The $1,800 Cat Toy!

Alley, our female calico is a perfect angel. Her behavior is absolutely perfect even if she is a fraidy cat. Persi's behavior on the other hand is quite another story. Alley never gets on anything. Not even a chair. Persi is all over the counters and on top of anything he can get on. It is Persi's understanding that nothing should ever be placed on anything. Everything should be on the floor and he thus bats things on to the floor where he can play with it. This behavior was not so bad until we moved into the new house we are in that has all hardwood floors and stairs. Hardwood means things break that would not break on a carpeted floor. When we come home and find a new item broken on the floor there is no doubt who the guilty party is. We do not need to use forensic evidence that it was him. We make a ruling right away: Guilty for reasons of insanity.

You have heard of things that go bump in the night. When we hear a bump in the middle of the night we know that Persi has broken something OR is doing his favorite new hobby since moving into this house; taking things to the stairs and watching them bounce down the stairs. He will actually go get the item and take it back to the top of the stairs and drop it over and over. Last night we heard a bump in the middle of the night. We knew Persi was having fun but we did not know what he had. Our flights of stairs are lit with night lights and we could not find what he had.

This morning DW found the item. The item was something that comes with a warning to never leave lying around that a cat can get to. The warning states that this particular item will drive cats into a frenzy. I just kind of laughed at the warning. This morning I was not laughing when I saw what he was playing with.

I will send 10,000 points to the first person that knows exactly what it was that he was playing with. I have given all the clues that I am going to give, you should have enough information. It is very important to make sure your cat never gets ahold of one of these items. What is the item?

This is a hard one....


My guess is a camera? I bet he thought you were going to be as thrilled as he was when he was playing with it. That is so funny about him dropping things down the stairs and retrieving them, what a ham!

$1,800 and a warning to keep away from cats? Hmmm.... something in that price range speaks to electronics ... or maybe a fur coat? I know my rescue kitties love to chew on the fur trim on my parka. I have to make sure I put my coat in the storage bench.

Something laced with nip? AT that price? 24 kt gold plated cat nip?

This is a tough Kat Kwiz, Lee.

with the cats in my house i would NEVER have an $1800 Item that was any where they could get to. I am actually thinking it is a robot vaccum or something like that.

Originally Posted by JavannaLynn

with the cats in my house i would NEVER have an $1800 Item that was any where they could get to. I am actually thinking it is a robot vaccum or something like that.

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I will not give any new clues but I can emphasize on points I have already made. The item is something that he can bat to the floor and then down the stairs. Something that we could not see until this morning when every place was filled with sunlight. In addition to the 10,000 points I guarantee 10,000 laughs when we finally get the correct answer.

Originally Posted by JavannaLynn

with the cats in my house i would NEVER have an $1800 Item that was any where they could get to. I am actually thinking it is a robot vaccum or something like that.

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You say that, but there are lots of expensive things in the home we don't always think about when it comes to a cat destroying them (i.e. a leather couch, hdtv, appliances, etc.). I seriously have no idea what this could be. I could think of a million things around that price range, but not one with a warning to keep cats away from it!

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

You say that, but there are lots of expensive things in the home we don't always think about when it comes to a cat destroying them (i.e. a leather couch, hdtv, appliances, etc.). I seriously have no idea what this could be. I could think of a million things around that price range, but not one with a warning to keep cats away from it!

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It's the warning that's throwing me off too. I'm guessing some sort of nick-nack display piece but no idea what.

A ring or piece of jewlery!!!! Ohhh, or glasses? But I don't know of glasses that cost that much...

Or am I wrong?

My guess is that the 'warning' is not written on the item or anything-but that a cat owner should "know better" than to leave it out unsupervised.

Originally Posted by KatKisses

A ring or piece of jewlery!!!! Ohhh, or glasses? But I don't know of glasses that cost that much...

Or am I wrong?

My guess is that the 'warning' is not written on the item or anything-but that a cat owner should "know better" than to leave it out unsupervised.

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This is so much fun I will give the hint I said I would not give.
The item makes a noise. A noise that humans cannot hear but cats can.
And the noise is what drives cats insane.

When we finally get the right answer, you will have learned something about Cat Behavior. Not to mention some laughs at my expense.

Is it a watch that uses Frequency Technology to power it?

No, not my last post. It's a hearing aid.

My first thought was a laptop computer. Then it'd have to be one heck of a strong cat to toss that down the stairs. Second guess is one of those ultrasonic air purifier thingies. Close? Getting closer?

Originally Posted by howtoholdacat

No, not my last post. It's a hearing aid.

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I should hold you to your first guess!
But 10,000 points are on their way to you!
Congratulations!

How did you know?

When it was determined that I was losing my hearing in just one ear they told me to get a hearing aid. To hell with that, I said. I ain't no $#@*& old man! But then I found out I could get the $1,800 model which is entirely in the ear and cannot be seen by others. Done deal! OK, I have had Persi for 2 1/2 years and I have had the hearing aid that whole time. At night, I take it out and slide it under the lamp on the nightstand by the bed. I do this just because I want total quiet when I sleep. But Persi somehow managed to get up on the nightstand last night and get his paw under the lamp and bat it to the floor. From that point on my hearing aid became a $1,800 cat toy!

BTW, the warning was for dogs and cats. But if you read the excellent article right here on TCS you would know that cats can hear higher sounds than dogs. And a hearing aid, at least the one I have, is constantly sending out a high pitched noise that all cats and some dogs can hear but not humans.

I would not be laughing and posting this if the thing still didn't work. It does still work. Bad cat, bad cat!

Thank you!

I had to think about it for a while. It was the only thing that I could come up with that was small enough for a cat to move easily, that might not be seen in dim lighting and I knew they made noise. My grandfather's used to make that squeal all the time and I thought it's similar to the pitch of a mouse's squeak. I figured that cat's might be able to still hear it even when we can't.

Your post really made me laugh by the way!

A good reason to put it in either the drying beads or hearing aid dryer at night! That's some expensive toy! Glad it didn't get broken and is still working.

Glad Persi didn't swallow it! Mom has a digital aid in each ear. $4,000 for the pair!

I was going to gues some sort of dental appliance until I read about it giving off sound. Dental appliances are irresistable to dogs though

Glad your hearing aid still works

I knew it! I just caught on to this thread, not a minute to soon, but definitely a moment to late! Honestly I did not realize hearing aids are so expensive.....Although that is hysterically cute, not so funny to you I'm sure!