Conference misery::feline_v1

    Yes, I used to play games myself with my persian "Lucius" - we
    invented (or maybe other people do it) a game called "ATTACK" of
    course Lucius would be a good sport and made sure I had jeans on
    before he would hide behind a tree and come out and attack me -
    hanging on to my leg and then flying off again pretending to hide
    behind a tree.....he used to always do it when I was doing the laundry
    in the basement.....alot of people thought I was strange playing
    this game but actually it was fun and I think it was a version of
    TAG your it more than anything else.   
    
    He was a fun cat though sorry to see him go.  He loved chicken and
    he knew when it was baking in the oven.  He would time it exactly
    so when the chicken was coming out he was right there for the event.
    I never saw such a devotion to eating chicken.  He loved it anyway
    he could get it - he would dance for it too.  Of course you became
    his best friend after this event....he didn't like fish much or
    beef but he also loved baked ham and cheese!  What a guy!  
    
    That was really the only game we ever played......
    
    
    

    I play a lot of games with my cat, but her favorite is one I learned
    from her predecessor, Lessa. It's called chase the cat. I'll run
    at Harli with my arms out as if to catch her and she'll run as if
    chased by demons. then I have to hide behind a door or around a
    corner and she comes to find me and when she does I jump out yelling
    and waving my arms and she runs and we start again. 
    
    I've had two different roommates since I learned this game and both
    have thought I was slightly strange. I'm sure any neighbors think
    so too.
    kris

    Yup, Chase the Cat is a fun game indeed!  The cats soon initiated
    a Chase the Human version - it's incredible to see Jim flying up
    the stairs and hiding behind the bedroom door to wait for - tick..
    tick....tick......(she's coming up the carpeted stairs with her
    claws out) - pat,pat,pat,pat (a little faster now across the
    kitchen floor) - STOP (by the fridge).  sliiiiiink down the hall
    and the BRAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA! as Jim bursts out of the bedroom and
    Koshka careens down the hall, across the kitchen, and gallops
    downstairs, all tail hairs pointing straight out!  Chorniy is
    less subtle.  Jim comes upstairs and runs down the hall - chorniy
    gallops up the stairs sounding like a herd of horses and gallops
    down the hall so fast he can't stop when the monster jumps out and
    he skids across the wood floor into the side of the bed and hides
    under the spread where it hits the floor, then rushes out, tail
    curved up over his back which is arched, ears slicked back and
    eyes narrowed - takes a swipe at the human and gallops back
    down the hall.
    
    Life is simple and calm in our home....
    
    --Louise

    Ifor and Idris love chasing Cassie's (the dog) tail (especially
    if we tie a piece of string to it), but they prefer to pounce on
    our toes when we're in bed.
    
    Ifor also has a habit of climbing up the outside of the chimney-breast
    in the lounge and hanging from the ceiling - this never fails to
    amaze visitors who stand in shock for a few seconds, then panic,
    then have fits of hysterics.
    
    If we have our dinner on our laps, Ifor climbs up on the chair behind
    me, slides onto my head and tries to swipe the food off the fork
    before it gets to my mouth.  Yes, I know this is a really bad habit,
    but it does give us a laugh.
    
    As well as being naughty, they are also terrible creeps, and if
    it's raining they'll purr loudly, curl up on the bed and look at
    you with big round eyes that say "You wouldn't want to put me out
    in the rain would you?" and the curl up on the bed, very well behaved
    and go to sleep.  Two hours later they then wake up and start attacking
    toes.
    
    Aren't we mad to have animals?!
    
    
    

Speaking of chase the cat...

My little sister and I liked to play a variation with the family cat Bradley
who loved to be chased.  When he got someone to chase him, he would run around
the downstairs for a while, then run upstairs and hide under a bed.  Whoever
was chasing him would thump the bed, and he would run back downstairs full
tilt.   The varient we played, was when I chased him upstairs, my sister would
wait around a corner of the landing of the stairway.  When I chased Bradley
out from under the bed, he would run down the stairs full tilt and start around
the corner and have to slam on the brakes for my waiting sister!
He never really caught on for quite a while.

-Mike

    
      RE .5:    That's cute... I used to chase my cat around the house...
    
             Now he chases ME around the house. I dare not walk in bare
    feet any longer. He's the type of cat that chases dogs too.
    
    
                     I think I've created a monster!

    When I lived with my parents, 15 years ago or so, we owned 2 cats who
    just loved moths (crunch and munch tidbits, they thought). However they
    had a tendency to wander away for the night if left outside after
    dark. 
    
    So to satisfy these spoiled cats, _we_ (both my parents and 3 kids)
    would go outside to the porch light, catch moths, and bring them
    inside for the cats. Now mostly they would catch the moths fairly
    quickly and while the moths were still close to the floor. But
    frequently they would let a moth escape. So one of the humans would
    pick up a cat, (about 12 lbs) and carry them overhead at ceiling
    level chasing this damned moth around the house. 
    
    It never occurred to me then how very strange this must have looked
    (and been). But I now have these incredibly vivid mental images
    of us running around the house helping the cats to catch the moths
    _we_ bought into the house in the first place.

    Tamzen

    Hi Tamzen.  We do the same thing with our two.  Since I'm only 5'4
    I usually end up setting up all the kitchen chairs in a line across
    the room so that I can get the cat high enough to get the moths.
    We don't actually import any moths for them, though - the bugs get
    in on their own.
    
    --Louise

    Yup, we too "catch and carry" during the moth hunts.  I guess I
    never really realized how weird it sounds until Tamzen described
    it!
    
    Both our cats also play hide and seek as well as ambush the person.
    Our Pearson cat has a tendency to "chatter" as if he's seen a bird
    when we just poke our heads around a corner and stare at him.  We
    and he have been known to keep this up for 10-15 minutes before
    getting bored.
    
    Orion has a rope fetish.  He drags a grungy old rope all over the
    house waiting for someone to pick up the other end.  At that point,
    the rope is pulled across the floor for him to chase or he gets
    an end in his mouth and plays tug-of-war.  And of course there's
    always the wooden pull toys to chase.
    
    One of our greatest finds was something called a cat teaser.  It's
    a short piece of fiberglass (actually looks and acts like the end
    of a fishing pole)that attaches to a length of thin rope with a
    piece of cloth tied on the end.  It's wonderful, they chase this
    thing like crazy and we don't have to worry about getting our bodies
    in the way of claws.
    
    It's amazing what our furry friends do to amaze us!
    
    L. 

    We play "catch and carry" with our guys too.  But the go after spiders
    and crawling bugs instead of moths.
    
    One of Winston's favorite games involves a paper bag and mom.  Winston
    gets inside the bag and then I warm up by sliding him across the
    carpet a few times and then I fling him and the bag as hard as I
    can.  This sends the bag(with Winston inside) spinning across the
    rug.  He always gets out, runs around the bag a few times and then
    jumps back in to do it again!
    
    JoAnn
    

    
       I usually leave my boots around so Residual can climb inside.
    
       It's funny seeing a tail sticking out of a boot.
    
    PC

    
    It's reasuring to know other kitties have a thing about moths.
    
    With Sukie and Jasmine all you need do is call "mo-oth" and they're
    scanning the walls and ceiling.
    
    When they find the little winged kitty-biscuit it gets even better.
    The lounge is papered in that woven hesian look wallpaper and the
    cats just shoot straight up the wall to eat the moth.  This gets
    interesting when the moth has got caught inside the glass light
    shade on one of the wall lights and poor kitty can't quite sus how
    to reach this morsel of cat treat that's stuck right in front of
    their nose being baked; (normally the moth is released to save the
    light shades.
    
    The only bit they find difficult is when the moth lands on he ceiling
    just out of reach so either Jazz or Sukes is stuck hanging from
    the top of the wall by three paws trying to reach this smart b*@^%&
    who'se JUST out of reach.
    
    They also use the wallpaper for the "I'm hiding behind the edge
    of the curtains and I bet you can't see me" game, which if you touch
    them from through the curtains ends up with a well panicked cat
    shooting across, missing hte next bit of wallpaper, hanging from
    the curtains and then falling totally humiliated in a scatty lump
    on the floor.
    
    
    
    
    Jo,
    Reading, UK.
    

    Well, when the sun goes down in Candia, NH, my kids turn off day-time
    kitty TV, and tune in evening prime time kitty TV - the bugs on
    the screens!  All shapes, sizes, and ALL of them seem to migrate
    to the screens, much to my kitties delight!  I'm not sure if the
    screens will hold up, but they sure are entertained.  There are
    double windows behind the couch, and it's cute to see a line of
    anywhere from 6 to 11 furfaces lined up trying to eat their way
    through the screen to get one little buzzing bug.  When the 
    bug moves to another part of the screen, every head turns in
    unison - almost like they were programmed!
    

    I have a few synthesizers at home. Aja is so tuned in to the sounds
    of bugs that I programmed a sound and can call her from anyplace
    in the house by playing the note...
    
   
                                 "Bee"
    
    
    :^)
    
    
    Edd     

    That's CUTE!!  I'll have to try something like that with the kids
    tonight!  If none of them are on the back of the couch, and one
    of them hears a bug on the screen, boy, you better watch out 
    for the stampeed to to the window!  It's like instant plaster
    with furfaces everywhere and coming from every direction to
    get  to the sound!!

    ATTU and I play in the morning, when you are leaving for work I am just
    getting in.  ATTU greets me at the door, talking a mile a minute - just
    like every other child.  She eats while I get ready for bed, where is
    where the fun starts...  it's starts with the feet attacks, then I
    cover her with the blankets, she scrambles out and to the end of the
    bed, then pounces on my face (no claws) and I try to trap her under the
    comforter... in doing this she has developed the amazing skill of
    "springing" straight up, and up to 3 feet.  Anyway, this goes on until
    I fall asleep on her or she finds the sleeve of my night/day shirt suckles 
    and falls asleep on me.
    
    Other games we play, some include the other people in the house, are
    "Get out of the house without her escaping" and "Where the hell did it
    go?"  the game pieces are varied, right now it is HER greatly dispised
    collar, last seen being dragged around the house by her's truely.  Pieces 
    have included, pieces to one of the guys's car models (found), many-never-
    to-be-seen-again hair "thingies", rubber bands, paperclips and paper... 
    preferably LARGE dinomination.
    
    ATTU, et tu?