My cat is vehemently an outside cat. When she's stuck in the house for more than a few hours she starts clawing at the back door and yowling.
Here's the problem: I live in Massachusetts, where the winters tend to be long and cold. She'll still yowl about going outside, and she doesn't believe me when I tell her that she really doesn't want to go out. So, I open the door, she sticks her head out, and nopes right back inside (occasionally she actually will head out for a while, in 20 °F / -7°C weather, no less).
Anyway, a few weeks of this and she starts to go stir-crazy. Climbing the walls, jumping on and off of shelves, mauling carpets and the like. So, what can I do to keep her from getting bored?
As far as toys go, her tastes are rather interesting. I've never been able to get her to pay attention to a laser pointer for more than 10 seconds, and she ignores the vast majority of the toys that we bring her. Every so often she'll get a hankering for catnip, but that's highly inconsistent. We've had limited success with a few toy mice.
Really, the only thing that will get her attention most of the time is string/yarn, but after a few weeks of winter, she decides that my fur-lined leather gloves absolutely must die - seriously, I have to hide them, or the next thing I know she'll be prancing off with one of them.
What else can I try to keep her stimulated?