This is Holland's favorite time of year. The miller moths are out in full force. Although my bleeding heart feels bad for the way the moths are treated by my baby, I assure myself that my mom is right - they don't feel much of anything.
So here are Holland's insights on how to earn a moth olympics gold medal:
1) Find the moth. They can be tricky, but I have found that they like to hang out near lights.
2) Trap the moth. My favorite trapping areas are window screens and lamp shades.
3) Pick the moth up in your mouth and move it to a more desirable playing location. Recommended: those areas that are free of furniture or other hampers to fun play time.
4) Let the moth go. If it is feisty, it will fly off again, and steps 1-3 will need to be repeated until the moth can do little more than flutter helplessly along the floor.
5) Once you have subdued the moth appropriately, it will still try to get away, but at a floor-level, rather slow pace. Let it off the hook for a while, teasing it with its freedom, but refrain from taking your eyes off the prize.
6) Assume your best pre-pouncing pose. When the moth has managed to flutter its poor, broken body several feet away, put your pounce pose into action and spring forward, placing a front paw on the body of the moth to let it know who's boss. If desired, pick the moth up with your mouth and move to a different play space.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the moth is no longer showing signs of life. At this stage of the game, there are two choices: 1) Leave the dead moth so you can attend to some other, more important cat activity (one of your servants will dispose of the carcass), or 2) eat the dead moth (note - they don't taste that great, but the reaction you get from your mom will be worth it).
I have yet to find another single toy that will get Holland running, jumping, stalking, creeping and pouncing all in one play session. And they're FREE!!! I keep telling myself I have GOT to get this on video...
So here are Holland's insights on how to earn a moth olympics gold medal:
1) Find the moth. They can be tricky, but I have found that they like to hang out near lights.
2) Trap the moth. My favorite trapping areas are window screens and lamp shades.
3) Pick the moth up in your mouth and move it to a more desirable playing location. Recommended: those areas that are free of furniture or other hampers to fun play time.
4) Let the moth go. If it is feisty, it will fly off again, and steps 1-3 will need to be repeated until the moth can do little more than flutter helplessly along the floor.
5) Once you have subdued the moth appropriately, it will still try to get away, but at a floor-level, rather slow pace. Let it off the hook for a while, teasing it with its freedom, but refrain from taking your eyes off the prize.
6) Assume your best pre-pouncing pose. When the moth has managed to flutter its poor, broken body several feet away, put your pounce pose into action and spring forward, placing a front paw on the body of the moth to let it know who's boss. If desired, pick the moth up with your mouth and move to a different play space.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the moth is no longer showing signs of life. At this stage of the game, there are two choices: 1) Leave the dead moth so you can attend to some other, more important cat activity (one of your servants will dispose of the carcass), or 2) eat the dead moth (note - they don't taste that great, but the reaction you get from your mom will be worth it).