This is a different sort of cat picture. One made for the modern age. An age when the throwaway culture is being questioned and rightly so. These pictures of grandma sewing together the family cat’s favourite is a sort or morality tale in pictures. The moral? Repair and reuse.
Try and avoid throwing things away to protect the environment. Countries like Nigeria receive thousands of tons of clothes from Europe because they have been worn on average 7 times and then put in the trash bin. Many items of clothing are used once or never. And modern manufacturers seem to make clothes with the throwaway mentality in mind as the quality is far worse than in the past.
This is why I like this picture of grandma carefully repairing a soft toy belonging to the ginger, tabby-and-white’s cat who looks on with great interest. The cat can’t wait for their toy to be put together again and attacked with renewed vigour.
We know that cat play is replicating cat hunting and killing. You can tell when a cat toy is good. The cat attacks it to the death. Dr Bradshaw, a respected cat behaviourist, says that a cat should be able to destroy a cat toy as it keeps the cat interested because they are killing prey. If the toy is too robust and shows no signs of being destroyed the cat will lose interest quicker.
No doubt this is a plush toy cat or other animal. I have also found that soft toys with catnip inside motivates my cat to play. This appears to be the best combination for cat toys: soft + catnip + destroyable.
SOME MORE ON HOMEMADE TOYS:
How to entertain a cat – stimulate their hunting instincts
Cat games on tablet computers: good or bad?
Are laser pointers bad for cats?
Metronome as a cat toy
How do you stop a kitten from biting and scratching me?
Toys for kids, cats and dogs should be regulated in the same way
The reason why domestic cats stop playing with toys quickly
Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.