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#11
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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