that 3am fetch session in!

[–] aichan@piefed.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 month ago

I've seen other comments pointing their cats only doing it when kittens, but I am happy to report that my 3 and a half year old boy does still play it. I throw aluminium foil balls and he loves playing soccer with them and giving them back to me so I can throw them again

[–] seathru@quokk.au 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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Mo fetches and brings up random sticks like a dog.

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 month ago

All the cats I had did at some point when they were young. It never lasted though, some only played fetch once.

[–] Lexam@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Four of my seven will bring me a ball to play fetch.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Serious question. With seven cats, how bad does your house smell?

[–] Lexam@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It does not. But litter is a daily chore. Litter boxes live in the laundry room and the garage.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

That's good! Cuz i know someone that's the opposite. Wasn't a good time at thier place.

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

My handsome boy has a toy fish he brings to me. Well, he brings it wherever he sleeps and sometimes that is on my legs. Sometimes he just brings it to me. He really likes that fish.

He will play fetch with those plastic springs. Those disappeared for a while. I had to do some work behind my fridge yesterday and found over 15 of them hiding under there.

[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

When we moved out of my house I found my missing air pod under the oven where my little lady had lost it. 😂

[–] HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Apparently ppl here hate reddit, but for those who don't, r/catscarryingstuffies has kitties that play fetch fairly often. So, yes, it happens, but I don't think it's too common

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Not fetch but he does have a favorite plushie toy that he takes with him wherever he goes. So adorable.

[–] IngressCloaked@piefed.ca 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My youngest cat did when she was little... but has basically stopped a couple years ago. I think it's because she's bigger and I can't throw the crinkle balls far enough. lol I got a gun that shoots little felt balls, but she doesn't like those balls (but my oldest cat loves to walk around with one of those balls in her mouth while singing us an opera).

[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Ha! I'm thinking of 3D printing a mouse launcher so I can save my shoulder from huckin the mouse

[–] Creativity@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

Please share if you do

[–] IngressCloaked@piefed.ca 1 points 1 month ago

That sounds awesome!!

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Note: if you cat loves to play catch that is awesome but also many cats if anything love the opposite of catch even more.

A strong predator drive in cats is to want to pick up and drag off a new kill. You can bring this into play by letting your cat drag off their cat toy when they get it.

Don't play tug of war with your cat, they aren't like dogs they don't generally get into that. They want to pounce, kill and triumphantly drag their prey off up a tree or into a hideout or something. Integrate that last beat into your play with your cat and they will have a lot more fun!

Even better, reward your cat with praise when they stalk off with the cat toy they just pounced on, give them a quick scratch or back rub as they walk away with a proud lion gate and then success flop. This will make it WAYYY easier to rescue... or cleanup an actual animal your cat has gotten because they won't connect you with being near them after a successful "kill" as frustrating, stressful or unnatural.

If you do it enough with an indoor cat they will begin to associate a successful hunt with you hanging around, and that makes handling cats when they go into hunt mode way easier.

TL;DR praise your cat for hiding the body they will love you more for it and let you cleanup murder scenes easier because of it.

[–] MissJinx@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Mine loves paying fetch, but she doesn't really fetch, she just runs after it and gives it some slaps, than looks at me and meows until I get it and throw it again

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Only 2 of them did it their whole lives… Ginger now considers it servitude, but would literally fetch milk rings or mice until both my girlfriend and I got worn out… two and a half hours IIRC. She was so fast, like 30-40 mice a minute.

[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think the longest we've played fetch was may 30-40 minutes before I gave up. I'll need to try for a marathon, a fetch-a-thon

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I mean that was two (humans) trading off until we both collapsed with arms limp like overcooked pasta. I’m pretty sure Ginger would have gone all day… she’s 13 now and mostly just stares judgmentally at me ;-)

[–] kieron115@startrek.website 4 points 1 month ago

Mine will chase after something if i throw it but then she expects me to come pick it up and throw it the other direction haha.

[–] djmikeale@feddit.dk 4 points 1 month ago

Yep mine too!!

[–] qupada@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago

My boy did, when he was between about 6 months and a year old.

https://imgur.com/a/KmNbkBH

These pipe cleaners were his favourite.

[–] buttmasterflex@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

One cat likes to bat around a stuffed salmon and flip it up in the air to chase after. The other bats a ball around and plays fetch with herself, no human interaction desired.

[–] FrankieEggs@piefed.ca 3 points 1 month ago

My void does, he has little sushi toys he likes to play fetch with and he always brings them back :)

[–] dkppunk@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

I used to have a 2 cats who did and both of those girls looked just like your cat

[–] toddestan@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I had a cat that played fetch. When he was young fellow, he'd fetch and bring the toy back to me. Eventually he'd only bring the toy most of the way back, and I had to cover the remaining distance. Then he'd bring the toy back some of the way back, and it eventually turned into him running to where the toy ended up, sitting down next to it, and looking at me like "Okay, I found where you tossed the toy, now come over and get it so we can do this again". He still loved to play, but it seemed he kind of outgrew the fetch thing.

[–] Griffus@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

My indoor Devon Rex starts nagging me if we haven't played for a few days or if he suddenly gets in the mood for it. He adores playing for several minutes at a time, until he gets annoyed because he thinks I should know to play with more than one toy at a time. Or that we played yesterday and that I'm stupid for suggesting playing something without his asking for it.

He might have gotten a bit spoiled at some point, I thing.

[–] fitjazz@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 month ago

My grey, Starbuck, is my 4th cat that loves to play fetch. Every night he picks which toy he wants to play with and just before bed he brings it to us to throw.

[–] popsalottacornsyrup@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

We're on our third cat that we've taught to fetch! Now....do they always bring it back in arms reach. No. But most of the time we'll get either more throws than our arm will tolerate or 3 throws and then indifference.

[–] jade52@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

Yes! And she's orange, too.

[–] brognak@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Mine used to play fetch with qtip sticks. I would pull the cotton off the ends and it was easily her favorite toy/games for years before she got fat and old lol

[–] Buffy@libretechni.ca 1 points 1 month ago

Yes! But only with those little plastic springs. I also trained him to get on my shoulders, but he's too clumsy so I stopped. But he never did. So now I have to watch my back around elevated surfaces or else I risk a cat flying at me from my blind spot.

[–] Romkslrqusz@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Yes - especially with chopsticks

[–] homura1650@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I have 3 cats, and one of them plays fetch. Although he typically gets bored after a dozen throws or so.

[–] maniclucky@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Our orange will play fetch with qtips. But he drops it increasingly far away when he brings it back...

[–] Willdrick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Mine does this too! He'd bring the toy right to my feet the first few times, then it'll drop it increasingly further away from me

[–] harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Mine used to, as a kitten, but not anymore.