My cats like the toys they can "hug", too. I've caught Panda sleeping with one of these toys (see link below) wrapped in her arms and her little chin resting on the side of it. It's so cute.....and she seems to like having something close to her when she sleeps. If it's not one of these toys....then it's me! ;)

http://www.petco.com/product/110291/...pplies_CatToys

Yes, we have a white/black zebra one like that.

The cats really like the socks better, for some reason? :confused:

I use the sock buddies mostly for sleeping places.
If we put the zebra one on the main cat tree, Houdini throws it off. He also throws off Big Beaver (the puppet we use to wrestle with). He definitely wants total possession of that climbing tree!

While I was on Amazon this morning... I found THIS:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

When we give catnip they spill it all over roll in it and make a huge mess. This nice scratcher thingey looks like it would work
for the catnip spot, and also the cats on Amazon seem to like it in the comments for other activities. So I am going to get this today,
and defer the other tube toy (which we don't "really" need at this time). Soon will be Houdini's outdoor introduction, not long now right after we have his neuter operation. (maybe in 2 weeks). He gets his CORE 3 rd vaccine shot Fri and I will make the operation appointment for him then after I talk to the Vet.
Once he goes outside, I don't think indoor toys are going to matter much to him anymore!

I need some other things from Amazon so we will qualify for free shipping.;)

playtime teaching!
 

I got sammy from someone who did not engage him in any activity. He is going on three years old, and had no play time. we found he loves catnip! The fresh where it is grown is the best. We put it inside a ball, and he bats it all around the house trying to get at the catnip. An old sock works too. Put the sock at the end of a stink and stick, and you may have a jumping kitty! This started the idea of play. After this, I dumped my clean wash on top of him, and played "where's sammy?" eventually he got it, that this was fun to do. Now we play that while I make the bed, fold wash, open boxes, or christmans wrapping piled on top of him For Christmas we had a cat wrapped up with bows and ribbons dragging behind. He still needs active encouragement to play by himself, but at least now, he engages with us on a regular basis. good luck with your new kitty, and I hope you have lots of fun in the future. Home depot carries cat nip, as do growers. I sprouted my own this winter in the garage with seeds. Not hard to do! ginnie

My cat has that exact toy, and LOVES it. he wraps around it and kicks it to shreds. Then he snorts and drools on it.

The Rabbit Game.
 

I had a cat "PURRFECT" that liked to play games WITH ME!

It liked to "go outside" to go. It did not like the "cat box". So it would act very frustrated and play very roughly with its toys when it wanted out.

One time it tossed a toy rabbit way up in the air and I immediately leaped out my chair and ran to the door and let Purrfect out.

The next day I put the toy rabbit in the same place and sure enough "Purrfect" tossed it way up in the air and then he immediately looked at me and I again leaped out of my chair and ran to let him out.

The game part comes when I put the rabbit in different rooms and locations in the rooms. The poor cat would find it and throw it in the air in "the other room" and then come and look/stare at me.

The cat knew that the toys name was "rabbit". It took a while but I convinced "Purrfect" to find the rabbit and bring it into the room where I was and then to throw it into the air.

The FUN part was that I would then HIDE the rabbit and make him find it and bring it to where I was and again throw it into the air.

I was forced to only have about 6 locations because it just could not/would not do an extensive search of the whole house.

It would check each location to get the rabbit once I hide it. The darn cat would "talk" to me and really carry on something fierce if I did not follow the rules.

It made me teach it other games. I guess this is just part of the problems of being retired with a lot of time on my hands.

jackD

p.s. I had a minor in psychology in college. My major was Sociology. I always wondered what I would do with that degree.

Thanks for all these wonderful replys. It seems like there are many different kinds of cats. It makes sense that all of us humans have different personalities so animals do to. I think my little Melody just needs to get used to the house. Like right now I am in my office and she is sitting on the floor just watching me. So I get out of my chair, sit on the floor and try to play with her. She lets me rub her belly and she does this side winder snake kind of movement across the floor. I guess that's a sign that she likes it. But there aren't any games I have found. My fabric on a stick that Adora loved to play with Melody loves to chew on it and eat the fabric. Si that is out. Last night I did hear her rolling an empty toilet paper roll on the floor. She jsut spends most of her time sleeping.

I don't think she is intimidated at all by Adoras smells. Adora had two chairs that she would pee in, my husbands and my youngest daughters. We tried our best to clean them and put anti odor spray on them. The one my daughter sat in is right by the sliding glass door out to the deck. That is Melodies favorie place to sit in the sun. So I guess she doesn't mind that she may be sitting in another cats pee.

@Jack: that is really unique and funny! Our cat Oreo says
ooooouuuuuu ooouuuu at the door. The only place she makes this sound. Only thing missing is the "t"

@doydie

It is not just the pee smell....

Cats have scent glands on their feet, and chins. When they rub
their face on objects, they are leaving a "mark" on them. Your late cat has left many "marks" I'd expect. Everyplace your late kitty walked and sat will have her paw scent on it. It is impossible to remove it all. I replaced all bedding of Sheba and Tippy, when they died (it was old anyway). This helped Weezie and Houdini accept our home faster. They don't sit in the same places either.
Washable covers are handy. I have old cotton white diapers, I saved from when our son was an infant, and I use old towels and wash those. This eliminates some of the old scents from our elderly late cats. When Weez was tiny she had a towel she always slept on, on the couch next to me.
Houdini has been very picky about his spots too.

Here is a short article to explain communication:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_communication

When we go upNorth, our cats check out the house minutely looking for the late great Aunt's Siamese (long gone). Still after 10 yrs!

Watch her eyes. Fear responses, or some types of excitement (like play/stalking),
result in pupil dilation. A cat with constantly dilated pupils is not resting/relaxed unless the room is very dark.
Also cats have complex sensation with whiskers, doing dangling things too close to their face stirs the air which the whiskers register and confuses them.
http://www.petside.com/article/every...t-cat-whiskers
There was a show on cable, I think A &E once that explained how air currents around the whiskers, enable a cat to sense objects in the dark. So this is why cats don't like windy days, and don't respond well to close in the face movement of toys.
When I use the stick with string/feathers, I make it hop up and down and other ways across the room at least 3-4 ft away, so the kitty can sense it better and jump for it. Cats are nearsighted you know, and there are areas they can't see:

http://manhattancats.com/Articles/eyes.html
most people don't know this. 20/200 is rather difficult. For us 20/200 is no driving etc.

If she likes the empty toilet roll cardboard, I bet she would like
the springs. They are only 4 bucks and free shipping for 10 of them. You can also make spirals out of long twist-ems (fold the ends in so no sharp part is exposed), or pipe cleaners (fold the ends in too), the soft cotton ones(not the prickly ones). Our old past cats loved the pipe cleaners, but now with the rolling springs, our young ones disdain the old pipecleaners!

This toy is also fun, and the same principle as the springs. It is available at Petco and other stores locally: These tend to get lost however quickly whereas the springs do not for us for some reason:
http://www.amazon.com/Petmate-Looney.../dp/B00025YVPI

Both of these spring toys seem to move with inertia and mimic the random movements mice make I guess. We have an area in our old house where the floor of the living room is slightly higher than the dining room. It was built that way...Houdini has learned to put a spring on the high spot and watch it roll down and then he catches it. My husband's father used to push toy cars down that same slope...lots of family stories about it. Now Houdini is taking advantage of it! LOL

If she is playing with the empty toilet paper roll, she wants to play.

Jack is just relearning how to play. He LOVES my socks. I take one and swat him with it a couple of times, and then, the fight is on! he is determined to catch it and chew on it.

He also loves to lay down on those cardboard scratchers and sleep. I guess it really bounces heat back at them.

Woke last night to him spread out full length next to me in bed. he hasnt done that in at least a year. he must be feeling better.

Hi Jack
 

wonderful cat story. Very smart cat! loved hearing about it. ginnie