How do you indulge your pets?

Our three cats are spoiled rotten. Hands down. X has been working so often from home these days, the 2 inside/outside cats have X working the front door more industriously than any bellman at a 5 star hotel. For the most part, the cats only eat their cat food, but yes, I am ashamed to admit that one of them does enjoy a tablespoon of frozen custard every time we bring some home. These cats receive top quality food the vet recommends and expensive shots and flea treatments throughout the year. However, we generally don’t go all out with toys. If you are a cat owner, you know why. Cats are easily entertained by cheap things such as strings (or yarn. GRRR), shadows on the walls, each other’s tails, a foot under a blanket, etc. Furthermore, the current cat toys around the house were bequeathed about 4 cats ago and there has been no urgency to invest any more for feline entertainment in the Rancid Raves household.

This all changed yesterday. I went to Sharper Image, that bastion of overpriced gadgetry, to get a birthday gift for X . The directionally deficient love of my life is now the proud owner of a cool clock/compass/temperature gauge thingamabob for his car. Ah! The disagreements this beauty is going to prevent in our newly assured future together was well worth the purchase price. Believe you me. However, I did not come out of Sharper Image as easily as I had hoped. I found myself playing with their cat toy Feline Frolic. I managed to suppress the self-loathing as I slapped my credit card down, feebly mentioning some excuse for such a ridiculous purchase. X was far more supportive when I got it home, I’ll grant him that. After eagerly emptying various remotes of their batteries, we put the damned thing together. My regrets were quickly dispelled – this thing is FUN. It has already paid for itself in entertainment value – not just for the cats, but for US. If you like playing with remote controlled devices of any sort, this contraption is for YOU. I can report that it works equally well on tile, hardwood, and carpet.

The best part? The volume on our TV remote is the same frequency as the toy. The cats get an extra boost every time we turn the volume on the TV up and down. That element of surprise, you know?