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Help with Lattice Balls?



 
 
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  #11  
Old October 27th 05, 04:48 PM
Rhino
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Default Help with Lattice Balls?


"Magic Mood Jeep©" wrote in message
...
Brandy Alexandre wrote:
Magic Mood Jeep© wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav:

They in the puffball faze now. And milk rings and Twisties.....


Ah! The milk rings. There's a curl of plastic sold as a cat toy, but
who in their right mind would actually BUY something that comes free
with every gallon of milk?


raises hand sheepishly

We recently moved an ancient steemer trunk out of a corner of the kitchen
(our house is 80 years old, and the kitchen is 14' x 20' - huge compared

to
most now). Underneath it were about 2 dozen milk rings, milk jug caps and

a
few of the toys I spent my DH's hard-earned money on

My mother's cats like to play with those small, soft, spongy balls that you
can get, sometimes patterned to look like small soccer balls. One day, she
found a substantial cache of them in a very unexpected place. They were
shoved under an old cabinet she uses to store her laundry supplies. The
cabinet has a skirt around its legs and there is one small gap in the skirt.
The balls had been shoved into the gap. The thing that I can't figure out is
why the cats put them there. At first I thought they were building a secret
cache of toys that they could use at their leisure or something like that
but I don't think that's it: there's no way they can get the toys back out
of the spot where they hid them. It was more as if they were getting rid of
them permanently - flushing them down the toilet, so to speak - than saving
them for a rainy day. But I can't imagine why they'd want to discard them;
they *beg* Mom to throw these balls and seem to love chasing them.

Actually, that's not quite right. Tiger begs mom to throw them and, when she
does, he goes racing after the ball. As soon as he's got it, he puts it in
his mouth and trots downstairs with it. If I follow him down to watch, he
stands a good distance a way and sets the ball down on the ground and
crouches over it protectively. If I come closer, he picks it up again and
moves somewhere else. If I leave, he somehow summons the other cat, his
brother Sam. Then *Sam* starts howling as if to tell mom that he has found
something important. Mom goes downstairs, strokes him, and tells him that
he's done a great job in finding the ball. In a nutshell, Tiger "hides" the
ball, tells Sam where it is, and then Sam gets the credit for "finding" it
again.

I really don't know why they do what they do but it is endlessly fascinating
to speculate on that. I'm assuming there is a rational reason for it but
maybe they're just messing with our minds :-)


Kami don't do puff balls. She hunts her little fur mice, and drowns
them in the toilet.

--
Brandy Alexandre®
http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx
Well, would you?



Rhino


  #12  
Old October 28th 05, 01:43 PM
Lesley
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Default Help with Lattice Balls?



Hodge has a snowman that's probably three years old. It was a seasonal
toy, no longer available. The same company makes similar catnip/fleece
toys that he occasionally will look at, but, noooooo, the tattered,
greenish, dirty, licked-unto-death snowman is the one that is almost
always trotted out for playtime. I've been tempted to toss it for health
reasons, but I think it would break his heart, and he'd feel lost
without it.



Sarrasine has her Santa which is about a year old. Other toys come and
go and she plays with them for a few days but then she goes back and
digs out her old Santa! The head is staring to come off and I'm afraid
she might pine when it does

Lesley


Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

  #13  
Old October 28th 05, 05:04 PM
cybercat
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Default Help with Lattice Balls?


"Lesley" wrote in message
ups.com...

Sarrasine has her Santa which is about a year old. Other toys come and
go and she plays with them for a few days but then she goes back and
digs out her old Santa! The head is staring to come off and I'm afraid
she might pine when it does


Well, if she is anything like my kitty, she will not even notice.
My first visit to "rubbersnakesrus.com" came about because the
head of her favorite was hanging by a hinge. Two odd Fedex
packages later we had a headless rubber snake that she still
worked over regularly and about 15 she would not touch.


  #14  
Old October 28th 05, 09:03 PM
Rhino
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Default Help with Lattice Balls?


"Rhino" wrote in message
.. .
One of my two cats, Bebop, loves to play with lattice balls. (See

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...20846?v=glance)
if you're not sure what a "lattice ball" is.)

I have two related problems:

1. Bebop only likes lattice balls that contain a plastic "pea" (or

whatever
you call the little ball that is inside the lattice ball). Unfortunately,

I
am having a heck of a time finding lattice balls with plastic peas now;

the
manufacturers all seem to have switched over to metal peas. For some

reason,
Bebop is utterly indifferent to balls with metal peas and will only get
enthusiastic if the ball contains a plastic pea.

2. The lattice balls, regardless of whether they contain plastic or metal
peas, are very fragile. They only have to bounce on the tile floor a

couple
of times and bits of the lattice break off; soon the pea falls out
altogether and the toy is useless. Or maybe Bebop is breaking the

framework
of the lattice to some extent: he carries the ball around in his mouth
sometimes to put it in a more suitable position for playing.

So, I would like to know if anyone is aware of any company that makes or
sells a more durable lattice ball, perhaps one made with a harder plastic

or
even some other material (fiberglass or something that resembles plastic

but
is stronger?) but that sounds the same as a regular lattice ball

containing
a plastic pea? Or, failing that, if anyone knows of someone who sells
lattice balls with plastic peas for a price like $2 per four pack?

Alternatively, does anyone know of any way to *make* a good solid lattice
ball that contains a plastic pea and is going to last more than a day or
two?

Last weekend, I finally found some lattice balls with plastic peas but

they
were part of a bird toy which included a small mirror, a peek-a-boo toy,

and
a string of 4 lattice balls; that cost me $7 (Canadian) plus tax and three
of the lattice balls are already damaged or broken useless already. I do

not
want to spend $10 or $15 dollars a week on lattice balls so I'm hoping
someone can give me a useful suggestion.

Bebop likes to play but he is very picky about what he'll play with. I've
got two large drawers full of cat toys and he won't even look at most of
them. The lattice balls are one of the few toys he has remained

enthusiastic
about for a long time. He gets depressed if I don't play with him but I

find
it hard to play with him because he just ignores most toys.

Rhino

I'm replying to my own post, just in case someone else has the same problem
with their own cat.

I made my annual visit to Walmart today - they always seem to have much
better prices for Halloween candy - and, while I was there, it occured to me
that they might have some of the lattice balls with the plastic peas in
them. They didn't have the regular lattice balls but they did have something
that looked like Bebop *might* play with it: some small plastic, semi-open
balls with plastic peas inside. They are made by Hartz and the package is
labelled "Midnight Crazies". I took a chance and bought one package of them.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bebop likes them just fine! I was
also delighted to see that they are much less brittle than the lattice
balls; the plastic has some "give" to it so they will bounce on a tile floor
or tolerate being picked up in Bebop's mouth without pieces breaking off.

In short, they are exactly what I was looking for: a more durable ball with
a plastic pea inside.

Problem solved!

Rhino


  #15  
Old October 28th 05, 10:58 PM
cybercat
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Posts: n/a
Default Help with Lattice Balls?


"Rhino" wrote

I made my annual visit to Walmart today - they always seem to have much
better prices for Halloween candy - and, while I was there, it occured to

me
that they might have some of the lattice balls with the plastic peas in
them. They didn't have the regular lattice balls but they did have

something
that looked like Bebop *might* play with it: some small plastic, semi-open
balls with plastic peas inside. They are made by Hartz and the package is
labelled "Midnight Crazies". I took a chance and bought one package of

them.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bebop likes them just fine! I was
also delighted to see that they are much less brittle than the lattice
balls; the plastic has some "give" to it so they will bounce on a tile

floor
or tolerate being picked up in Bebop's mouth without pieces breaking off.

In short, they are exactly what I was looking for: a more durable ball

with
a plastic pea inside.

Problem solved!


Yay for Bebop! And now you don't have to set up a lattice ball shop.
:0)


 




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