Fresh from lunch and washing up twelve cat bowls, one more time….sometimes it feels as if that’s all I do. Just as I was getting my cup of tea together, I heard Sasha making a speech. “What is it, Dee Dee?” I asked, but then remembered, she always does a pre-siesta talk to the basket she has on top of one of the kitchen cupboards. Placed there for her…by Grant.
That’s after she gets through “drinking it” with Colin.
“Drinking it” was something Grant invented and it’s getting out of hand. Like many cats, Sasha was immediately interested in water and when she got up by the sink, Grant started asking her if she wanted “drink it”.
When Colin discovered this, he got completely carried away, and now, the minute he hears water running, there he is. Can’t wash dishes because there’s a cat in the sink.
Oh, I know….not sanitary, totally out of order, etc…..this is a cat blog, after all, (mostly).
Grant is gradually encouraging them all to drink-it. Penny has started now and we really don’t want her jumping up and down because she has bad arthritis, so she gets lifted….
Sikkim hasn’t actually sampled the water yet, but she always comes to the sink after supper, to supervise the washing up. Never after breakfast or lunch. She has a little tune she sings, and then she sits by the draining board observing every move. She just wants to join in, apparently.
Someone was asking me about cat toys.
Well this is one that I made back when I was obsessed with crochet. Nervous fingers or something. I fixed that by turning them totally arthritic. Don’t do it!
I had some odd bits of chenille yarn.
They actually love this thing
But when I see it on the floor, I always think it’s vomit!
Then there are these:
The donut with a ball inside used to be Patches’ favourite. I put an extra ping pong ball in it. I haven’t heard her play with it lately, but she has decamped to my bedroom. Maybe I just need to move it for her. As long as she doesn’t find it at 0400.
In the middle is the cat feather teaser. My cats all love this, but with 12 cats you need 6 pairs of hands and an auditorium, because they all want to play at once. Our old teaser had a mouse on it and it had fallen into disfavour, so I went online and found the feathered ones:
Meo Hui cat feather teaser. 2 wands with 9 attachments, 5 feathered and 4 “squiggly” things, $9 on Amazon. I checked and they are still available. Grant thought they would be “crap” but they are ace.
On the end a canvas “stinky” fish. We got these in Seattle, so it’s been a while, and we figured the catnip had faded. So we rounded up a bunch of the toys and bathed them in catnip “tea” which we concocted in a large glass bowl. Big hit. Not all cats like “nip” but I think all but one of ours do.
On the left, random favourites, although the pale blue one is a felt mouse that comes from Nepal. I used to get them from the Snow Leopard Trust but due to our “current situation”, it looks as if they are not available. They were always very popular. I daresay they can be found on Etsy, but I liked the idea of supporting one of my favourite charities. The Snow Leopard is a stunning cat!
On the right: more of my personal creations, very basic, but also very popular and there is a story:
Dear old Tom who sadly left us last year.
He just loved his blue toy. He had a yellow one too.
He sang to them “Ur…Ur…Ur…” so they were Tom’s “Ur’s”.
He would carry them around and delivered them.
To Grant, of course. He was Grant’s boy.
When I knotted up my left-over yarn, he adopted it and it became Tom’s Blue Planet.
It turned out that Tinkerbell was taking notes and pretty soon she had a set of “Ur’s”.
She delivers them to Grant during the night.
This night, Tinkerbell made three deliveries.
Sometimes she carries Grant’s hat.
She only delivers outside the door. Just like that….
Then Penny began nightly serenading. You hear her coming through the house, but she also stops short at the door.
I don’t know which toy Sikkim has chosen, but apparently she also carries toys around these days.
As a variation to the “Ur”, Toby and Tinkerbell, on separate occasions, went downstairs and found us an actual live mouse. Though they were not alive by the time they were delivered. 🙁
Needless to say, there are uncountable random objects throughout the house, just waiting for a foot to fall over or a cat to play with: cotton reels, plastic milk carton tops, anything that slides and rattles.
Last, but not least, the Dream Curl. Whoever invented this item knows cats. Our guys adore them. They are designed to totally fit a cat’s anatomy
Willow lies next to them and twirls them around. That is her favourite toy of all!
Thanks for sharing these cat-tales with us. Your place is not only a cat HAVEN, it’s a cat HEAVEN.
I appreciate the coverage of successful cat toys. I like the yarn things that you showed, but need more info on what they are made of and how. Also, the catnip tea refresh got my attention. How do you make it? One thing I have learned is that toys need to be refreshed and recycled. So rather than have ALL the dead catnip fish and bananas out, I “hide” some for a while, and then let them be ‘rediscovered’. If they can get a fresh catnip infusion, they may ‘re-discover’ it sooner.
Thanks, so much!