Pet owners spend money on their pets. It's a given, it's our nature. We think that because children need toys for stimulation, our pets do too. So, we spend quite possibly millions on toys for pets that are quite capable of entertaining themselves with items all ready to be found in their environment. It's a matter of convincing the pet, a cat named Bashful in this case, to play with the ball, not the potted plant. Balls are not that expensive, they come in all varieties. Hard plastic frames with jingle bells. Hard plastic with nothing inside, rubber, sponge, whatever. I believe that I have at least 2 of every type imaginable. So, why does she play with pens, pencils, bottle caps or anything else you drop on the floor?

Then of course since cats like to chase mice, you help yourself to the numerous types of mice you find on the market. Little ones made of rabbit fur, larger ones from fleece. Stuffed with kapok, straw or catnip. There's even a mouse that vibrates and spins in a circle. So, why is she up on the bathroom vanity trying to play with the powder puff? No matter what toy you believe you just have to have, they always play with it for 5 minutes and go back to their own choices, which just might be the potted plant.

Hubby went shopping one Christmas time. I've no idea what he intended to buy, with men who can tell? What he came home with was a 2 story Kitty Condo. Apparently the advertisement said they must have one. Who was he to argue? So, Bashful got a Kitty Condo for Christmas. She was NOT impressed. She was a lot more interested in the crocheted Christmas ornament hanging from the lower branches. I learned relatively early not to hang breakable ornaments from the bottom branches. It was a compromise, if I let her play with the reachable ornaments she did not try to climb the tree for the more interesting stuff. It worked very well for both of us. She was stimulated, and I was not stimulated by the sound of a tipped over tree crashing to the floor.



She totally ignored the Kitty Condo for days. Just walked around it without a second glance. Watching Hubby go from excited Poppa, as in look what I bought for you, to rejected suitor was actually downright hilarious. He tried to hide it but he was very disappointed with her attitude of being underwhelmed. So, like all good wives who wish to bolster their darling Hubby's ego, I taught the underwhelmed cat what her Kitty Condo was for.



I started by playing catch with her, by rolling the ball to her and letting her chase it. Then after a few tosses, I tossed it inside the bottom floor of the condo. She just reached in and took it out. Still underwhelmed. Finally I hit upon the idea of tossing it into the second floor of the condo and watching it disappear and reappearing right in front of the opening where she could catch the ball. Eureka it worked. She went inside and up to the second floor and out the second floor door.



I will admit that the interest in the Kitty Condo did last longer than the usual 5 minutes, but not much. She played with it for the better part of a month. Which of course Hubby got to see, and to pat himself on the back for a job well done over it. Then it tipped over with her inside. Scared her into hiding in her usual hiding place under the bed and never to play with the Kitty Condo again. Hubby added a piece of plywood to the bottom for stabilization, I tried to use the ball to get her inside again to no avail. So, the rather expensive Kitty Condo ended it's life in the same place all the rest of her toys do. In the trash. I haven't purchased a toy for her in years. I just give her the pens, or their caps, the pencils, the bottle caps and the plastic rings off the top of the gallon milk jugs with the screw on tops. Hey, it keeps her out of the potted plants.