Hi Everyone:

I've been thinking of purchasing a couple of "Peek-a-Prize Toy Box" for our kids and was wondering if any of you have it? I'd like our girl Ms. Lucy to get some extra indoor exercise.
My reasoning for two of them is because Ms. Lucy wants everything -- if Mr. Yoster is playing with something, she can wake out of a deep sleep and go get whatever it is he's playing with and/or eating....

Our furcats are approximately 11 - 13 years old, and they enjoy playtime when my husband and I are home - but, they "look" sad when we leave them<<-- ha, it's probably ME who gets sad!!

http://cats.about.com/od/playforcats/tp/cat_toys.htm

I appreciate any & all suggestions you might have!

Peace & Love,

Denise

p.s. The lowest price I've seen the "Peek-a-Prize Toy Box" at is at:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

Cats really seem to like the things you can dangle in front of them and let them bat at it with their paws. Also when you are away you can hang them from something so the cats can still play.

But you know, out of all the cool toys I got for Simba 2, the ones he likes the best are the simple ones like the ones that I make for him. A crumpled up piece of paper to swat around, a box with a couple holes cut in it to play in, etc...

I made a paper football toy for him once. He still carries it around and plays with it to this day. I even wrote his name on it for him

Hi Simba's Daddy:

Thanks for your reply.

You know, you're absolutely right !



Our kids have tons of fun with those things, too . I guess when I'm tidying up our place...., the crumpled pieces of paper end up being recycled, as do the boxes...
I will remedy that today---Thank you for reminding me - they really do enjoy the simple things .
Cutting out holes in the boxes is a GREAT IDEA...... I hadn't thought of that before. I'll do that as well.

I love hearing about Simba 2's football that you lovingly made for him. I know it must be wonderful for you to see him carrying it around.....

About a year ago I bought a couple of these toys at Petco:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...1&N=2002+113121

I thought that both our kids would be all over it...... Initially they were curious, but they lost interest right away. (not to mention, the noise that it made was JUST ENOUGH to make me really nuts). I gave one of them to my mom's lil' guy, Scooter . He could care less about it, too.

Our Ms. Lucy loves the " Hartz® AT PLAY™ POM POMS™ Cat Toys" , (I can't get the link to work). They are small little red/white, black/white fuzzy balls, and she has always considered them to be "her babies". She carries them from one place to another and will drop her baby right in front of us, or......when we're putting on our shoes/sneakers, we will feel something soft, and see that she has dropped one in our shoe !

It really is a great feeling to get a special gift from our furries, isn't it??

Peace & Love to you and yours,

Denise

p.s. This brought back a happy memory for me.....
Many years ago (1989 ish), when my beloved girl Ernestine ("Ernie-Bird") and I were together, I was getting ready for work. I chose my blue heels for that day. As I was putting them on, I felt something soft in the toe area...... Out came a tiny (dead) mouse - (yes, I screamed...). My precious sweet girl was looking right up at me as if to say, "I left a present for you because I love you mom! "

Here are a couple videos of Simba playing with some of those simple toys. One with the paper football where he was being clumsy and a couple with a little soft ball covered with catnip.

http://www.youtube.com/user/glnutrition

That "Thing In A Bag" toy looks like alot of fun.
Simba would go nuts over something like that.

Hi Simba's Daddy:

I LOVED the videos - thank you for sharing them!
I know that Simba landed on all fours after falling off of the table, so I felt it was okay to laugh .

Last night, we were all in the living room at around 1AM. Ms. Lucy was a bit restless.... She received lots of chin/ear scratches from dad when he was at the computer.
I then thought of your post, "crumble up some pieces of paper". I did that, and no sooner she was battin' them around like "Big Papi" of the RED SOX .
It didn't take long before Mr. Yoster (who was sleeping) got into the act .

So now, the paper balls will all remain on the floor for when they feel like batting them around together when I'm not home. I'll try to see if we can make a video of this.....usually, when they know the camera is on them, they get camera shy .

BTW, I would be more than happy to send you the "Thing in a Bag" toy for your handsome Simba . Just PM me your address and I'll send it out on Thursday .

Have a peaceful day!

Denise

I'm glad they liked the crumbled up paper idea. Simba bats them around like Gary Sheffield (The "Chef" of the TIGERS - Oh... The Bo Sox are in town this weekend, should be a fun series to watch!)

It's funny, I was cleaning my house today and kept finding crumpled up paper and paper footballs all over the place... under the couch, under the TV, in closets from sliding under the doors, etc...

I have alot of shipping paper crumpled up in one of my closets. Simba goes in there all the time to play and he makes himself a big nest and snoozes in there nestled under all the paper. The $25 cat bed I got for him just sits on the floor... LOL

Spike's favorite toys were those little plush toys that have the velcro on the back and held catnip. Never seen anything like it before. So much like a child was he with those things. Carrying them around in his jaw and putting it where he tended to sleep.

My cats love nothing more than a good box or a bag. Any bit of lint caught in the flotsam and jetsam of pet hair twirling through my house is also a favorite.

When we get particularly interesting ones, it's always "oh, give that to Bean, she'll love it"!

They also have a cat condo-they like it, a window seat-they love it and many stuffed catnip mice and such-they love them too.

That reminds me, I no longer have a dog who has a thing for items that should not be ingested and can now throw them around a little more freely.

My cats would love to play with crumpled paper, Felix would love to tear it apart with his sharp claws and both Yukon and Felix would light up when they found catnip.
If I still had them here is what I would do for them today. I would place a little bit of catnip in a paper lunch bag, tie it up with a long string and hook it up on the ceiling so that it is suspended just over their heads. I would have loved to see them take care of that. I think if the idea works someone could do a series of these with Xmas paper or whatever, give some to other cat lovers.