How to keep your felines interested in their toys

Our spoiled felines have a lot of toys and stuff we may have purchased on a whim. When do we decide if these items are useful, or are clutter around the house?

A rule of thumb I use is the 3 to 4 "R"s. I call this resort, renew, (refresh), or replace. Then, after you follow the "R"s, you should consider storage.

If you have a room your felines most like to play in you are lucky. This makes sorting easy. Put away the toys they no longer play with and bring them out in a month or so and see if there is renewed interest. If they still show little interest, you can discard them as a learning lesson that you made a silly purchase.

If your cats play in almost every room, as mine do, you can throw some trickery into the equation. You can switch out the toys from room-to-room and they may think the toys are new, as a different pairing of felines are playing with them.

A good refreshing can also bring a cat back to a toy that was once their favorite. An organic liquid catnip spray may just be the remedy to renew interest.

Another fix that might be helpful is to mix crushed organic catnip and honeysuckle in a zip-lock bag and place the toys in the bag for several hours. Usually the newly scented toy will quickly become a favorite again. If not, another one for the trash bin.

The replacement of a favorite toy may be harder. Sometimes the toy is no longer made and finding a substitute is difficult, and all toys and brands are not created equal in the minds of our felines. I recently found this out first hand.

My felines had a catnip banana toy they played with until it looked like a rotten banana. The catnip had actually turned the yellow dye to a blackish-grey and all the use was causing the catnip to run out of the toy.

To the trash it went. I found a similar toy that I thought had plenty of catnip and not filler (material stuffing is a favorite to cheat us on catnip). They played with the new toy for less than a minute. Then I got the LOOK! The Look told me the toy was not a good replacement.

I learned my lesson. This is how we end up with a pile of toys they will not play with. I took the easy way out and did not search out the right replacement. Looking the same to us does not mean they will not know the difference.

I purchased a $5 copy. The YeowWW! brand was a little more money, but they played with it until they broke it. Now I know I must replace with the real thing, or I will have more toys for the trash.

Lastly, let us discuss storage, as all of us might agree that toys should not be all over the house like a feline nursery. I. have read a few views on how to store excess toys. One went so far as to tell us to store them in a box with a lid so the animals could not take their toys out at will and destroy tidiness.

Obviously this person did not know felines, or perhaps was related to Mary Poppins. The joy in watching our cats destroy order is part of their charm.

A single, round cat condo serves the purpose here. The unwanted clutter fits inside, as does the cat that wants to get toys out. On the dog side of most big-box pet stores you can find a foldable box covered in material that will serve as a toy box for your feline. If you are on a budget, this is the less expensive option, but it will not last as long as the previously mentioned cat condo.

Perhaps we can find a happy measure between buying the right toys for our felines and keeping our homes a bit less full of unwanted items. The goal at any rate is to keep our cats content.

Featured Felines

• Beba is a female calico, age 12-plus, that was raised from a kitten by the family that gave her up. The husband was now allergic to cats and they were moving out of state, so they decided that Beba had to go. Fortunately, she came to us.

Beba is still a little bewildered by what has happened. The environment she grew up in is gone and she is surrounded by strange cats and people. She is friendly with people, but doesn't get along well with other cats. She is adapting to the shelter, but is a little reluctant to explore when given the opportunity.

She really needs a nice, quiet, loving family and a new forever home.

• Everyone who enters Brad's room notices him right away - he is so unique looking and adorable: a dark black tabby with a white face, age somewhere between 5 and 12. Brad loves the attention when everyone "oohs" and "aahs" over him.

Brad was a shy kitty when he came to the shelter, but a volunteer loved him and taught him to trust people. He looked forward to her visits. Brad would sit on her lap and take all the loving she gave him.

But his friend moved away, and now Brad wonders, "Where did my favorite lap go? Where is that patient person who didn't chase me, but let me come to her?"

Brad loves to play and is very kitten-like. He would thrive in a home where someone would be patient with him. He really could be a great companion if he could find someone to love who would give him the love he deserves.