Shelly's Favourite Things #3

Since Shelly came to live with us and I have found so many great kitty toy crafts on the internet, I have been making some interesting stuff.  Mum sometimes walks through the lounge room and simply says, "there are a lot of boxes."  This really means, "M, you have been collecting boxes for a while now and you need to do something with them or throw them away."  For some reason Mum doesn't understand that Shelly will get bored with the same old boxes all the time and we need to make different ones.  We don't want her to have lots of toys all the time, but we want to change them around every few weeks so she has some variety. 

I love this picture.  Doesn't she look beautiful gazing up at the camera like that?
She is actually looking at me and probably wondering what on earth I'm doing.

This toy was made from cylindrical tissue boxes and masking tape.  Shelly likes to play with the plastic lids as well, but this toy has a special component.  I hide smaller toys, straws and treats inside some of the tubes and leave the toy on her scratching post or on the shelf in my bedroom bookcase.  Sometimes, I hide it under her chair.  She sniffs out the treats and then it is a bit of a trick to get the treats out.  This makes life more interesting compared to just being given the treats.  We have a few toys that I hide treats in for her to find.  I think this one is her favourite because it is easy enough for her to find them and get them out by herself.  She figured it out all on her own.  The other toys conceal the treats and it is not always easy to work out how to get them out.  She also likes this one because I only get it out every now and then and when it is out it always has treats so that's great fun.   

Found One

I usually put this one out before I go to bed so Shelly stumbles upon it during the night when she is stalking around the house.  She gets a bit of a reward and has something to "hunt" while all her play mates are sleeping.  You can also see in the second picture, one of the hanging toys that we have about the place.  I used to have it attached to a pedestal fan so that when the fan was oscilating the paper balls would swing gently.  But, Shelly almost knocked the fan over a few times and I decided it wasn't such a good idea after all.  I didn't originally design it this way, but I can slip a treat into those cardboard balls for Shelly to find later.  She tends to sniff out the treat and then move the ball around and around until the treat comes out.  By then she has also discovered the fun of batting it back and forth and she makes the bell ring and the fun continues.  

Shelly loves to play and I love watching her discover new toys and work out little puzzles I have constructed for her.  If you don't have a pet to play with.. you really should get one.  They are very therapeutic.  

Love from Shelly and Me