Conference misery::feline_v1

    p.s.
    
    please excuse the typos....Im enterig from home....:^)

    
    	Audrey plays fetch.  She has a couple of felt toys.  Actually
    	they started out at Christmas decorations but she got ahold
    	of them and declared them hers and how can we possibly deny
    	that face anything?!  so one is a felt mitten and the other is
    	a felt bell with a tiny (real) bell attached to it.  She likes
    	that one best cuz it makes noise.  Anyway, she'll pick it up
    	and drop it on the floor in front of us or in our lap.  We then
    	of course have to pick it up and throw.  She runs after it, picks
    	it up, shakes it and brings it back to us and we repeat the cycle
    	until she doesn't want to play anymore.  It's really funny.
    	Especially since the other 3 can't be bothered with such silly
    	games...... =)
    
    	JJ
    
    

       Hamilton likes to play ball. We throw a nerf-type ball, about the
    size of a tennis ball, up the stairs. He runs up after it, catches it
    and knocks it back down the stairs. Process gets repeated until HE gets
    tired of amusing US! He also LOVES to be chased. He'll sit at the
    bottom of the stairs with this pleading look in his eyes (you all know 
    that look) and as soon as someone moves in his general direction he's
    up the stairs like a shot! I chase him and he goes under the bed, I try
    desperately to reach him and can't, so I lay down on the bed and in a-
    bout two minutes his curiosity gets the better of him and he comes out
    from under the bed meowing, jumps on the bed, over me and off down the
    stairs with me right behind!
    
    b.r. & Hamilton
    

    Casey loves to play "race around the house".......
    I gently shove him over on his side, and take off down
    the hall.  He comes flying after me, I grab him, toss
    him on the bed, and race back down the hall back to the
    living room.  He tries to beat me back to the livingroom.
    Of course, the other three sit on the cat tree and watch
    this with a very amused look on their faces! :-)
    He will also fetch those little sponge balls that look
    like a golf ball.  I wake up in the morning sometimes
    to find them on my pillow!
    
    Lynne
    
    

    Misty ( our DSH) loves those sponge golf balls.  She'll carry one in her 
    mouth all over the house and talk at the same time.  We can always tell by 
    her breathless meow that she has the ball in her mouth.  She'll put it down
    at my feet and wait for me to throw it to her.  She leaps up and does
    either some great catches or volleyball serves.  She runs after the
    ball, holds it in her front paws, lies down and kicks it with her rear
    legs.  She either brings it back to me for more, or lies there and bats
    it toward me.  I throw it back to her and she reaches up and catches it
    while still reclining, and bats it back to me (sort of, I have to do a
    lot more moving around then she does.)  Her *energetic* playing might
    explain why she's the heftiest of the cats. ;-)
    
    One of Marnie's (Scottish Fold) favorite games is to play with his dry 
    food.  He scoops one piece out of the dish, and plays field hockey all 
    over the kitchen, when he feels it's been *killed* he eats it.  
    Occasionally, he reclines alongside a food bowl and scoops a piece out
    and bats it around and eats it while still reclining.  He is so much fun 
    to watch.  One time he was batting the food around and it stopped right
    near Lizette who was just sitting and watching Marnie. She decided no
    sense passing up food that came right to her, and ate it.  Marnie
    looked so surprised, his toy disappeared.
    
    Misha loves feathers and the cat dancer.  He chatters at it and cries
    and leaps high to get at it.  I bet he'd be a good hunter, but he's
    strictly an indoors-only cat.  He also loves chasing Lizette and Marnie
    through the house.  The thundering herd. ;-)
    
    Steffi and the furry critters
    

    Linus and I play this game every day at least 3 times a day if he's in
    the mood...first, Li will run behind the recliner and stick his head
    around the corner.  I then get his favorite stuffed toy (Mr. Rat), which
    is as big as Li is, and dangle it in front of the recliner until Linus
    gets into attack position.  Then I throw Mr. Rat all the way into the
    Living Room and Li follows, jumps on him, and does a tumblesault
    clutching Mr. Rat at the same time.  Quite a feat.  Then I run after
    Linus and he runs into the bathroom and jumps onto the side of my
    bathtub between the shower curtain and the curtain liner.  He loves
    dark places.  Anyway, he can't see me and I have one of his favorite
    little furry mouse toys and I throw it in between the curtains and he
    swats at it, catches it, and bats it back (well, mostly I have to
    retrieve it from inside the tub because I think Li is a leftly), anyway
    we play this until he's through.  When he's done, he takes the furry
    mouse and leaves it in front of his food bowl.  He always puts his toys
    away...
    
    Di & Li

	C.C.'s favorite game lately is pinball.  We acquired a couple of
	machines just before Christmas, and she loves them more and more
	all the time.  She sits at the top of the game (by the score-
	board) and waits until I release the ball.  Then she makes many
	frantic attempts to 'catch' the ball as it zips around from target
	to target.  She really goes wild when it shoots under her!  It
	is *so* funny to watch!  She is so crazy about this that she will
	'lead' us into the pinball room, chirping all the way, as soon as
	we walk in the door.  She purrs all the way through the game, and
	sometimes, as if to congratulate us on a nice shot, she'll walk
	over and give us a head butt.

	Every Saturday, I clean the glass of paw prints and sneeze marks :^}

	Sandy

    My BIG boy Ben, loves to paly hide & seek.  We take it in turns, as
    soon as he has found me he talks to me and rolls over to have his
    tummmy tickled and I have to tell him what a good clever boy he is.  He
    then jumps up and runs off and hide.  This goes on for three or four
    'hides' each.  He then wants some kit bits please, cause all the
    running has given him an appitite!  My Burmese Holly likes to paly this
    as well, but she gives me a non to gentle biff each time I find her. 
    The others just sit and watch with a very puzzled look on their faces
    as to what we are doing.
    
    Thelma

    RE: .5 (Scottish Fold)
    
    Well, at least now I know Ferlie is "normal" (for a cat that is).  She
    also likes to play with her food.  Must be a Scottish Fold trait, right
    Nancy?  
    
    Bernice

    Moochie, the orange visitor that I feed, meets me at the
    barn when I get home from work.  She sits patiently at
    the door while I take care of the barn crew.  As soon
    as I come out the door, she starts down the hill, looking
    back to make sure I'm coming.  I take off at a run to try &
    beat her to the side door, and she breaks into a sprint (boy
    can she move!) to fly past me and make it to the door first!
                  
    Lynne
    
    (p.s. My hubby watches this every night & thinks it's so funny)
    

    Given the dry spell we've had in California, Stitch has not seen a
    whole lot of heavy rain in the last 3 years - so with the heavy rain
    we've been getting, lightening and thunder and winds, he's been totally
    captivated by rain drops on the window.  He talks to them, crys to
    them, trys to catch them, stands up on the sill and sniffs the glass,
    runs from one window to the other just trying to figure the darn thing
    out.  His head bobbs up and down when the big heavy drops fall from the
    overhang outside.
    
    So in the evenings Richard and I have been carrying him from one room
    and window to another while it's raining and telling him all about it
    and singing him (ahem) rain songs.  When the tour is over he sits on
    top of the TV and just sits transfixed looking out the window talking
    to the much needed and welcomed rain. 
    
    The other two think its a drag, they would rather chase eachother
    through the tunnels.
    
    Giudi +3

    .11 reminds me of the last drought, when it suddenly rained
    after a long time.  A ot of baby birds at my feeders
    carried on like the sky was falling (What's this Mom?!!!!)
    

    Interactive games that Carly enjoys (when I"m all tired out): playing
    with a ping pong ball in the bathtub (preferably in the dark) or when I
    let a small amount of water drip out of the kitchen sink. Every
    lunchtime I go home and throw dry Iams in the air for her to catch. She
    goes flying around the house, catches it and then chops away!
    Unfortunately, now she enjoys eating her food on the floor all the
    time!

    Pandora chases marbles!  All I have to do is show her one, and she's
    whining until I roll it into a corner of the kitchen for her - She 
    doesn't manage to keep them long - I don't have any idea how many
    marbles are under the refrigerator, dishwasher, heater, etc! ;-)
    Should really flip the refrigerator repair person out someday!
    
    Oscar chases bows, yes bows!  Gets a new batch every year around the
    holidays - My relatives are even saving some for him now!  He pushes
    them around, carries them around in his mouth and attacks them when
    they sneek up from behind ;-)  - I can tell when he's getting bored,
    I'll come home and there'll be bows all over the house!  Sometimes
    when I get up in the morning I'll find several on the stairs!
    
    They all like rolled up pipecleaners to chase as well as Cin's
    sparklers and the kitty tease too.  Cin, I hope you're planning to
    bring some to the party tomorrow, I need new ones!
    
    Heather + Muffy, Oscar, Pandora + Cocoa
    

    Every time I go to visit Jo Ann and Ken at home I play a special
    game of Auntie Jan tries to figure out which cat is which.  With
    mumble, mumble, number of Birmans running around it's quite a 
    challenge.  Just when I began to feel like I've got one or two of
    them down pat, it's time to go home and I have to start all over
    on the next visit.
    
    Jan
    
    P.S.  I've got Winston and Tilly (and Annie the dog) down pat.
          Of course, they don't look anything like the Birmans and
          I have to admit, it does help.

    :^) :^) :^)
    
    Ah, come on, it is easy to tell them apart...
    
    Laci -the one with tummy stitches
    Limoges - the hungry one
    Kaisha - the invisible one
    Lyscentia - the annoying one
    Mirabel - the one in heat (always) and also the blue one
    Townie - the half a male (monorchid)
    Joui - the bald one
    
    Just bring this guide with you next time...you'll see what I mean. ;^)
    
    Jo

    Well, either shadow has a new game or he's building a nest.  Must be
    genetic since he's taking after Halie.  I let them out on the 2nd story
    deck when I get home and Shadow's taken to meticulously selecting just
    the right stick and bringing it into the house and carrying it all
    around with him talking.
    
    Last fall Halie made a game of catching leaves as the fell from the
    trees onto the deck, then she'd bring them inside and talk to them
    on the rug.  Then, of course, she'd leave them there and go get more.
      Love dem folds.
    

    Jan,
    
    Try visiting *my* house.
    
    9 silvery gray -- oops, I mean "blue" don't I? -- clones.
    
    	P

    Well, each fall the FIRM "requests" that i bring in a bag of just
    fallen (i.e., not yet brown) leaves. I spread out a sheet on the floor
    and dump the leaves in the middle. Part of the the FIRM goes running and
    jumping throught the pile, while Alex, Nikolas and Her Lovelyness the
    Lovely Pip choose large leaves, carry them to another room where they
    stash them away in individual piles. Then they carry one around at a
    time; when it gest worn out, they get another from their stash. Last
    year soeone found a stick in the pile and you wouldn't believe the
    jelous fight that persued until I wnet out and got EVERYONE a stick!
    
    Whatever would we do without them (besides having a clean house)?
    
    Deb

    Hm...now that's an idea.  Perhaps next fall I'll bring in a pile
    of leaves for the gang.
    

	One of my cats - Yoda - is always bringing in leaves, he likes to put
	them on top of the scratching post, and then pretend to stalk it!

	Once he's had enough of that, he hides them behind the settee.

	One night, when we had friends around, he brought in over a dozen
	rhododendron leaves, he's quite a small cat, and the leaves were about
	a third of his size...........the visitors just couldn't believe it!

	I had this pile in the middle of the rug, which he then laid on and 
	slept!

	Cider is intereted in elastic bands, I think he must pick them up from
	where the postmen drop them. I was a little worried at first, that he
	may try to swallow them or do himself an injury, but he's not interested
	in anything else except bringing them in and dropping them at my feet.

	Heather

    My guys and gals all love those sponge balls.  They also loved
    Cin's Sparklers until Mr. Barkley decided to break them all
    in half.  Another favorite is a doggie stuff animal and tin
    foil balls. 
    
    We played a fun game the other night...well let's put it this
    way...my hubby and I had fun and the cats weren't to thrilled
    with us.  All we did was polish our kitchen furniture with
    polish....and watched each elegant kitty jump on the table/chair
    and totally slide off the other end.  I know this isn't funny...
    but..the look on their face was priceless and they kept trying
    over and over.  Maybe this is a new way to keep them off the
    table?????  I doubt it!
    
    Sandy

    re: .21 - Bob eats elastics so I have to be very careful to keep 
    them out of reach.
    

  I'm not sure that doing "Tunnel, Tunnel" qualifies as a game, nor am I sure
  how it all got started.  Perhaps I had gotten down on the floor to check out
  a spot, when Butterscotch wandered over to see what this two-legged creature
  was doing on all fours.  Her investigation consisted of walking through the
  "tunnel" I had created, turning around, giving me a head butt, walking back
  through, repeating, and then lying down and purring.  (I know, what I am
  describing probably makes you picture a bridge rather than a tunnel, but
  "tunnel, tunnel" sounds better to me than "bridge, "bridge.")

  The next time I got down on all fours, Butterscotch did the same thing.  I 
  thought this was so cute that now, off and on, I will do it deliberately.
  Sometimes Butterscotch even seems to "ask" me to play tunnel, tunnel.  And
  I am more than happy to oblige!  In fact, she'll even let me demonstrate 
  this in front of company.  (Of course, I'll only do this for animal lovers.  
  Anyone else would think I was nuts! ;-) )

  Re: A few back...

  Jan, now I don't feel so badly that I couldn't identify all the cats I took
  pictures of when I visited Jo last summer!

  Cindy

    Re: .24
    
    Yes, Cindy, I thought the "tunnel, tunnel" demonstration was real
    cute! Butterscotch deserves an A+ in training technique!
    
    :-) :-)
    
    Linda

mandycat plays "monster under the comforter" with me every evening when I
turn in.  In fact, she watches me carefully and when I head back to my room
with Sadiedog - this means I'm really going to bed - she runs back and waits
for me on the bed.  The game is simple - once I get under the covers she
attacks anything that moves....and then she climbs under the comforter and I
attack her for awhile.  Of course, in the middle of the night, she sometimes
decides on a session....

Hannah plays "paw creeping out from behind door to whap you" from behind the
kitchen door....she really loves it when we have peacock feathers to play with,
but she and Mandycat destroy them so fast that we haven't had any recently.
Hannah also plays "stalk the toe and grab it and nibble on it" with my roomy,
but Marge is not generally supportive of the game.  For some reason, Hannah
doesn't like my toes, only Marge's.

And, of course, the girls play a continuous game of "sneak up on the cat and
ATTACK!" with each other.....generally, Hannah will be walking down the hall
when...AH HA!!! THE FLASH leaps through the air and lands on her back....
they roll around the floor in mortal combat, both holding on with the
"GRIP OF DEATH", delivering appropriate sound effects....they then fly apart
and lay just within touching range, glaring at each other, whipping their
tails back and forth...waiting for the slightest move from the enemy...THERE!
I saw her flinch!!! ATTACK!! and back into the "GRIP OF DEATH".

Hannah finally comes to me for a cuddle, talking the whole time...I think she's
telling me how impossible that little trickster is...but she is smiling too.

    ....B.K. won't go to bed until daddy does.  He will be poised,
    ready to fly down the hall to the bedroom, if my husband even
    *remotely* looks like he is heading in that direction.  
    I'm a meany that I will whisper very softly to B.K." daddy's
    going sleep sleep".  This will bring about his instant attention
    and he will locate daddy and watch every move he makes....and
    he beats daddy to the bedroom, every night!
    
    Lynne

    If you want to find all the cats....bring out the laundry
    basket.  They *love* to be dragged around the house, and carried
    around the house (even up & down the basement stairs..Oh, my
    aching back! :-)) trapped in an upside down basket, or to have
    someone throw all the cat toys, one by one, into one so they
    can jump in & out.
    
    Lynne

re: laundry baskets....oh, I forgot to mention "Hannah goes for a ride" - I
have to give Her Highness a ride in the laundry basket every time I come in
from the garage on sundays when I do laundry....I place the basket on the
floor, Hannah jumps in, and then I pick it up and carry it to the back of
the house with Hannah chattering all the way back, telling me to "be careful,
don't run into the wall", etc.  She loves this game and is exceptionally
fond of her basket....I think the lady who rescued her used a basket as her
sickbed and Hannah has some residual memory of safety and comfort associated
with an oval laundry basket (no other shape allowed - of course, I don't
buy any other shape now).....anyone know where I can buy an oval, plastic
laundry basket?  Hannah's is getting a little old and broken up.