So, we have these kitty toys - little balls, maybe 2 inches in diameter that are soft and are 'bat-able'. Henry treats these balls as kill and will gather up all the balls he can find into one area and then meow-wail. The pathetic noise you hear when a cat has caught a mouse, that is the noise Henry makes when he has gathered his balls. He was in the habit of doing this late at night while were were sleeping and as much as I'd try to ignore it thinking he'd just stop he never did. The first night, I got up and took his balls away. He must have seen me put them on top of my dresser because shortly after I got back into bed I could hear him on top of the dresser rustling around for his balls. I learned after that to put them under my pillow. I learned after that finally to just remove the balls from sight before I went to bed. After doing that for a few nights in a row, I gave him back ball privileges. I think he must have learned, because he no longer meow-wails while we're sleeping.
Now he plays ball constantly through out the day and evening though when we're home. He has claws, so he'll snag the ball and whip it through the air and then goes and gets it and repeats. Its like he is throwing the ball for himself! Sometimes though, he'll enlist our participation. Like last weekend, I was sitting on the floor in the spare room sorting through crap to pack up or throw away and Henry came walking in with a ball in his mouth. He dropped it directly in front of me and just stood there. I figured that was a bit of a freak accident, but went ahead and threw the ball for him. I'll be damned if he didn't return that ball to me 32 more times in a row, dropping it on the floor right in front of me! Okay, maybe not 32, but easily at least 20 times before I was done playing and pocketed the ball.
And just last night, Lance was sitting on the couch watching Henry entertain himself with the ball. During one of his paw ball flings, he threw it directly into Lance's lap. If that doesn't say PLAY WITH ME, I don't know what does...
