<p>One of my cats favorite toys is a crumpled up ball of foil…when he hears the box of foil coming out, he runs out like I tied a pork chop to my leg…it is his signal to play.
He plays catch and fetch and when he is done, he hides the ball so none of the other cats can get it…then brings it out when he wants to play again.
Also when my daughter’s friend comes over he brings it out… he loves her.
Super intelligent cat, though shy and dominated by the others</p>
<p>The most bizarre toy one of my cats chose was a knock off Barbie with long purple hair. He carried that doll everywhere - by her hair. In order to get up the stairs with her by the hair, he would stand at the bottom and start swinging her back and forth and then run up the steps, perfectly timing the swinging so she never knocked into the steps. It was a sight to behold. Every morning, when he heard me stir, he would leap on the bed and present me with his doll. Sometimes he attacked her and threw her into the air - she had bite marks all over her - not a pretty sight. Maybe that’s what I get for having a solid black cat named Halloween.</p>
<p>My cat Monty, thus my screen name, is a solid black cat who thinks he’s a dog. We have a Mardi Gras throw of a purple dinosaur, maybe three inches tall, that he carries around in his mouth, making a strange meow, and drops at our feet.</p>
<p>Would pay good money to see the Barbie trick, though. You’ve got to send that in to America’s Funniest Videos.</p>
<p>Montegut - I actually had it on tape, but when my house was burglarized, the crook took my camcorder bag with the tapes in it – lost all my videos. I guess it sounds like the fish that got away. </p>
<p>I think our cats are related BTW.</p>
<p>cartera and montegut, how funny…one of my other cats likes anything with a feather. He took a silly pen with feathers on the top from my daughter and put in somewhere that we couldn’t get it back…she looked all over for it.
At our old house, we constructed an outdoor pen for them …it had a cat door that was in our laundry room. All fenced in with a tree limb for them to climb and claw. We were forced by our insurance company to fence in this area because there was an above ground pool there too…when the fence was installed, it blocked the entry gate for us to get in… he also used to steal photographs and bring them out there !</p>
<p>My remaining cat likes to chew up foam. We always keep a supply of packing foam around. It has to be the firm type, not squishy. Otherwise she will chew up anything foamy - toys, the guitar stand, etc.</p>
<p>My cats LOVE the plastic ring from gallon milk and water jugs. Every few weeks I have to sweep under the refrigerator with a yard stick to retrieve them all!</p>
<p>The only storebought toy you really need for cats is a laser pointer. WalMart sells one for $3.99 in the pet dept complete with two sets of batteries. You can flat wear a kitty out with one of these. They go nuts chasing the little red light.</p>
<p>I tried the foil ball. My kitty just tore off piece to eat. The feral kitty has been “hunting” a pair of balled up socks she found from my laundry. I throw the socks somewhere in the house and the next morning she has brought them to me like a dead squirrel.</p>
<p>I have to agree with BunsenBurner about the “cat-sized dog” comment. While I am also a dog person, and would LOVE to have a dog, one of the main reasons why I’m considering a cat, instead, right now is because no one is available to be with a dog during the day at my house. I also think that leaving a dog in a kennel for the entire day is cruel.</p>
<p>“The feral kitty has been “hunting” a pair of balled up socks she found from my laundry. I throw the socks somewhere in the house and the next morning she has brought them to me like a dead squirrel.”</p>
<p>We used to have a cat with a sock fetish. My mom used to do laundry and when it was dry, she’d throw the clothes on her bed and you had to come get them before they wrinkled. When she did a load of socks, we were always a little slow to retrieve. But our cat loved them. We’d come home from an errand or something and he would have placed individual socks all over the house. I never knew what that was about, but it was amusing.</p>
<p>We are planning to get a kitten soon. I am worried about keeping it inside as that did not work with our last cat. He just made it life’s work to get out of the house, and invariably he would as he was very quick and determined. That was what led to his death. </p>
<p>Our old cat who died last year was nearly 20 years old and would never bolt outside. We figured the younger one would get used to staying in the house if he never got out, but that did not happen. He was obsessed with getting out of the house.</p>
<p>My experience with shelter cats of all ages is they have NO desire to go outside. The older ones particularly appear to remember what “outside” is all about and those memories don’t seem too fond.</p>
<p>We are trying our first experiment with indoor kitties after losing two of our last three cats to the dangers of the wild. So, far it’s been a pleasant surprise. They really haven’t been all that interested in escaping. I left the patio door open a bit one day without thinking and one of the kitties wandered out on the deck. He looked around for about 10 seconds and appeared to be thinking, “now what do I do?” and high-tailed it back inside.</p>
<p>I think they are all different. With indoor kittens, my vet practically demanded that I get a second one. Said one would be bored out of his mind without a playmate to hunt and chase.</p>
<p>I have never been able to get a cat who would stay indoors. My current kitty came from a shelter, and she HATES a closed door of any kind. She likes to hunt for little creatures in the woods behind our house, and brings her prizes to our doorstep. Look, I brought you a decapitated mouse! </p>
<p>The laser pointer is my kitty’s favorite toy. But some cats seem immune to it. The little foil balls work especially well if you anchor a string in the center of them and drag them around.</p>
<p>My previous cats qickly learned that the great outdoors meant facing the huge German shepherd who was always eager to sniff and slober all over their tidy coats. The current cat seems to enjoy the dog’s attacks. Sigh. I’ll have to be very careful not to leave doors open in the summer.</p>
<p>I have had several cats and only one begged to go out. I cured him by tossing him into 2 feet of snow. He was driving me after crazy during the big east coast 2 footer several years ago so finally I just tossed him into the snow - he completely disappeared for a few seconds and then shot straight up into the air like he was shot from a cannon. He landed, disappeared again, shot up and then flung himself towards the back door. He never begged to go out again. I still let him out but he trusted my discretion as to the timing. Looking back, I guess it was a little cruel, but since I had a serious case of cabin fever, he is lucky I did not try a recipe for cat stew.</p>
<p>When I had cats eons ago, at first I let them go outside. They caught ear mites, and one was killed by a car. So I switched to inside only. Now I am thinking that it isn’t fair for a mammal to have to stay inside ALL the time. I sure wouldn’t like it if I never got to go out of my home. I have seen some shows on TV that feature people walking cats on leashes, like dogs. Apparently, if you approach it right, you can train and walk a cat! So if I ever get another cat, I can give her/him some outside time.</p>
<p>I sure don’t appreciate it when other people let their cats run free, and they poop in my yard. Finding those stinky deposits takes a lot of the fun out of gardening.</p>
<p>Cats do play with some odd things…one of our friends has a cat that tore a hole on the material that covers the bottom of the box spring and he takes their little girl’s Barbie dolls and hides them in there</p>
<p>Cats do odd things, too! Like this cat:</p>
<p>[Used</a> couch for $27; cat included](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/403548_couchcat13.html?source=rss]Used”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/403548_couchcat13.html?source=rss)</p>
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<p>^^She looked like my childhood buddy Little Miss Kitty!</p>
<p>[WA</a> cat in couch CNN.com](<a href=“Video News - CNN”>Video News - CNN)</p>