Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The Most Expensive Cat-toy

Though Undercover Mouse is popular with some of my beasts, there are other toys with which they like to play. And with respect to Noah, there are some things with which he likes to play that aren’t even toys. Take, for instance, a balled up paper receipt.


This is him grappling with it initially. Sometimes, I will throw it; other times, I will simply toss it to him. Noah being Noah, he will not infrequently simply try to steal it.

He carries it from room to room, when he isn’t knocking it from room to room. He may start out in the sitting room, where it inevitably slips under the couch, and I usually have to pull it out for him. Periodically, he wrestles it on his own.


Then, it’s out to the kitchen, where, no surprise, the ball get stuck under more furniture. But the boy’s energy is such that he can usually work it out into the open again. The linoleum on this floor is better suited for that than a rug that interferes in the sitting room.


And it’s always fun to use the hammock as a springboard for attack. It also moves more easily than a couch or micro-wave oven stand, so it can end up travelling all over the house.


But really, what’s the fun of catching your prey when the delight is in the chase? So, if the ball goes up on top, Noah will go down below.


Now, one would think that a crushed wad of paper is a fairly cheap toy. Intrinsically, I imagine, it costs about a penny to make and print. I actually got it for free. But what it cost to get it was more than $75 in cat-food. So that makes this ball of paper probably the most expensive cat-toy in the household. And the boy will simply tear it up and throw it away later. Not to worry, though, more cat-food will need to be purchased, and more receipts accepted. The fun will continue.

12 comments:

  1. It is amazing we buy them all kinds of fancy things and they prefer feathers and strings and paper balls. I know when Gracie was alive she loved to play with tin foil balls.

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  2. Daiquiri's new favorite toy is the top off the milk container....makes me wonder why we bother buying cat toys at all :)

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  3. Goooollly as that odd fellow used to say we have one of those here. A slightly different cost basis due to head count but the Bushy Tailed Einstein makes it fly much the same across, down, under, above and around. He is a great mover of what strikes his fancy from room to room.
    Purrs to all

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  4. Had to note that Noah has a grand tail!
    Wonderful fellow

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  5. this post is spot on; of all the "toys" tuna has played with, a piece of cardboard that had fallen on the floor while I was breaking down a box to put in the recycle bin, remains to this day...his favorite ♥♥ while the toy I spent the most money on; remains in the corner of the toy "bed", collecting dust bunnies ♥♥

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    Replies
    1. And yet I keep thinking the next expensive toy will be the one they'll all love..

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  6. Lol! What a cutie he is, so much fun to see, even if only via your blog. I gave Nicki a plastic bottle top the other day and he went bananas with it. Didn't cost me 75 dollars, though! :-)

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  7. The simplest toys are always the best. If a leaf happens to blow in through the door Flynn gets so excited and will play with it until tired out.

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  8. Plenty more receipts coming, Noah. He just so cute! Jessica finds crinkly paper in recycling box and I can hear her pulling them out. From Jessica and Eileen

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  9. So great to have a kitty who is so playful and inventive/resourceful with the wad of paper!

    My homeless cat blog has stories of the abandoned/feral colony I manage.

    Debby in Prescott Valley, Arizona
    http://homelesscatcare.blogspot.com/

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