This week I learned that while you may purchase automated snakes:
... your cat will still prefer the classic ball of yarn, especially if you make it wiggle like an automated snake.
However, the most important thing I learned was from a friend, who said cats should not play with yarn unattended. The yarn can get stuck on their tongue barbs, then they swallow the yarn. which proves fatal. (Though somehow the same thing wasn’t fatal to R. Crumb’s brother Maxim.)
It *can* prove fatal, but from friends with cats, it more often proves gross as it comes out the other end... uh, accompanied... and then sheds some of its accompaniment as the cat wanders around.
But also, yes, cat turning down thing made/bought specifically for cat in favor of thing that was cheap/free and/or is not entirely safe for cat: 100% cat behavior.
Posted by: KC | December 04, 2023 at 09:57 AM
KC - ugh. Like inches of shedding, or a foot of shedding?
Posted by: theQueen | December 04, 2023 at 07:53 PM
How much of a second, clumped-upon tail the cat develops depends on the yarn and various internal factors. The ones I've seen have been 6+ inches. (also sometimes the cat freaks out about being "followed" and thus: utter chaos with intermittent deposits in unlikely places. Other times, no freakout, not sure why.)
Posted by: KC | December 05, 2023 at 10:24 AM
KC - Eww eww. A second tail. The imagery!
Posted by: theQueen | December 05, 2023 at 06:36 PM