Fun, fun, fun!

It is always great to have a playful pet. Growing up, my pets weren't too in to toys. Cassie liked catnip and string and that was about it. She really just liked to sleep. Titan really only ever played with an old rope toy and, for one summer, an old Pringle can. Honestly, this was probably because by the time I realized we had pets, they were both old. My parents had Titan a year before I was born and they found Cassie when I was two.

But this generation of pets is playful as can be. Woody has lost a bit of it and I think that's partly because I'm not home anymore to play with him. I've been told that he's a completely different dog when I come to visit. Cherry is just as crazy at 8 years old as she was at 7 months old. And Piper is still only around 2, so she's pretty playful.

So what are their favorite toys and games?

Woody

Woody has always loved stuffed squeaky toys. He can't get enough of them. If we're in a store and someone squeaks one, he is entranced. For a long time he thought any stuffed animal was his, but I think he's figured it out now and he's never ripped up any that he wasn't allowed to. He just walks around with them and nibbles on them. 

His favorite is probably a little stuffed octopus that I got from Petsmart. This is almost always the toy he brings me when I visit. He will dig through his toy basket to find it. 

He also loves giant stuffed animals and pillows. I guess there's just something about playing with a toy bigger than you...

(This video is a few years old and this toy has since been retired)

He is also very fascinated by tennis balls, but will not fetch one. He liked to jump with them while they bounce. Blankets are also a favorite of his. 

Cherry

Cherry definitely has a few favorites, but ultimately will play with anything. She is always looking for some trouble. Feather toys were her first love. She has gone through so many of them and it's been awhile since I've gotten her a new one to play with. She shreds them too quickly for them to be worth the money.

She also has one of these that she used to be obsessed with. My parents' nicknamed her "thunder kitty" because she would play with it in the room above theirs. She still has it and occasionally plays with it, but not like she used to. 

Her current favorites are her laser pointer, toy mice, my kitchen rug, string, and anything else that looks fun (scraps of paper, plastic wraps, candy wrappers, twist ties, etc.). She is very much a collector of random items and I used to wake up to all sorts of pieces of things in my bed.

 

She also loves my laptop. She used to play games on my iPad, but I don't have that anymore. Sometimes I let her play games on my laptop, but usually she just watches what I'm doing. We watch Netflix together sometimes.

And as you'd expect from a rocket kitty, she loves running around. Her favorite game is "tag". She loves me to chase her and then she chases me back. 

Piper

Piper seems to still be finding her favorites. So far, we are sure her favorite is these catnip mice. I had them for a few years before we got her and she just loved them from the start. I was actually surprised they still had any catnip smell left. I did recently buy her a new pack of them when I thought we had lost them all and I found out my work sells them. I'm considering stocking up on them. A few weeks ago, I watched her dig through the toy basket and pull them all out. And that's quite a lot of toys to go through. 

She's recently discovered playing with the kitchen rug as well. She isn't as into it as Cherry is though. I am very glad that rug is just an old one I found in a closet and not something I spent any money on. 

One thing that does keep them both very entertained is a popup hamper we have. They love sleeping in it, chewing on it, and ambushing each-other (and us) from it.