Of Course.

[ladysprite]

A little while ago a client gave me a PetSmart gift card as a thank-you for helping them through a particularly emotional end-of-life visit. It was sweet, and an utter surprise, and I decided that since it was a gift I was allowed to use it for something frivolous, rather than stocking up on cat food and kitty litter.

So yesterday umbran and I were out running errands, and I decided to bring the gift card along and get a treat for our cats. And I found the coolest, cutest little toy/furniture thing.

It's adorable. It's this little S-shaped bed/cave/scratching pad, and it's got sections of carpet and rope and burlap, and they can lie on it or hide under it, and it's exactly the kind of thing I'd never actually spend money on but have kind of always wanted to spoil my cats with, so I went ahead and got it for them and proudly brought it home and displayed it in my living room for them.

.....and they won't touch it.

I've tried moving it around, and putting it by their current (battered cardboard) scratching pads. I've tried hiding food on it and under it. Rubbing it down with catnip got one cat to sit on it briefly, but other than that.... nothing.

These are cats who lurk next to boxes as they arrive, sometimes not waiting until they're unpacked to climb inside. Who covet their $5 battered cardboard scratch pad and fight over who gets to nap on it. Who have, on occasion, tried to climb inside sandwich bags.

Go figure. My cats are too humble for fancy toys like this.

Comments

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Heh. There are many many internet pictures of cats in boxes next to expensive cat trees. Here's a trick I've been successful with -- if you want them to learn to use something for a scratching spot, take their paw and rub it across the cardboard in a scratching motion. Often they take the hint and begin scratching away.

You realize, one day you'll come into the room and see all the cats on the thing, acting like it's always been their favorite place ever, right?

My cat Lily waited six months before deciding to learn to play with the ball-in-a-round-track cat toy. (And it's hilarious to watch, let me tell you, when she tries to catch the ball with both front paws on either side of the track.)

[mermaidlady]

new_man got Albert a heated bed. He put it in the corner of his office where Albert has had a pillow. Albert took one look at the new bed and his hackles went up. Sigh.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Cats are the imps of the perverse.

[jtdiii.livejournal.com]

Simple....

Put am empty box over it with a small opening... :)

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

They are like children, eh? Get them the neatest toy in the world, they want to play with the box. :-)

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

For our kitchen cat, a cardboard box or an empty paper bag is infinitely more interesting that his nice carpeted cat tree.

[serakit.livejournal.com]

Willow had a cat tree while she was staying with me. I don't know if she touched it before she moved here, but I never once saw her play with it in the six months she lived with me.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Sounds about right. But they may yet surprise you and start playing with it just when you've decided that they never will.

[udalrich.livejournal.com]

Did it at least come with a nice box for them to play with?