What is Magic stick ?

di lynn

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I see alot of post mentioning a Magic stick. Where can I buy one..lol what is it ?
 

shadowsrescue

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@Piano Cat uses one. It's just a stick she finds in the yard that she uses to play with her feral cats.  Hopefully she will come along and explain.

I use a petting wand/stick that I made from the end of an old wand toy.  I wrap an old sock around the end and secure with duct tape.  I then wrapped a soft piece of flannel around it.  I have used it over and over again to pet my feral cats.  I have some where the wand is quite long and others where it is shorter.  You can use it to play with the cats and then eventually get them used to touch.

Here is one that I am using with one of my ferals last summer.


 
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di lynn

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Thank you ,I'll make one like yours. :)
 

piano cat

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Yes, it's nothing more than a piece of branch about 18 inches long, stiff enough that I can poke it under something like a bit of blanket and control the direction it goes it.  I've found it allows me to play with the feral yet stay pretty much out of sight of them, at first.  As we all know, we humans have terrifying faces, especially our eyes, and our hands, especially when they move, are often perceived as a threat.  Since I put the cats I catch in a big cage with a smaller card board box inside the stick allows me to intrigue them with scratchy sounds on the edge of the cardboard.  At first I will only see a paw coming out to grab the stick but every time, pretty soon, I will see a little face and they will really start to engage.  

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/322067/four-years-and-just-got-the-first-real-pets

The cat in the video is outside, a supposed feral for four year as we barely caught sight of her.  She slowly became comfortable with our moving about the yard and the magic stick scratching on and poking under the side of a cardboard box my husband had on top of the old car in the garage was my first play with her.  It's so funny, she was so captivated by the stick that she rushed out from behind the box to catch it, found herself looking right at me and the expression on her face said, "Holy crap, what have I done, the scary human can see me."  And she darted back into hiding.  They all do this and maybe a day or so later, maybe only hours, out they come again, having realized they had fun and no harm came.  In the video we are past that and I've put a string on a stick and I can wave it around pretty energetically.

 I've never put cloth on the stick, that looks like a good idea for the petting part too.  Using a piece of clothing like ShadowsRescue does would help introduce your own scent to the stick.  I do wrap my hand around the end of the stick to make it have a bit of my scent on it.

We still play with the stick, long after the cat is fully a pet.  They like it.  LOL, I have a big old folded comforter lying on my living room floor solely for playing magic stick with, so I can poke the stick under it.  Even the dog likes that.  :)

Sorry to go on so long but I just can't get over myself, what a difference such a simple thing can make.
 
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