Mice, I Need Mice!!!

I am sure you guys have all seen them, the multi colored mice, they come in pink, orange, green, and blue multi packs.

They are pretty much the only thing my cat will play with until recently. The ones I use to buy had some kind of chalk in them and he love them, would throw them across the room and chase them for hours, I would even wake up with 1 or 2 in the bed with me.

My stock pile has run out and I purchased some more and he will not touch them, I noticed though they are far lighter and have a hollow plastic body with little to no weight. Does anyone know where I can still find the chalk filled kind or something close? I don't know what it is about them but its the only thing he will play with. Below is a pic of the last man (mouse) down.

I've never seen these before but understand the frustration when a perfect product gets "improved."   In the past, I've contacted the manufacturer directly and asked them if they have any of the original items still in stock.    They can also tell you where their products are sold.   I don't see a tag on the well-loved remains of that mouse - do you know who makes them?

Maybe you could cut open the new ones, put in some chalk and catnip, and sew it back up. Your fur baby might like the new ones and play with them.

I honestly cant remember the brand, they came in big packs and I had a bunch of them so its been a couple years since I purchased them.

I think if I can't track them down I may take a knife and poke a hole in the back of the new kind with the hollow plastic body and fill it with plaster of paris or something like tht using one of those syringes without a needle on it.

I think its the weight that he likes so that is the only thing I can think to add that would be easy without a smell, I was going to use epoxy but that leaves a really bad chemical smell and I dont know how safe it is, I don't want to make anybody sick!

Please let us know how it works out.  And good luck!  Your poor kitty must be wondering where his toy is.  

Instead of glue, I would sew the mouse back up only because you don't want your fur baby eating or licking glue. Fishing line is the strongest and would hold up the longest on a cat toy. Did the mice also rattle? If so, then regular white chalk would work well as it would add not only weight, but also the rattle. Good luck with your project.

So here is what I came up with, I took the "new" bodies out of the shells, and cut the backs part way so they would open like a clam shell and then took a 2 part odorless epoxy putty and filled the bodies with it and closed the clam shell. Once it hardens which is probably done by now I will put them back in the bodies and put a finishing stitch on the bottom an they should be indestructible.

Best part is once the faux  fur has worn out and split I can take the hard shell and drop it into a new mouse and just recycle it over and over. At least that is the concept anyway.

Also the old mice did not rattle, they were solid, just some kind of white chalky substance and the body. I did notice the tails on the new mice are woven nylon while taking the pictures but the old ones were leather, I think they must have been a different brand. or Hartz got cheap

Here are some pics of the project

They are very heavy now and I opted to use a leather thread in black with a couple wide stitches towards the back and an external knot at the butt so I could easily tell if they were the modified ones, he already has a lot of interest in what I was doing to his mouse and has batted it around a couple of times but we all know our furkids, I will not find out until 3 am when I hear that thing flying across the room hitting the hardwood at mach 1 whether it was a success or not.

Please let us know how it goes!  

I know what kind of mice you were looking for; but i haven't looked for any in a while myself.  

Excellent job on the mice. I hope it works.