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Caturday Pootie Diary: New toys [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-08
“That cat is just lucky I love him so much,” I muttered, making my way to the cat side of the pet store. “Making me go out in the cold just because I’m out of the food he likes,” I grouched. I paused before reaching the food aisles, distracted by a wall of cat toys.
They know how to get you.
A butterfly caught my eye and I stepped over to it, reaching out to touch it. It had layers of wings made from different materials and I thought that if I were a cat, it would be irresistible.
But Freddie can resist a lot.
Next to it was a stuffed bird with a long tail made from feathers. “The boy likes feathers,” I said. I picked it up and examined it. It was attached to a soft rope that led to a cap that was obviously meant to screw onto something. I looked up and noticed the sticks. “Ah ha!” I said, lifting one out of its holder. The bird was part of a fishing rod system with interchangeable toys sold separately. “Clever, tricksy Petsmart,” I muttered in my best Gollum voice. I dropped the toy parts into my basket.
Next to the rod toys I spotted a trio of teabag toys full of catnip. Freddie liked those, so I grabbed them too.
A gentle reminder of how we do things: 🐱🐶🐦 Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
Please do share pics of your fur kids! If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs. Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
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"I’m back!” I called into the house as I entered, carrying my purchases. I spotted Freddie on the stairs. “There’s the boy!” I shouted.
“You’re back!” he said, running down the stairs and following me into the kitchen.
I set down the bag and reached in to grab the new toys. While Freddie watched, I freed the toy from the cardboard, and screwed the cap into the top of the rod.
“New toy!” I said, brandishing it at him.
“Oooooh,” Freddie said, his eyes glued to the bird’s feathers.
I dropped the bird in front of him and used the rod to drag it across the floor in front of his paws. He immediately jumped at it.
“Yay!” I celebrated, happy that he liked it.
We played for a while, him leaping and chasing the bird as I teased him with it. I kicked off my shoes and pushed them to the side, feeling instantly more comfortable in my socks.
I flicked the bird in the direction of my shoes, and Freddie jumped between them, then wrapped an arm around the closest shoe and shoved his face into it. “The bird’s not in there,” I said, dropping my arm to my side.
“Shoes,” he said, rubbing his head on it.
“Such a weirdo,” I said.
Our play went like that for a while, me jerking and dragging the bird at the end of the plastic rod and Freddie alternating chasing it and shoving his face into my shoe.
“Does that smell good?” I asked, the third or fourth time he stopped to do it.
“Smells good,” he confirmed.
“Like leather?”
He pulled his face from shoe and looked up at me. “Like you,” he said.
I teared up a little, but blinked it back. “That’s so sweet,” I said.
“Human, bird!” he demanded.
I obliged, this time running away from him, the bird dragging behind me.
He gave chase, but stopped when I passed the empty Chewy box we’d left on the floor for him for several weeks. He jumped into the box and proceeded to rub his head against the flaps, completely forgetting our play.
“Done?” I asked, indicating the bird.
He ignored me, focused on his box.
Back to the petstore bag in the kitchen, I pulled out the the teabag toys and without care tore one of them from the cardboard to which it was attached. I scrunched up the bag, hoping to make the catnip scent a little stronger.
I walked over to his box and dropped the toy in.
He ignored it.
“Okay,” I said, picking it up again. I crouched down and shook it at him. “Look! Look at this toy!”
“Box,” he said.
I scrunched the bag again, this time under his nose, then dropped it again at his feet.
One paw stomped on the bag, holding it in place at the bottom of the box.
"I knew you liked that kind of toy,” I said, watching him bite the teabag while his paw held it still. I reached in to take it from him so I could toss it for him and he bit me.
“Ow!” I said, pulling my hand out of his way. I straightened, shaking my hand. “Fine, I guess you can play by yourself!”
I watched for a while, pleased that he was enjoying himself. He switched from trying to bite the bag open to simply rubbing his whole head on it.
I picked up the rod toy again and dangled it into the box, trying to temp him.
He didn’t notice, rubbing his head on the small toy at his feet so aggressively that he almost did a summersault.
“Well,” I said. “You’re just lost in the sauce, aren’t you?”
Not long after I sat and covered myself with the furry blanket, Freddie appeared and jumped into my lap.
“All done?” I asked.
He settled down with a sigh. “Yes. That was good,” he said.
“There was a butterfly, too,” I told him. “It had lots of wing layers.”
“Where?” he asked, looking around.
“At the pet store,” I said. “I didn’t buy it.”
“Go back,” he murmured, lying his head on my ankle.
“It’s a good thing I love you so much,” I said, laughing.
Happy Caturday, Peeps! Freddie has a short attention span for toys and sometimes that makes our playtime a little chaotic.
[END]
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