New toy for the cats

Trouble loves to be under or inside of things so we have been on the
lookout for a miniature tent display model just big enough for her for
years. Having no luck we started looking at children's play tents and
finally found the American Camper 3 in 1 Play Tent. We spent about
$20.00 on it. It has one small dome tent, one house shaped tent, and
a long tunnel to connect the two. DH put the two tents together in
different rooms and put the tunnel with one of them. We put a catnip
mousie into each of the pieces and left it to our three cats to decide
if they wanted to use them. It wasn't long before we knew our
purchase was a good one. The fabric makes a lovely noise when the
cats rub their paws on it, and we kept hearing the noise for hours.
All three of the cats like the tents but their favorite has to be the
tunnel. It is just the right size because none of the cats have to
duck down to walk through it. The tent fabric is thin enough to see
light through so if a cat is in one of them they can see the shadow of
another cat (or a toy held) near the tent pieces outside the tent and
they love to try to attack through the fabric. So far there are no
tears or punctures in the fabric despite out three cats trimmed claws.

There is one serious draw back with the house shaped tent and I must
mention it here since this is sort of a consumer review. Trouble
managed to jump onto one side of the roof from a piece of furniture
and she bent the PVC pole that holds up the ridge of the roof. I've
seen PVC break before, but never bend. Trouble kitty is a bit of a
fatty at nearly 14 pounds and always lands with a thud anytime she
jumps, so it was no real surprise the pole didn't survive. DH is
going to replace the pole with a wood dowel or length of pipe after
the holidays.

For space reasons we have taken down the dome tent, and removed the
house tent until we have a new roof pole so the cats are left with the
tunnel. So far the tunnel has kept them busy whenever they are not
napping, begging for rubs, or doing other important cat business. We
figure we can switch between the three tent pieces whenever they seem
to be bored with each piece and get the most cat fun for the money
that way. So when they get tired of chasing each other through the
tunnel, we will put it away and set up the dome tent, then switch to
the tunnel, then the house tent, and back again.

Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

PICCIES!

"Debra" wrote in message
...
Trouble loves to be under or inside of things so we have been on the
lookout for a miniature tent display model just big enough for her for
years. Having no luck we started looking at children's play tents and
finally found the American Camper 3 in 1 Play Tent. We spent about
$20.00 on it. It has one small dome tent, one house shaped tent, and
a long tunnel to connect the two. DH put the two tents together in
different rooms and put the tunnel with one of them. We put a catnip
mousie into each of the pieces and left it to our three cats to decide
if they wanted to use them. It wasn't long before we knew our
purchase was a good one. The fabric makes a lovely noise when the
cats rub their paws on it, and we kept hearing the noise for hours.
All three of the cats like the tents but their favorite has to be the
tunnel. It is just the right size because none of the cats have to
duck down to walk through it. The tent fabric is thin enough to see
light through so if a cat is in one of them they can see the shadow of
another cat (or a toy held) near the tent pieces outside the tent and
they love to try to attack through the fabric. So far there are no
tears or punctures in the fabric despite out three cats trimmed claws.

There is one serious draw back with the house shaped tent and I must
mention it here since this is sort of a consumer review. Trouble
managed to jump onto one side of the roof from a piece of furniture
and she bent the PVC pole that holds up the ridge of the roof. I've
seen PVC break before, but never bend. Trouble kitty is a bit of a
fatty at nearly 14 pounds and always lands with a thud anytime she
jumps, so it was no real surprise the pole didn't survive. DH is
going to replace the pole with a wood dowel or length of pipe after
the holidays.

For space reasons we have taken down the dome tent, and removed the
house tent until we have a new roof pole so the cats are left with the
tunnel. So far the tunnel has kept them busy whenever they are not
napping, begging for rubs, or doing other important cat business. We
figure we can switch between the three tent pieces whenever they seem
to be bored with each piece and get the most cat fun for the money
that way. So when they get tired of chasing each other through the
tunnel, we will put it away and set up the dome tent, then switch to
the tunnel, then the house tent, and back again.

Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

For space reasons we have taken down the dome tent, and removed the
house tent until we have a new roof pole so the cats are left with the
tunnel. So far the tunnel has kept them busy whenever they are not
napping, begging for rubs, or doing other important cat business. We
figure we can switch between the three tent pieces whenever they seem
to be bored with each piece and get the most cat fun for the money
that way. So when they get tired of chasing each other through the
tunnel, we will put it away and set up the dome tent, then switch to
the tunnel, then the house tent, and back again.

We've got something similar here. One of the large chain stores sells
nylon cubes with round holes in 3 sides. They come in pairs, and attach
with Velcro fasteners.

We got a pair and put them together thinking one or more of the kitties
would get some enjoyment out of them. Amelia, though, has claimed them as
hers! She spends hours every day in her cubes, waiting for another kitty
to walk past so she can pounce through the nylon walls. It can be quite
amusing to see these nylon cubes bouncing all over the place as kitties
play-fight through the fabric walls.

Dan M wrote:
For space reasons we have taken down the dome tent, and removed the
house tent until we have a new roof pole so the cats are left with
the tunnel. So far the tunnel has kept them busy whenever they are
not napping, begging for rubs, or doing other important cat
business. We figure we can switch between the three tent pieces
whenever they seem to be bored with each piece and get the most cat
fun for the money that way. So when they get tired of chasing each
other through the tunnel, we will put it away and set up the dome
tent, then switch to the tunnel, then the house tent, and back again.

We've got something similar here. One of the large chain stores sells
nylon cubes with round holes in 3 sides. They come in pairs, and
attach with Velcro fasteners.

Persia has YET to use the pyramid bed/hiding place I ordered for her. I put
catnip in it and it has a hanging mousie toy in it. Uh uh. No way. It's
designed for a cat, therefore it must be ignored LOL.

I even put it on the closet shelf she liked to lay on when she's looking for
a place out of sight. Nope. She chose the curled up comforter for the sofa
bed, or way down behind it. I found she'd been chewing on rolls of old
holiday paper from back when I used to wrap gifts! LOL

She'd rather play in a box or a bag or someplace I didn't pick for her. But
I love her because she snuggles with me... chooses to sleep with me. When I
don't feel well she's right there purring. She sends out purrs when others
need them, too. She puts up with my having a bird that chirps all the time,
without trying to get at her. But she also makes those "mrrrph, chrrrrrp"
noises at the outside birds and squirrels when she sees them. She's smart
enough to know the difference between the bird in the cage and the birds on
the patio! I don't think she'd actually kill one - she has no front claws.
But she might just try to put her paw on one and yell at me to announce her
victory IF she were allowed outside.

She's only allowed out in her kitty walk and it might be warm enough (around
50F) for that tomorrow afternoon. Winter is like this in west Tennessee...
we'll get snow or ice in February or March.

Jill

On 2005-12-13, jmcquown penned:

Persia has YET to use the pyramid bed/hiding place I ordered for
her. I put catnip in it and it has a hanging mousie toy in it. Uh
uh. No way. It's designed for a cat, therefore it must be ignored
LOL.


I got one of those for Oscar. I ended up giving it to a local
shelter, where at least it would get some use.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On Mon 12 Dec 2005 04:48:09p, Debra wrote in
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
):

Trouble loves to be under or inside of things so we have been on
the lookout for a miniature tent display model just big enough
for her for years. Having no luck we started looking at
children's play tents and finally found the American Camper 3 in
1 Play Tent.

Neat idea! Of course I had to search for such an item and found
this on Ebay. Imagine the possibilities! LOL

http://cgi.ebay.com/TUNNELS-OF-FUN_W...cmd ZViewItem

or

http://tinyurl.com/7pa4v

--
Cheryl

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:05:41 -0800, Dan M wrote:

We've got something similar here. One of the large chain stores sells
nylon cubes with round holes in 3 sides. They come in pairs, and attach
with Velcro fasteners.

Sounds perfect for Trouble. Which chain store?
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 16:28:28 -0600, "Karen"
wrote:

PICCIES!

I don't have any yet. Will post when I do.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:01:55 +0000, Debra wrote:

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:05:41 -0800, Dan M wrote:

We've got something similar here. One of the large chain stores sells
nylon cubes with round holes in 3 sides. They come in pairs, and attach
with Velcro fasteners.

Sounds perfect for Trouble. Which chain store?
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

Target. A package of two cubes (18" or so to a side, maybe 2 feet) for $10
or so.

Dan

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:45:57 -0800, Dan M wrote:

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:01:55 +0000, Debra wrote:

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:05:41 -0800, Dan M wrote:

We've got something similar here. One of the large chain stores sells
nylon cubes with round holes in 3 sides. They come in pairs, and attach
with Velcro fasteners.

Sounds perfect for Trouble. Which chain store?
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

Target. A package of two cubes (18" or so to a side, maybe 2 feet) for $10
or so.

Dan
Thanks. We have one close by.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere