Last month, we got a new cat. She’s six months old, and she was born at my sister-in-law’s house. We took her in mostly because we had mice this past summer, and Jennifer pointed out that this was our first summer in quite some time that we didn’t own a cat. So…I guess we gotta have a cat.
Like most kittens, she likes to play. So I went to the pet store to buy a couple of those toys-on-a-stick. Jennifer said to make sure I got one without feathers, but it turns out they’ve all got feathers on them. And they’re expensive: the cheapest one at this particular store was over $11.
So, instead, I purchased two cat toys that were not on strings.
These guys were just over $4 each. After tax, I spend right around $9 for the two of them.
As an aside, notice the small print:
That’s right: “it is recommended that pets be supervised when playing with toys.” Yeah, that’s no gonna happen. Also, notice these were made in Portland, Oregon? I was just in Portland! I should have picked them up there; they probably would’ve been cheaper.
Then I walked over to the hardware store, and purchased two long dowels (for 88 cents):
and a short segment of Tygon tubing (for 29 cents):
…which I then took home and cut into two two-inch segments:
Then I grabbed my roll of fishing line:
And tied a length of the line to each of the Tygon segments:
Then I grabbed the cat toys and noticed they each had tags on them.
Since tags are evil, I removed them using that tool from Home Ec class:
Then I attached the other ends of the fishing line to the toys. For the octopus-looking thing, I tied the fishing line in a knot around its body. For the mouse-looking thing, I threaded the line through its body.
Then I slid the Tygon segments over the two dowels, respectively. The ends of the dowels had daubs of super glue to help keep the Tygon in place.
Cat toys are done! Two for $11! And no feathers!
Juvenile human plays with juvenile feline to much success:
