When Doodles Steel all the kitty toys

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I love my doodle, but sometimes she can be a bit of a pain. Her kitty cat Penelope (Penny for short) likes to play and still acts like a bit of kitten even though she's approximately 2-3 years old. She also likes to chew, unfortunately on the cable of my laptop.

 

I'd like to get Penny some proper kitty toys. She has one, a chripy birdie, but Sophie seems to think it's hers. Penny wasn't interested in it at first when I brought her home, and didn't seem to want to play at all. But as she settled in she slowly started relaxing and having fun just like a little kitty should. Now she's been with us for almost 6 months and I still don't have any toys for her.

How can I provide toys for Penny without Sophie being a greedy toy hog? Also, I'm worried that Sophie will one day choke on a small kitty toy. She never tries to swallow anything on purpose, but I'm worried it will accidently get caught when she's chewing on it...

 

Also, does anyone else's cat like to chew? are there chew toys for kitties?

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Hey, we have just the opposite problem! Amber steals Tara's toys!!

 

LOL!! Okay just kidding!

 

I do have to keep Amber's toys away from Tara because of their size or because Tara will tear them into little pieces.  I find that whenever I try to play with Amber, Tara wants to play too and she is so rambunctious that Amber usually stops playing when Tara arrives. SO, what I have done is to either put Tara in a down stay and require that she watch Amber and I play without interfering (which is a great training opportunity by the way) OR I wait until Tara goes to bed in the bedroom at night and then I close the door and play with Amber for a while  in the main part of the house. That way Amber and I can  have some special mom and kitty one on one time.

As far as Amber's toys go,  early on I purchased her every imaginable kitty toy. She wanted nothing to do with them. I discovered her favorite toys are 1) little pieces of wadded up paper (she will play with these alone but loves for me to toss them so she can jump for them)  2) ping pong ball 3) string especially the cords that come out of hoodies or sweats  4) a peacock feather (interactive toy with mom moving the feather). Amber and past cats that I have had, have never liked playing for long periods of time. More like short bursts and they prefer to play with me rather than alone so I try to give them the short (10-15 minutes) of play time, especially in the evening and it seems to be enough for them. And that way I can keep her toys picked up until playtime and not worry about Tara getting into them.  Amber's not a chewer so, sorry, no advise there...

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

I feel ya, Sherri! I have the same problem with Lachlan and Pixel. Pixel loves loves loves playing with proper cat toys, but given half a chance Lach will steal and eat them. Since Pixel isn't allowed in the bedroom at night with Lach and I (I'm adverse to having my head tackled like a football by the cat at 2am 'cause he's bored) I give him a toy when when we go to bed, then find it and put it away first thing in the morning.

 

Pixel's not a chewer (of anything but cardboard and random bits of paper) but my old cat loved having a good chew on the Yeowww! brand catnip canvas toys, which are also big enough and tough enough that Lachlan played with them when he was small.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks for your responses guys. In all of my concern over Winston I forget to get back to you on this. Thanks for the tips! I will try to set aside special time for Penny so we can play with rolled up paper balls together. I will look into the chewy toys too. Sometimes I think Penny thinks she's a doodle too!