I am the self-appointed Cat Lady at The Inventory, though I only have three cats currently. My 4-year-old tortie, Luna, is the most active of the bunch. She was a feral kitten and really does have that tortitude every other owner talks about. Before her, my other cats preferred to eat and then sleep on my laptop. Not Luna.
I first realized Luna loved to play when she stole a hair tie, right off of my wrist, and started launching it around the room. Since she was so happy with hair ties, I gave her all of mine—until I learned from my veterinarian best friend, Dr. Courtney Zinna, that hair ties are horrible toys for cats. (They can eat them, by accident or on purpose, which can cause a blockage that might require immediate emergency surgery.)
So, I had to ban Luna from “Hair Tie Time” as I’d begun to call it, and find a replacement toy STAT. When I searched “cat toys” on Amazon, one of the first results was a 30-pack of sparkly balls. It was under $10 and would be at my apartment the next day, so I didn’t think twice about buying them. I figured Luna would like them, but had no idea she’d come to love those stupid balls more than she loves me.
They’re the simplest toy ever, but provide hours of entertainment every day for an energetic cat. She’s a bit like a dog, in that she likes toys that you throw and she runs off to get it. Then again, she doesn’t actually need me to throw it for her, she’s taken to launching balls around the apartment herself and chasing after them.
Luna loves these balls so much that if I ever leave the package within her reach, she rips it open to get more out. After finding her first bag torn open and 30 balls scattered all over my apartment, I had to start hiding them from her.
The only issue I have with this toy has absolutely nothing to do with the toy, and has everything to do with my cat. Luna has a tendency to hide these toys from her thieving brother Sirius, and then forget where she’s hidden them and start crying. The hiding places are so good, I can’t even find them. But even though there are probably about a hundred balls hidden all over the house, we continue to buy new packs to feed her sparkly ball addiction.