Friskies Cat Fishing 2
Pet food company Purina is responsible for much of the kitty-focused shift occurring in iPad game design. Friskies Cat Fishing 2 (Free) is one of the more traditional options, with three increasingly-difficult waves of fish, points for a successful hit, and a countdown timer.

Fun and Games for Cats
Fun and Games for Cats ($1.99) sports three distinct modes. PiCATso Paint offers a selection of up to 27 colors, along with three "helpers" and annoying sound effects. Catch has realistic representations of a mouse, fish, spider, or a butterfly. And Cat Music must be seen to be believed, and is probably more fun for humans.

Second Reality's Cat Toys
Second Reality's Cat Toys ($0.99) lets you choose between a mouse, rat, ping pong ball, frog, or spider to chase around the screen, with speed and sound controls adding some granularity to the experience. My cat preferred the mouse, which stops dead in its tracks, squeaks, then races away when hit.

Game For Cats
You'll need to spend $1.99 on an in-app purchase and pick up the iPhone app Games For Kittens to get full mileage out of Game For Cats (Free), which locks out the mouse mini-game from normal users. There's plenty of fun to be had chasing the laser around the screen, though, especially if you control the spot remotely from an iPhone.

Paint For Cats
Of all the games I've tried out on my cat, Paint For Cats ($1.99) is clearly her favorite. A cheeky rainbow-colored mouse darts around the screen, occasionally stopping to wiggle its tail, while every tap or swipe translates into a splotch of paint on the virtual canvas. You can also save and share your cat's brilliant art with the world.

You vs. Cat
I got excited when I found out that there's an iPad game designed for inter-species multiplayer. Unfortunately, my cat shows cool disinterest when confronted with Friskies You vs. Cat (Free). The cats are currently winning by around a million points on the global leaderboard, though, so maybe it's just me.

Tasty Treasures Hunt
Tasty Treasures Hunt (Free) is a simple game of tapping on the spinning and floating objects to accrue a higher score. Cats seem to enjoy the colorful graphics, but this is likely to be the game you give them after they bore of their favorite.

The Affection Collection
The Queensland RSPCA got in on the cat games act in February with The Affection Collection (Free), which offers three mini-games. You can defend a piece of cheese from cartoon mice; bat around a ball of virtual yarn; or try a tap-on-spinning-vegetables affair. A neat "boredom detector" automatically switches between modes.