Monday, September 7, 2009

Saving the Toy Mouse

Quint and His Favorite Toy

Some time ago, I bought a twelve-pack of little toy mouse-looking creatures. The package included three each of four different colored little toy mice. I just checked and, to date, we've used eight of the twelve. Of the eight we've taken out of the package, four are currently available for play and reside in known places around the house, one completely disintegrated and had to be thrown away and three have been lost. The one that disintegrated was purple colored, and Quint was devastated when I threw it away. We tried to interest him in another of the mice from the same package. We tossed the proposed replacement back and forth across the kitchen, but it just wasn't the same. He loved that chewed-up purple mouse.

I don't know what the veterinary science community current thinks about how a cat's vision functions, but I do know from experience that cats see in color. They can tell the difference between vivid purple, gray, fuchsia, and neon green. I know this because, until I opened up the package and got out another purple mouse, Quint was a broken cat. All it took was one toss of that purple mouse across the kitchen, though, and we were back in business. Apparently, he likes the color purple in his cat toys. I don't know what he'll do if he meets a real mouse and discovers that it's just a dirty gray animal. Probably he'll ignore it.

The Purple Mouse (before)

He's still playing with the replacement purple mouse, though it was lost for awhile and he had to settle for the other purple mouse from the set. The one he likes is falling apart and has no tail. During our jumping game in the kitchen he has batted it into a sink full of dishwater a couple of times which has caused the fake fur to start coming unglued from the little hollow plastic body. A couple of days ago, Carol had to sew up the seam along the bottom of toy to keep the fur from falling off. Last night I hot glued a big piece fur back on. We decided that sewing and hot glue are the best methods for re-attaching the little mouse's fur, since neither method uses any toxic chemicals. It's only a matter of time, though, until we're down to only one purple mouse, and without a back-up, I'll have to make another trip to the hardware store where they sell those particular toys and pick-up another twelve pack. I wish they sold the purple ones separately. I think I'll write to the manufacturer and see if I can order just the purple ones.

I know what you're thinking, "He's only a cat, he'll get over it and eventually settle for some other color." I suppose so, but considering all the joy and shared laughter Carol and I get from playing with Quint and his purple mouse, the least I can do is keep him supplied with them. It's a small price to pay in return for all that he gives us.

4 comments:

  1. i haz green mouse and I chaze it all night and day to kill it. RAWR

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please tell me where to get the purple mouse toy. My ragdoll kitten is obsessed, to say the least, with this exact purple mouse. We have no idea where we bought it. I've retraced all of the stores we've been to for her, no luck.she is beginning to rip the fur off.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I found those mice as a set of 12 at Virgil's Hardware in Glendale, California. I apparently threw away the part of the packaging that had the brand name information printed on it. If you send me your e-mail address maybe we can figure out a way to get you some of the little guys.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We understand your problem. We have a cat that loves little blue mice. She will not play with any other color and does not like the big blue mouse. They also have to have the hard nose, will not play with the felt nosed ones. She likes to play fetch like a dog with the blue mice. She will keep bringing them back until she gets tired. It is hilarious to watch. The pet store that sold them in our area does not have them anymore and I am searching the internet trying to find them.

    ReplyDelete