How to Entertain Your Cats

We've had cats now for many years, and we have learned quite a lot from them, let me tell you! As any cat lover/owner can attest, cats actually own US, not the other way around! THEY'RE in control, and don't even think any other way about it! But that's ok! We like it that way!

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cat or kitten
• Items as noted in text
• Love for your cat or kitten!

1. The fundamental truths:
   
   Cats are wonderful to have around, and they truly do enjoy some of the simplest toys. We have found many of the MOST enjoyable ones are those that are things we would typically throw away, such as the plastic strip peeled from the milk jug cover when first opened, and so many others. Read on!
2. The simple:
   
   The flimsy-whimsy piece of plastic that you pull from the milk-jug lid to open it is always one that our cats have a ball with.
   
   Fact is, we have seen very similar manufactured toys for sale in dept. stores! But why buy them when they're free with the milk?
   The pull-out plastic found on many medicine and other plastic containers (these usually have a pinkie-ring to grab & pull - and you might want to wash this before giving to your cats to remove any traces of the bottle contents).
3. The old stand-bys:
   
   Yarn or string! Of course, yarn! Cats have loved these ever since they were invented, I am sure of it!
   
   Newspaper! For some reason, most of our cats always loved to attack newspaper. They'd spend long periods shredding it into tiny pieces with their teeth and claws. Quite a mess, sometimes, but well worth it to watch them enjoy it so!
   
   Toilet paper balls! Roll up some clean toilet paper into small balls and watch your cats tear them apart! Be prepared to clean up some small pieces of paper, too!
4. "Conservative playfulness" Cat-fishing & danglings:
   
   Shoe laces! Wanna catch a cat-fish? Try walking around the house with long, untied shoe laces. Works every time! Watch out you don't trip over the laces, though!
   
   Belts! Our cats like to hide under a bed and wait for us to dangle a belt from above. They jump out and pounce on it as though it is a snake or something.
5. The inexpensive store-boughts:
   
   Soft rubber balls. Most of our cats loved these; they're the foam-rubber type that they can bite into and carry around if they want to. We love to bounce them on the basement floor and watch the cats try to dribble them around! For real! They actually reach out and smack it to the floor to see it bounce again!
   
   Small, catnip-laced mice. These always seem to keep our cats occupied and pleasantly happy for long periods.
   Hmmmm....."good-stuff", I guess!
6. The high-tech, but not recommended:
   
   Laser pointers! Cats can really get some exercise trying to follow and catch the little red dot from these devices,
   WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM, however! There is a danger of accidentally injuring their sensitive eyes. And, because the cats can never really catch it, they seem to get unduly frustrated and tense for long periods after the playing has ended. They seem to keep looking for that elusive little red dot!
   So, we do not trick our cats this way.
7. Mattie (top) and Minky - innocence "cat"-ified! And, in case your toys mysteriously disappear:
   
   One more note of interest regarding cats and their toys.
   We often wondered why all the little trinkets we give to our cats for toys seemed to disappear. Knowing that we had given them oodles of milk-jug rings and catnip-mice over several months, we began to investigate the whereabouts of them all.
   
   To our surprise, we discovered that the cats had apparently carried them to a couple of particular dresser/bureau pieces of furniture and succeeded in batting them underneath the base section; not visible to us from our level. When we moved the furniture, we found hundreds (literally!) of these miscellaneous toys underneath!
   
   Who, me?

Tips & Warnings

• Love your cats
• Do not let your cats play with items they may swallow or choke on.