Cave Attempt

Let me continue from yesterday where we were trying to get Leo to get in the bottom cave of the cat tree. But first I want to acknowledge some of your suggestions.

Tree dwellers verses ground dwellers: Leo is for sure a tree dweller, a birder for sure. Star is somewhat of a tree dweller, but also a ground dweller, a mouser. Star never used to play with Da Bird unless you were willing to drag it along the floor, but now she will chase it a little if it's close to the ground and might make a jump or two, but mostly, still the ground. Leo, when Star's not around to make him nervous, will jump his heart out after high flying Da Birds. Star does like the back of the couch or chair, but as you may have noticed, her favorite spot is the bean bag on the floor. Perhaps I should have tried to get her interested in the cave rather than Leo.. A thought for next week!

Cat nip or catnip sprinkled blankies in the cave: Leo is not crazy about catnip. He ignores the stuff spread on paper, which is Star's favorite way to eat it. He doesn't care if there's nip in his toys, in fact, he's more likely to play with things without nip. Star's favorite butterfly toy is one of those with the 'zoom around the room' catnip and she will lick it and rub it all over her face for a long long time. I have been wanting to try valerian root and silvervine to see if they had any effect on Leo, but I haven't gotten around to getting any yet, bad mommy..

Flipping it upside down: MOL, I have never thought of that, but since the top perch is off center, I have a feeling it would fall over. And that he'd be the one to knock it over by jumping onto the new top which was the bottom... ok, now I'm confusing myself..


So what we did do was drop a springy wormey toy down the top hole while he watched. He plays with these even though they have nip in the head because he likes the springy body and can carry them easily. They're not a feather toy, but they are one he plays with and they were handy, so that's why we used those. Here's what happened:

Why you bein' mean to my toys? They don't like hiding from me!

That's right, ol' long leg boy can reach to the bottom without ever entering the cave.. He hooks a claw in the toy and yanks it back up from the top hole.. *sigh*

Ok, that didn't work. Probably because he was on the top top when we dropped it, making sure he'd see it, and he went after it from the hole it was dropped in. Time to change tactics!

I put Da Bird down the hole and waited for him to walk by. When he did, I wiggled it on the bottom of the cave. Oh boy did that catch his interest! He sat right down to watch the dancing Bird!

Hey birdie, what you doin' in there? That your new nest?

But that's as far as it went. He reached in a little to try to whap at it, but mostly he just watched.... And waited for it to fly out the top! *double sigh*

You got to come out sometime, birdie.. and I'll be waitin' with toof and claw!

Tune in tomorrow for another tactic!