Scooby is enjoying a new cat toy to play with. There are so many cat toys about, that I do not recall where this came from, or when; but, it has shown up and Scooby likes it a lot. He is fickle, and will tire of it easily. Then he will move on to something else. Ellen from 15andmeowing sent us the fish pillow as a present along with some other things. We like it very much and appreciate it.
Scooby
Today we are going to talk about the “Twinkle Chute Tunnel Cat Toy” purchased from PetSmart.
Twinkle Chute Tunnel heavily used!
The tunnel is 3 feet long, and 9 1/2 inches in diameter. It has red lights activated by motion that are inside the red bands shown above in the photo. They are powered by a common small “button” battery. There is an “on”/”off” switch so you can turn it off when not in use, and make the battery last longer. It is made of a crinkly material that makes a crinkle sound. There is an opening in the center halfway through. It has uses as a skylight, alleviator of claustrophobia, emergency exit, and spy hole.
A younger Zeke
It was popular when new, and is used as well today. For a long time I had it underneath a coffee table.
The red twinkle lights flash for a few seconds, every time the tunnel is moved in some manner. Other colors of this tunnel are sold today, and I do not know what color lights are inside them. Today the tunnel holds open a particular room door, so it cannot shut, and trap cats inside. Recently, the lights finally stopped working. It was not a battery problem, and I cannot fix them. The lights worked for years. The tunnel is still a good item without the lights. From the photo below, you can see I owned the tunnel at Christmas in 2009. Zeke is resting halfway through! In spite of the lights, it has held up very well. I recommend the tunnel with or without the lights. It sells for around $20 US.
A few months back, I purchased a new feathery cat toy, which I had noticed reading some other cat blogs. This one is called “Da Bird”, and actually has real bird feathers. This is the reason I believe it is so popular. I must be careful that the cat does not catch Da Bird and chew through the feathers.
The instructions say to put it where the cat cannot get to it, otherwise, the cat will chew it up, and it will be useless. I purchased mine by mail-order, and purchased an extra feather “bird”, for when the first bird gets destroyed. Da Bird is made in America. Real bird feathers are attached by a fishing “leader” to a string. The string is attached to a pole. The string got tangled up on a cat, and I had to cut the string, to free the cat. Then, I just tied the string back together.
Everyone likes it. Zeke is the most enthusiastic player. It is difficult to take photographs while cat “birding.” Marigold, my oldest, likes it as well; however, she is not shown playing here.
Where is this bird coming from?
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| Zeke, Marigold, and Opie (Searching for fleas on TV) |
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| Zeke having a close look! |
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| Interesting! |
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| Opie |
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| Batting the bird back and forth to Opie |
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| Got my foot on it! |
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| Catch Opie! |
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| I will catch it by surprise! |
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| Look out Opie! |
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| it is moving away! (The woman on TV is watching!) |
All in all, Da Bird is a very popular toy which I recommend.
Be certain to put it away in a place where the cats cannot get it, when you are away!!!
Feline Café 