Cardboard! (I gave it away in the headline.)

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Olwyn, a year old, loves to bite into any cardboard box, so we give them to her and let them sit around for a few weeks. Everyone loves to hide in, chew and slash, and jump on top of a big cardboard box.

But there are other ways cardboard works for us. We can make things with cardboard for the cats to play with. Cats will find the process very interesting, and then when they get the end result, they are thrilled.

Corrugated cardboard, the kind grocery stock and moving and mailing boxes are made of, has a near-perfect texture for cats to sink their teeth and claws into. We don’t mind them doing it because we are going to recycle this box, anyway.

We get rid of the box whenever we like, and get our cat… a new box. We do a lot of our shopping online, so we always have boxes in the pipeline.

Yes, cats leave shreds of cardboard around. But they don’t stain or stick, and won’t ruin the carpet if left overnight, either.

Here are some cardboard ideas:

Here’s some downloadable templates to make your own cardboard cat toys.

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When we talk “extreme cat toys,” we are usually talking about wand toys, because wand toys get our cats on their feet and thinking fast. The wand toy requires our input; and that is why our cat likes it.

They prefer to pit their abilities against ours, and they prefer to play with us.

My choice for “best bang for the buck” is The Cat Dancer.

The Cat Dancer gets its action from a coiled wire; thick enough not to hurt anyone, but thin enough to get the job done.

It has these advantages:

Just the thing to wear out our cat.

Did you celebrate the Spring Equinox with your cats?

Why not?

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We might not have thought about it. If we come home and nothing seems messed up, we’re happy. If we come home and something is messed up, we’re unhappy. But most of the time, we don’t see much evidence of what our cats do when we aren’t home.

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats’ time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

Read the whole article.

When I emphasize the importance of windows to our cats, I wasn’t kidding, was I?

Since cats don’t go into suspended animation all day while we are at work, any effort we make to give our cats interesting things to do will both make our cats happy, and keep them out of trouble.

Here’s how to make sure we get maximum credit for our efforts:

Create a leaving ritual. Make a point of saying we will miss them while we are gone. We tend to do the same things as we are leaving, so we can find some way to involve the cats, too.

My ritual request of Mr. Bond, “Take good care of my guy!” led to Mr. Bond becoming Dear Husband’s companion while he had a badly sprained foot. Now they are buddies.

Give them windows. Don’t put a table there… and then put something breakable on it. Instead, raise the blinds, put a sturdy cover on the table, and give it to the cats.

It’s not like we will be there to chase them off of it.

Hide stuff. Whether we get a toy designed to make them puzzle out their treats, like the MultiVet SlimCat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser, or we cut holes in a discarded tissue box, we can leave these “buried treasures” for our cats to find.

We can stick a toy under a throw rug, or leave a timer ticking… until it goes off. Anything our cat can have fun observing or interacting with can lead to an enjoyable part of their day.

Call them up. If we have an answering machine, try calling and leaving them a message at the same time each day. Hearing our voices is a reminder we’re out there, thinking of them.

Create a homecoming ritual. If we’d like our cats to greet us, call out to them as we come in. This is a good time to break out the treats and celebrate our reunion.

By creating opportunities for fun, and letting our cat know we did it for them, we deepen our relationship, and safeguard our stuff.

This is how we can hope that some of our cat’s day will be spent… missing us!

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When I lift up the rug to see what’s making that lump, it’s always a toy mouse or fluffy ball which RJ hid there so he can pretend to discover it later. A few years ago, it would have been Mr. Bond hiding them there.

When I have to keep looking for something I thought I’d left right here, it’s usually because there was something about it that appealed to a cat, who came along and played with it until it fell behind the dresser.

This is why I keep my car keys in my purse and don’t use bookmarks with the yarn tassels on them.

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Sometimes cats hide things. Sometimes, the thing hiding was a byproduct of the cat’s activity, but they didn’t do it on purpose.

All of this activity has an impact on our environment, because that is one of the things cats do.

They change their environment to be better suited to catching prey, hiding from their own predators, and getting their drinking and sleeping needs met. In the absence of real prey, they can create their own opportunities.

The bottoms of closets, beneath the couch, or behind the fridge are all places where their toys can hide. So some of their hiding, or searching hiding places, behavior is a natural instinct they will exercise whatever their circumstances.

We will keep our cat’s mind sharp, at any age, by giving them hiding opportunities.

If our cat enjoys toys and treats presented this way, we have a fun and simple way to keep our cat happy and healthy, while playing games with their head.

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

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Yet, our senior cats still need fun and exercise.

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What can we do?

Step back. Don’t be as quick to pick them up as we were when they were younger. Do more Petting in Place.

Tone it down. We should expect our cats to nap more at this age. They will treasure a bit of squishy warmth, like a blanket or Thermal Cat Mat.

Use signals. Our senior cat can have an exaggerated startle reflex; they might not be as good as sensing incoming input as they used to be. So try to alert them to our approach, so they can enjoy it, and know it is us.

Pace them. Come up with quiet ploys, like hiding a toy.

Treat them. As they age, their nutritional needs can change. Let them make some new choices. We can find a special food to get them excited about mealtime if they are jaded by the offerings lately.

Spoil them. Our senior cat needs to hear that they are always Our Special One. Giving them something for the other cats to admire is a wonderful way to share a bonding moment.

We can do a lot to help our senior cat.

Read more my senior cat posts.

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Well, kinda.

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When we see cats playing with wrapping paper or electrical cords or rubber bands or pencil erasers, we can be forgiven for assuming cats don’t care what they play with. But then they ignore what we think is a wonderful toy that we got them, special. What is going on?

Some of what the cat likes is the qualities of the materials. Crumpled paper is easy for a cat to handle, and sheets or boxes of it tend to make wonderful hiding places for potential prey. Likewise, electrical cords can intertwine and look like branches in nature, which can have prey hiding in them.

It might be subtle, like the sparkle of a foil toy. It might be obvious, like a toy mouse made of rabbit fur. But somewhere there is a prey, or a prey habitat, resemblance. Or our cats would not be so interested in it.

We can make something look right.

We can make something act right.

If we combine both ways of catching the cat’s interests, we will be sure to trip the cat’s prey instincts. The foil toy mimics the shine of a beetle’s carapace. The crackly toy sounds like small prey, walking. The round ball bounces unpredictably.

I added body parts to the denim cat toy on the end of a Kitty Tease, and interest increased even more. The flexible fiberglass of this wand toy’s construction makes it easy to mimic the wavering flight of some insect in the house. It also can make the same sound fluttering against a bookcase side or storage cabinet as the genuine article will.

The shredded denim is already an excellent substitute for such prey, as it frays into body extensions. Adding a thorax (with some differently colored twine) or adding eyes (with a scrap of tough rubber) or wings (lace scraps) or legs (some glittery cord that does not detach, only shred) are all easy additions to most toys we can do ourselves.

Here’s some tips to use in casting and directing our cat toy “actors” to help the cat take an interest in the play:

Good casting. This works for looks and acts, because the most lifelike bug in the world is less fun if it just lies there. If we can make it mimic the moves of real prey, we can interest the cat in a scrap of cloth or paper.

Increasing the look of the cat toys to resemble prey will help the cat with “self play,” where they act as both shooter and goalie, and will give them incentive to have fun with their toy.

Steady exposure. We will teach the cat about their toy if we add our interest to theirs. We bond with our cat when we share play.

We can make it more interesting to both of us if we talk about the prey, having them dart around the table legs with taunting directed at our cat. Or perhaps some cats like playing Godzilla, where we have little prey going about their business, when suddenly, Godzilla!

This gets us to talk to our cat. We will add a verbal element to their understanding. We will open communication doors.

A daily play session with such mutually enjoyable elements will create a routine that our cats, and ourselves, will look forward to playing.

Respect for the process. We must “direct our play” for our cats to get the most from it. Let our cat toy actors indulge in scenery chewing death scenes from our favorite movies and games.

We both enjoy some dramatic emoting. This, too, is dramatic realism.

I mean, after the cat has been taunted like that. It was bound to happen.

By having a surprise discovery, a thrilling chase, and a melodramatic ending, we will see our cats gain maximum benefits. It’s also vital exercise, mental stimulation, and learning opportunities.

Go on. When’s the last time we had fun with our cat?

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We can give in, (even to ourselves,) and get a hamster, or fish, or a lot of pets which are interesting to look and fun to have. We will be doing it for the cats.

Who are, after all, not going to be taking care of them. If you know what I mean.

Safety first with small, dinner-like, pets.

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The appeal of lively small animals is shared by us and our cats, though not in the same way. But since we both should probably be hands off for considerable amounts of time, we can all enjoy watching them swim, tunnel, and run in their wheel.

They don’t even have to be that lively. I had a lizard, for months, who only moved at very rare intervals. He had a warm plastic rock that plugged in and the mealy worms disappeared at a steady rate. I found him a bit boring, but the cats were fascinated. Several of them would appear around the cage, content to wait for the time he did move.

We had a highly confident parakeet who got out of his cage behind closed doors for years until he passed on. If the cats got too close to his cage while he was in it, he ratted them out.

Our rabbit lived in an outdoor hutch in the outdoor cat enclosure. No matter the weather, one or more of his cat buddies would come out to spend time with him.

We should have some way of closing off small pets in open wire cages for stretches of time we can’t supervise. Fish tanks should be securely covered. Keep furniture away from a bird cage. Hanging the cage from the ceiling or off a long bracket (and then securing the cage and its support,) will let the cage swing and repel intruders until we can arrive.

It’s not just that the cat’s pets amuse us both. It’s that seeing our cat and their pet can be even more enjoyable and thought-provoking. As long as we keep ahead of them, just like Sylvester and Tweetie Bird, we can enjoy more pets in a small space or limited budget.

Supervise access, make sure they know the new additions are Under Our Protection, and they will spend many happy hours with their interesting pets.

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What? Our cat doesn’t have a favorite move? How do we know?

Some movies offer opportunities to interact with our cat. Some movies are about cats, and prompt us to say nice things to our cat. Some movies offer built-in cat interest.

Best of all, this could be a movie we already know and love.

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Romance movies. If we’re already suffering from the pint of ice cream on the couch syndrome, go all out and watch one of our favorite happy/sad movies. Some of us recognize the cathartic potential in crying over other people’s problems.

Horror movies. The cat won’t like us screaming and levitating from the couch. However, if we want to clutch a good friend, the cat understands that. Just make sure it’s one we’ve seen before, so we don’t startle them.

Action movies. If we can’t watch this kind of movie without yelling advice about driving or handling explosives, we will be too rowdy for the cat to enjoy. However, if we quietly enjoy our favorite moments while repeating favorite lines, this can be a cue the cat will look forward to.

Cat, mouse, or bird movies. From Hitchcock to trashy drive-in classic, lots of fun movies have close-up prey action. Giant bug movies can excite the cat’s curiosity; they don’t get to see them this way very often.

Many of us have movies we like to watch again and again. If we find moments our cat enjoys too, this will be a just another reason to choose that particular movie. We can also use television shows.

Early on, my cats tended to ask for dinner during Jeopardy; and we can’t pause it. So I began singing along with the Jeopardy song during the final round, and springing up to feed the cats as soon as the answers were over.

And the cats learned the song.

Now, any interruptions during the show can be quelled with, “But they haven’t played the song yet!” And if we tune in early, we respond to cat questions with, “That’s the opening theme. It isn’t Final Jeopardy yet.”

Cats are all about integrating their routines with ours. This is an opportunity we shouldn’t miss.

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The Ultimate Cat Toy is the Galkie Kitty Tease, now available after too long a hiatus. I wanted everyone to know about this toy, and get one.

This is the toy that makes RJ beg for it every weekend morning. This is the toy that makes Olwyn squee with joy. This is the toy James Bond comes running into the room for.

I still have my Galkie Kitty Tease (TM) from the early nineties and have only had to replace the toy on the end a few times. It lets us polish our flyfishing skills to get our cat to make the highest leaps and the fastest dashes.

I’ve discovered that they are available in very limited supply from the inventor’s website, The Kitty Tease site. John “Galkie” Galkiewicz is still, as he says, “in it for the cats,” and asks only for recognition that he did come up with a fantastic cat toy.

If our cats are happy with their toy, he loves to hear from people telling him so.

If stock is low on his site, which still supplies the correct size monofilament line and toy replacements, the inventor asks that purchasers can be referred to the kitty teaser people for a good quality manufacture of his toy.

We can watch our cat show off their most daring ambushes and thrilling paw moves. The fiberglass rod lends a lifelike action to the bowtie of denim that becomes more interesting the more it frays.

We put the cleverness into their prey for our cat. We can flick the toy into a couch corner, or make it flutter just over their head. We drag it across the floor. We get it away from them with varying degrees of difficulty, and start all over again, while we are sitting in our favorite chair.

I didn’t want to talk about this fantastic wand toy until others could get one too. While all wand toys have this capacity, and so I encourage their use, this classic is the best one of its kind.

When we want to perk up a bored cat, keep a kitten busy, or get our cat to enjoy being with other people, the Kitty Tease is our tool.

No one can resist its lure.

When CAT FANCY magazine had their 30th Anniversary they held a contest where their readers could vote for the best cat products, by category. Though no single product was the sole winner in any one category, when the balloting was over only 2 cat toys made it to “First Place” and there was the Kitty Tease, voted “Best Cat Toy In The Last 30 Years.” Kitty Tease Website

Here’s a whole gallery of pictures showing what cats do with a Kitty Tease. Mine have done every one of them.

If you don’t have a Kitty Tease, you need one. See this website for purchase.

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Why are cats helpless before yarn, string, tinsel, and electrical wires?

We need to understand their natural habitat to unravel this mystery.

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Cats have a vision system that is keyed to motion. Nothing is better designed to catch a kitty’s eye that something that twists and turns and offers motion all along its length. Making a string shiny simply multiplies the interest embedded along its length.

Then, there’s snakes. Most of us are fortunate enough to not have snakes appear in our dwelling, and so our cat’s interest remains inexplicable. But for cats in the wild, this would have been a constant worry; well worth being alert to. Strongly Alpha cats, those with an Oriental influence, and thus, more likely to encounter snakes in their more tropical climates; these are cats who can’t leave certain long and twisty shapes alone.

That’s because they are driven by their instincts to either kill or discourage snakes from hunting in their territory. Snakes would eat up the available prey. Snakes would endanger the cat who hunts such prey.

So if we have a cat who won’t get out from behind the stereo or computer equipment, this is a cat who is begging to have a snake substitute made available to them.

Of course, if our cat is happy with a length of yarn, especially with a toddler attached, more power to them. But some cats just adore the chance to wrestle with rubber reptiles of whatever genus, and we should indulge them.

Just another service we offer.

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