PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!  Rubber bands, string, ribbon, etc. are *very
dangerous* for cats.  They should be carefully stored away where your cat
cannot reach them.  All of these objects have been known to bind around the
intestines, sometimes causing serious injury (requiring surgery to repair)
or even death.  As to the pop off lids -- only use them if they are large
enough not to be swallowed.

MaryL

Bubba has developed a thing for shoelaces lately.

The other day he grabbed one and started trying to run
with it in his mouth and absolutely panicked when he
noticed the shoe following him. It took him a second
or two to figure out that he had to let go of the shoelace
to make it quit following him.

I almost split myself laughing at him...

He likes the homegrown nip too. I have some little
fuzzy things that I leave in the catnip bag and
give to him. I have to give it sparingly though,
he gets a bit psycho when he's on the 'nip. He'll
be purring away while I'm petting him and all of
a sudden he'll grab me with his front paws, bunny
kick with the back ones and start biting me even
while he's still purring full blast.

He never plays that act unless he's had catnip...

I have 3 cat nip plants I got at wall mart. Catnip is easy to grow and
its hard to kill off. My 7 cats all love to get the fresh stuff. They
also love bubbles, foil balls. and red dot lasers

Check out pictures of my cats on my website http://www.catnews.org

Russell :)

I had to laugh out loud at this.  One of my cats, Onyx, also has a
fetish for Office Supplies.  Except with him it's paper clips.  

I first started finding them in the bottom of his food dish when it
was empty.  I would take them and put them in a drawer, but he must
have his own private stash -- because he would always find more, and
they would always be in the food dish when it's empty.  Now he's come
out of the closet and plays with them everywhere in the house.  I
started buying jumbo paper clips for him and you'd think I gave him
the most expensive cat toy made.  He stalks them, attacks them, tosses
them up in the air, carries them around the house and hides them
everywhere!

I'd love for 5 minutes just to be able to read his mind!

Oh yeah, and his second favorite toy is Q-Tips!

My other cat, Yoda, is an Altoid freak and acts like they're catnip.
He goes crazy when he hears the Altoid tin open.  But that's another
story ...
---
Zob

Our boys are inexpensive shelter rescues, but they aren't cheap. They were
supposed to be small kitties, but Xerces wasn't fully grown like they said
he was and he ended up about 19" high. When Katsky was a small kitten they
told us he would be an "adorable small cat" appropriate for a large condo.
He is now a medium-large Blue with razor sharp claws that mysteriously grow
and sharpen within hours of being trimmed. Every animal can do at least one
trick. Katsky's trick is to eat breakfast while he shakes his head from
side to side, scattering his food on the floor. He then "stalks" and
pounces on the most remote morsels until he has "caught" his entire
breakfast. Guests are not too impressed (except for the grandkids who think
his manners are just fine).

We stopped bringing home cat toys from the pet shop because they would just
look at the toys, look at each other, then look up at us and seem to say
"What are we supposed to do with THIS?".

Xerces was a street level rat/bird catcher before he joined us, and he
promptly decided that he better mark our Ethan Allen upholstery with his
claws just in case any of his old pals came calling. Katsky never picked up
this trait, preferring just to slash his toys (which includes our shoes,
pillows and the occasional blanket) with his razor sharp and lightning fast
paws.

We sort of solved the very expensive furniture shredding habit by acquiring
a well debarked and cleaned log with three medium branches, making a stand
for it and mounting it near a window where it overlooks the formerly
beautiful living room furniture and has a panoramic view of the city below.
So far he has not gotten tired of scratching his "initials" on the log. As
a bonus, we put a few decorations on it this December and didn't have to
buy a Christmas tree. Either we solved the damage problem or he is just
tired of the pattern on the furniture and is waiting for us to do a
complete reupholster...

We also installed a couple of pieces of rope and always bring home a
cardboard box from the market. Katsky rarely tires of playing with the rope
and Xerces lives for tearing the boxes apart with his large teeth and claws.

Cheap toys for inexpensive but costly kitties.