likes 'toy' way too much?

We have a year old calico, and about a half year ago I got one of
these "wavy" toys. It looks like an actual squirrel tail or raccon
tail, tied to the end of the stick. The cat loved chasing it around.

Actually, it really just loved 'catching' the thing, then trying to
trot off someplace with it in its mouth. Plainly, it would absolutely
love to chance to just settle in and gnaw and gnaw on it.

I'm okay with that. It looks like it is an actual piece of a dead
animal, and this is a cat, of course.

* * * * *

The problem is that for the last two or three weeks, the cat is
pathetically active in asking to play with it, much more than before.
I do try to take it out and play with her at least five times a week
or so, but now if I even walk over near the closet where we keep it
(on the top shelf), she comes over and whines and cries and cries to
play with it. It's just too reminiscent of the way junkies feel about
heroin.

(It's on the top shelf because the cat has even done the acrobatics of
pulling the door open, then doing whatever it had to to climb up to
the toy and get it. I was there when the toy came falling down and
the cat appeared dragging it out of the closet.)

I wonder if there is some substance on the thing that the cat is
physically addicted to. She's worn out the old one, but I am
concerned about buying a new one if there's something like that on it.

Any ideas or comments? Why act 'strung out' now, after six months?

Tom