Eddie's Blog
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Green cat toys for a good time
Hello, cats for the environment!
I'm Cleo, aka Eddie's BKF, and I'm going to be writing here from time to time about feline issues. Me and my smaller-pawed, less slobbery friends noticed not too long ago that despite his best intentions, Eddie occasionally forgets to mention the cat side of things. So he's asked me to step in as his Cat Editor in Chief. (Thanks, Edmund!)
So let me answer one of the first kitty questions to come up this week: cat toys.
It took tons of research--mostly playing, and rolling around in catnip--but I hope you find my hard work answers your questions.
BAD STUFF:
- Plastic, especially painted plastic: Plastic has all sorts of chemicals in it, and it can have some really nasty ones, like lead, in its paint, so avoid plastic toys that are meant to end up in your mouth!
- Little bits and pieces: Keep away from string, ribbon, rubber bands, that thing that peels off of milk jug lids, and anything small enough to be swallowed.
- Ingestible fillings: Nutshells and polystyrene beads are the usual offenders.
- Catnip sprays: They aren't usually catnippy enough to really get us going, and they don't always list ingredients. I like Eddie's advice to stay away from stuff we can't identify.
- Plastic bags: Hope I don't have to explain this one, but for you kittens out there, a plastic bag is just about the last thing you want to get stuck in.
GOOD STUFF:
- Lightweight balls that can't be eaten: Ping-pong, sisal, wool, and natural rubber balls with bells inside (as long as the bell isn't going to get out). These are especially fun in a dry bathtub--little ball, you are mine, you cannot escape!--but not all balls are appropriate for doggy households. You know how they are. Whatever you've got, they want, and they're always chewing and jumping ... see, I'm flicking my tail just thinking about it. [Eddie: I can't help but get excited!]
- Paper bags, paper towel rolls: Fun for rolling around, pouncing on, hiding in, and tearing apart. Humans should remove handles from bags first, and make sure we're not actually eating the paper. (I know this from experience. The first step is admitting you have a problem.)
- Catnip-stuffed toys: These are fine as long your humans remove any strings, ribbons, buttons, eyes, or anything else that may come off and get stuck in your throat.
- Catnip, plain: Sprinkled on a towel, the floor, your scratching pad, your ... keyboard? (No relation to the musical cat in the video.) Doesn't matter where you put it, good times shall be had. But beware the newbie: some cats can get over-stimulated and even aggressive. Stick to organically grown catnip when you can--some of us really enjoy eating the stuff, and we don't need the added pesticide exposure. Extra green pet points for growing it at home.
- Paper: Crumple, toss, repeat. How's that for recycling? Silly humans and your environmental problems.
- Cardboard boxes: What's in the box can be much more dangerous than the box itself, so humans, please remove packing peanuts or your new set of knives before letting a feline go wild on it. We especially like boxes that are a little too small for us.
- Stuffed toys: These are okay if humans remove string, ribbon, eyes, buttons, and other swallowable bits. And stuffed toys are the ultimate DIY earth-friendly recycled project: crumple some paper, stuff it into a sock, sprinkle a little catnip inside, et voila!
HUMAN-CAT-PLAY STUFF:
Humans, if you want to play fetch you're meowing up the wrong tree. (Well, some cats fetch. But they're really more like dog-cats.) Here's some other ways to spend cat-approved quality time:
Hide and seek with a toy: It's not the toy, it's how you get it.
Hide and seek with a human: It's not your human, it's how you pounce on it.
Cat yoga: Not exactly my style, but some groovy felines dig it.
Flashlight: Make sure they're rechargeable batteries, of course, but a good rousing game of I Must Kill That Spot on the Floor can be a blast for cat and human alike. And YouTube viewers.
The Cat Dancer: More fun than you'd think, considering it's just some cardboard at the end of a wire. (I smell DIY!) But humans, be sure you're around when this is used--wire isn't the safest cat toy out there.
Da Bird: This one looks like a bird when it zips through the air, so extra points for fun, but because it's made of feathers, it's for human-cat interaction only.
If you've read this far and you're not playing yet, you should probably get going. But if you have any kitty-related questions, leave me some comments below. I'll answer what I can and it might help me think up a topic for my next post!
My cat LOVES the cat dancer. It is the only toy she really plays with. Somedays I'll come home and she runs right to it. We have had to replace it a few times, at a cost of $4 to $10 per. It is also very portable!
My cats love a stick with a string attached. Especially if I fling it agaist some piece of furniture.
Cheryl, just be careful that they can't eat or swallow the string. I've heard stories about cats getting tangled, too, so you should probably be around in case of emergency. (We cats are intelligent but sometimes we get so caught up in the chase we don't know when to stop!)
You forgot the get the feet under the blanket game.... all 8 of us love playing that game with our humans at 4am on Saturdays!
Please make sure that your catnip is organic and preferably locally-grown. When catnip toys come in from China (and other place), the shipping containers are sprayed with pesticides before they are opened. The initial stages of poisoning can look like the stages of extreme catnip: drooling, flailing around, and wild eyes.
What's your opinion on "Kong" for cats...
anyone know a good non-toxic way to get rid of fleas?
Geri, it looks like Kong makes cat toys but they're not Kongs like the big bubbly rubber toys they make for dogs. It looks like they make stuffed toys and feathered things for cats, so all my rules above apply. If you give a cat a dog Kong, I don't see any problem with that--it's just that us cats aren't really into chewing, unlike dogs.
Katy, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has some good, old-fashioned tips, like: wash your pet beds with hot water and soap; vacuum your floor, upholstery, and drapes thoroughly and often; comb your pets with a narrow-tooth comb to remove fleas; spray your pet daily with a 50/50 solution of water and white vinegar; feed your pet garlic; and rub your pet's coat with fennel, rue, and rosemary. Sounds delicious!
Garlic is generally considered not a good thing for cats, because it could cause Heinz body anemia (same w/onions). So don't use that for flea prevention.
Another thing you could use, though, would be diatomaceous earth.
Angela, I'd actually avoid diatomaceous earth. It looks harmless enough when it's not under a microscope, but it's basically shards of minerals that can act like asbestos in your lungs. (That is, you inhale it, and then the mineral becomes lodged in your lungs, causing asbestosis and mesothelioma.)
That's a real problem, considering it's a powder, can be inhaled, and us pets live close to the ground where the diatomaceous earth could be stirred up and breathed in. It's risky.
But you're right about garlic and onions when fed to cats (they can cause anemia), so thanks for the catch! Onions are actually worse than garlic that way.
Cleo - what about litter boxes? My human has tried lots of different types and, between my two feline siblings and I, has not yet found one solution that all three of us like. Are there any automatic-type litter boxes that are overall good investments? My brother Tobey likes the Scoop Free one, but it's not easy to dispose of the thingies.
Elysse, I have never used an automatic litter box. They seem like a waste of electricity to me, plus it sounds a little scary!
As for litter types, consider using unscented wheat, corn, old newspaper, or wood pellets, but avoid pine and cedar pellets as cats can develop an allergy. The clay (or silica) stuff is strip mined and besides being bad for the environment, it's really dusty and is hard on a cat's lungs.
I did not know that cats can develop alergies to pine. I switched to Feline Pine cat litter and love how it absorbs urine and reduces it to compost. Plus I never smell amonia from the box anymore. How common is it that a cat develops alergies to pine? I had thought about trying the litter made from recycled newspaper but wasn't sure how it would do on odor. I guess I think of wet soggy newpapers and it being hard to clean our the litter box. Does anyone out there use it and can tell me how well it does or does not it work?
As for the diatomaceous earth, I tried that on my dog and it didn't help much at all. Plus it is very fine and is easy to breath in as your applying it (for both of us). It would probably be OK to use on bedding and such as the container says to rub it in. Just be sure to be careful of yourself breathing this in as you're doing it.
Diane, I'm working on a kitty litter post right now, but the short answer is: pine isn't the best thing for the litter box. I'd try the recycled paper option. More soon!
I'd never heard that about pine cat litter--we've been using it with our two cats for about one year problem free. Waiting for the update!
Are the really soft, bright-colored rubber tennis balls dangerous? My cat loves them, but does tend to tear them into pieces. Are cats able to digest the small pieces if they inadvertently swallow them?
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