Ping!

[RubbishMantra]

Little M has a new, beloved toy. One of those giant elastic bands, that you get bound around a lot of post. He has a plethora of toys, sourced from far and wide.

He brings it to me, I ping it, then he tosses it about for a bit before bringing it back for me to ping. I've woken up for the last week with it in the bed.

He doesn't chew it, so I have no fears about him ingesting it. He's just become incredibly attached to it. Then he pretends he can't find it, making mournful "Oooo" noises until I fetch it. Even though he knows exactly where his "Ping" is.

Anyone else have a cat with favourite toys, that aren't actual toys?

Yes, the plastic 'balls' that you use for liquid in the washing machine. They are soft, roll and you can pick them up in your mouth.

Or any scrap of paper, wrapper that might possibly be unattended.

Feathers and beer can widgets

Yep, the plastic probe covers that we use on themometers at work. Maia loves them!

Not so much a toy as such but Harry has a favourite small carrier bag from Jessops. It's ancient now but he sits with his front paws on it.

Baubles from the Christmas tree. They have to be detached with much rustling and batted round the floor until irrevocably lost under the furniture

Toilet rolls.

The kittens hang from the holder and shred the paper everywhere. Then play in the ripped up bits.

Adult boy cat loves to chase an empty toilet roll tube around. Hours of fun.

Fridge magnets! DCat likes to stretch up and then slide the magnets down the fridge door with his front paws. When they get to the bottom he pushes them under the fridge - when there are none left he waits patiently for me to fish them all out and put them back...

My parents boy loves the wrappers from 'pukka night time tea' not sure what's in it that he likes but they are like catnip to him. Think I'll open a teabag next time I see him and see if he gets stoned on it. (He doesn't react to cat nip). Here he is guarding the wrapper!

A soft ball that he guards with his life like it's his precious kitten. It's hilarious!

It's probably got Valerian in it, Toddler. Cats are drawn to it.

I bought mine a toy valerian stuffed prawn once, and it came in a sealed bag. Good gravy the stench when I opened it. Imagine if someone hadn't taken a bath for about 10 years, and then decided to roll about in rotten sewage. That's how it smelt.

Possibly, it's not catnip as he just flops down in a glassy eyed stupor when I put that down.

Sometimes he hides it in the garden for weeks and then if we're really lucky he'll bring it in and drop it on our bed first thing in the morning and we have to pretend to be very honoured

I bought one as a spare and it was wrapped in plastic from the shop, I left it on the table and went out for a bit. When I got back he'd discovered it,clawed it open and was proudly batting it round the kitchen

GinCat likes to play with the grout lines in between the bathroom tiles. I forever see him diving for a line, and then once he's 'killed' that one, he'll dive for another one further in.

I keep my feet firmly in slippers when I'm sat on the loo now.

Ernie adores the plastic pulls from DS's soya milk Tetra Paks..its like a disc of plastic with a ring.

He bats them around the kitchen and picks them up in his mouth and tosses them. He isn't bright enough to play fetch

I wonder haw many of us cat lovers have old paper bags, scrunched up receipts, random bits of plastic etc. etc. that we simply can't get rid of because the cat's grown attached?

Sticks, that's another thing Little M brings in. Only small ones, but usually muddy. He's got an extra toe joint on his front paws, (not unusual for the breed), and his paws really are like little floofy hands. He can toss things between his hands, so he appears to be juggling.

One of ours loves mint Viscount wrappers, because they're light and throwable and minty fresh. We sometimes have to force ourselves to buy a packet and eat them just so we can crumple the wrappers into a ball for her.

Boxes are her other great love.

She's also fond of sitting on things. A piece of paper on the table, a folded up pair of jeans on the bed, something-or-other left on the floor - if there's an option to sit on a thing-on-a-surface rather than just a surface, she's on it.

My parents' cat used to play fetch with the rings from milk bottles. She used to store them under the fridge till she fancied a game.

Little Goof is very fond of hula hoop snacks. But only if DP throws them. He comes running if he hears the rustle of the packet. DP throws him a few which he bats around, then eats. When the packet is empty DP squishes it into a ball shape and Goofer rattles around with it for ages. Occasionally he'll bring it to DP for a game of fetch too.

And where do they hide stuff? Mine have got through about 25 of those squeaky mice you can get for under a pound from the local pet shop. Go mental for playing fetch with them for a couple of days, then they vanish.

Perhaps they've found a loose floor board to stash them under?

Rubbish, I need to see pictures of little M's little hands. They sound adorable. Pleeeeeeeeeeeese!

Oh yes, I want a picture too. I 'awwww'ed out loud at the floofy hands description!

Ribbon.
Which includes anything vaguely ribbon shaped such as shoelaces, phone chargers, necklaces...

Hair bobbles, Primark bags (the big brown paper ones) and a stuffed heart shaped lavender bag that came with a posh coat hanger (and doesn't smell of lavender any more). That gets killed regularly.

Dear old Landing Cat used to play fetch with rolled up biscuit wrappers, foil bows on Christmas presents, anything light enough to chuck in the air. He would catch it mid air then bring it back and drop it at your feet for another go. Completely ignored shop bought cat toys, though.

Socks. Only mine (sensible cat, you should smell DH's)
and lids, especially on non carpeted floors so they make a noise as she chases them around!

Drinking straws even the oldest of out trio that won't play with anything goes mad over straws

When we lived at our old house ours kept bringing home these rubbery strips. I would hear him making a god awful meow so would go looking for him only to find him meowing with this thing in his mouth....
I had no idea what it was. It was black and white and felt squishy. So I would take it off him and put it in the bin.
He would take himself back off outside and half hour later come back with another piece of the same stuff. This went on for about a week, everyday taking this stuff off him and putting it in the bin!
Each day say type of material but a different length each time

DH who had been working away finally saw the cat with a piece of this stuff and he couldn't stop laughing...,l when I asked him what it was... it was basically bathroom silicone

Bloody cat was venturing out and helping himself to someone's stripped out silicone! He would sit with long (about 40cm) Strips in his mouth and meow while in his mouth... then stand on one end and let it ping back in his face!

Now he loves elastic bands and those little wire strips that you twist together to seal sandwich bags! If he drops one on slippery tiles you can actually see his pupils dilate and his tail fluff up in excitement! Nutter!!!