Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Cats and Their Toys - Oh, My!



Although my heart is heavy tonight with worries about some of my friends, I have to laugh at our new kitty's choice of toys.

This past month, we have bought, and returned, four battery-operated toys from the pet shop. 

In each case, we bought a toy, took it home, only to find something wrong. In one case, the toy stopped working after 15 minutes and wouldn't start up again. 

In another case, we didn't find out until we peeled open one of those blister packs (peel is an understatement with those packages!) only to find instructions in 4-point print that said it would not run on carpet. The only rooms without carpet in our mobile home are the kitchen and bathrooms. 

Another wouldn't work at all. 
Anyhow, they cost, individually, between $15 and $25 each.

The only thing so far that she plays with from the pet shop is a purple egg-shaped thing that I fill with treats (Temptations, Savory Seafood flavor no less) and they fall out as the ball is rolled. Even then, she tries to look pathetic when she pats it and gets me to roll it for her. Is she good at human-training or what? Once, she did get disgusted and took a hearty WHACK! to it and got a treat or two on her own.

Last night, I tried to toss a freshly-empty bathroom tissue cardboard roll onto my vanity top, to throw out a few moments later. I missed. It flew onto the floor. She pounced on it. She flipped it. She rolled it. Then she left it alone. On a hunch, I left it there overnight.

This morning, before 5 a.m., I heard this rustling and bustling. She was tossing it. She was batting at it. She grabbed it in her teeth and carried it off to who-knows-where. She kept it up for at least fifteen minutes. I'm not sure where it's at right now. And I'm not sure if that last rush of feverish roll-chasing activity was because she was pretending it was a kitten to be carried, or a gecko to be, well, you know.
 
I've had many cats over my 74 years. And, like kids, I've learned that they often play with the simplest of things best. Some cats like big paper bags; others like to curl up in boxes. Some roll TP off the spindle. Others are yarn-nappers. Who would have guessed I'd get one with a TP-roll fetish??? Go figure...  

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