Cats-Showing us they want cheap things

[packman]

[Deuxcents]

1. So true 🐾

[zuul]

2. Same with cat toys. I probably have 50 or 60 store-bought toys for my 4 cats.

They prefer to play with bread twisties and pipe cleaners.

[Random Boomer]

5. And bottle caps n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

12. And rolled up balls of paper

I used to play fetch with my cat with it.

They're actually perfect to play with for them. Round enough to roll a bit, but not too round that they go far. And light and soft and easy to bite and pick up.

[wnylib]

15. Mine likes rolled up pieces of

aluminum foil. As a kitten, she liked batting around little plastic balls. She won't even touch them now. Just wants the crinkled up foil balls.

She also loves pipe cleaners. She likes to play a game of setting them near a door. Then she goes to the other side of the door where she can't see them and tries to find them by touch, sliding her paw under the door. When she locates one, she drags it under the door to be on the same side with her. Sometimes she pushes them back under the door to the other side so she can drag it to her again.

She also jumps up to catch pipe cleaners in her paws when I toss one to her.

I buy her new toys but she prefers the pipe cleaners and crumpled up foil.

She does love her cat tree and tunnels, though. Uses them all the time.

[LiberalLovinLug]

16. She is so clever.

Its funny how as humans we just assume that any other creature will appreciate our human technology in how we can create such a shiny smooth perfectly round plastic ball, or an even fancier pet toy. Like "Look at this incredible human creation that has been perfected over decades of engineering that I have brought home for you to have the privilege to play with!"

And how we will almost get offended, in the name of all humans, if they choose the ball of paper or tin foil instead.

[Skittles]

17. omg

same

also, I was gonna buy some chapstick at the store and I was like, WFT, I am always buying this stuff.......one day I moved the couch and found, like, over a dozen chapsticks

[trof]

19. WOW! That's SOME cat toy selection.

How many cats?

[highplainsdem]

3. True, most of the time. I ended up giving away some nice cat beds bought

for my last furkid, who preferred his old small beds from kittenhood, as well as human furniture and (of course) boxes.

OTOH, he loved the carpeted scratching posts I bought him, which were usually $30 to $40, and he did enough damage to those that I had to replace them every year or so. Though even those didn't completely distract him from my furniture.

He REALLY loved the enormous boxes those assembled scratching posts came in, but they took up so much space I didn't let him play in them very long.

[targetpractice]

4. Here is research about why....

What cats’ love of boxes and squares can tell us about their visual perception

It is a truth universally acknowledged—at least by those of the feline persuasion—that an empty box on the floor must be in want of a cat. Ditto for laundry baskets, suitcases, sinks, and even cat carriers (when not used as transport to the vet). This behavior is generally attributed to the fact that cats feel safer when squeezed into small spaces, but it might also be able to tell us something about feline visual perception. That's the rationale behind a new study in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science with a colorful title: "If I fits I sits: A citizen science investigation into illusory contour susceptibility in domestic cats (Felis silvers catus)."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/05/what-cats-love-of-boxes-and-squares-can-tell-us-about-their-visual-perception/

[Random Boomer]

6. "Fit" is a loose term at best

I've had cats try to get inside a kleenex box.

[targetpractice]

8. One funny thing in the article...

Investigators marked out squares on the floor with white masking tape. The cats would sit in the squares.

[Random Boomer]

20. We used that urge to our advantage

My wife and I had a small card table in the TV room, and every once in awhile one of our cats would jump up and sit in the corner of the table that was right in front of the TV.

After a few annoying incidents, I took a plain sheet of white paper and placed it on the table, in the corner farthest away from the TV. From that point on, any cat jumped up on the table would head for the paper to sit or lie down.

[Fla Dem]

10. Not all cats are alike. My cat has no desire to sleep in a box.

She sleeps either under the bed where I put a small rug for her, in the closet in a cat bed, or in a fairly large cat bed I call her throne, on a chair in the bedroom.

I also recall the many pictures posted online of the poor dog sad because the cat is sleeping in his big bed while her small bed is nearby.

[CaptainTruth]

7. Where did cats sleep before humans made boxes?

Seriously, think about it.

[rebe303]

9. I love cats and dogs

But cats! Wow are they entertaining 😻😻

[Skittles]

18. yes

there is a reason cat videos vastly outnumber dog videos!

[Vinca]

11. LOL - that could be my house.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. When I am kitteh sitting

I have my "cat-pwned" Amazon box at the ready for the fluff ball to sleep in. My sis has brought her cat bed over and she rejected it in favor of the box that I maintained for her that she has "molded perfectly to fit her body", complete with some of her fur and smell still on it, and she snoozes with the best of them in that. Has the perfect height for the sides and length to curl up in.



(I did splurge on a nice scratching post and scratching lounger that she uses though)

[Best_man23]

14. Cat Laws: Law of Cat Economics

This Cat Law states: A Cat's interest in laying on or in an item is inversely proportional to that item's cost.

The only exception to this law is when the item of interest is something hoomans appear to treasure such as a dress, suit coat, or recently made bed.