Playing with the Cats

     Before the cats come back and hog the desk top, I'm going to type my next observation regarding harmless addictions. Speaking of cats, this summer, I downloaded a few "apps for cats" on my iPad 2 (put in quotation marks because that's how I searched for them in the App Store). I tried them out on my cat-away-from-home cat (a friend's cat that I play with while I'm on vacation). She played a little bit with one of the apps, called Fun and Games for Cats, but she wasn't really that interested in any of them (I have six such apps for cats). I did think that maybe my cats would not be interested in them because my c-a-f-h cat didn't really care for them. However, one of my cats is not yet two years old, and I knew that she would take a liking to at least one of the games. Was I ever right about that!
     My youngest cat, Bella, loves the apps that have been made specifically for cats. Her favorite happens to be the one that my c-a-f-h cat didn't really get a kick out of: Fun and Games for Cats. The app has three activities for cats: PiCATso Paint App, Catch Games, and Cat Music App. Catch Games has four different critters to catch or chase: mouse, fish, spider, and butterfly. Bella likes the mouse the best because it squeaks as it scurries about the iPad screen. It's set to look like it's running off the screen and then on again. Watching Bella watch and then try to catch the mouse is truly entertaining. Especially amusing is watching her try to find the mouse behind or under my iPad. I have videotaped her several times. The video below is the latest.

 

     Other cat-apps I have are: Catch the Mouse, Game for Cats (this one has three catching games of mouse, butterfly, and laser dot), Kitty's Toys (balloons, birds, fish, Critter Bop, twinkly stars, and a bouncing ball), Cat Toys (mouse, rat, ping pong ball, frog, and spider), and Cat Toys Lite (the free version of Cat Toys has only the mouse). Bella likes the ping pong ball and spider in Cat Toys. 

     I've discovered that I cannot open my iPad if Bella is nearby. When I do, she looks imploringly at the iPad and expects me to turn it on and open up the mouse game so she can play. Tonight, for example, I turned on the iPad and opened up Words with Friends. Bella, sitting on top of my computer desk, immediately came over to me and looked, wide-eyed, at the screen. Determined to play my game, I told her she had to wait. Generally, cats wait for no one. I was persistent, and Bella finally conceded, patiently waiting for me to finish my game. Eventually, she got tired of waiting and left the room. Later, when she returns, I'll let her play the mouse game.

     Playing with the cats is truly a harmless addiction and a healthy one, as well. According to Life with Cats (http://www.lifewithcats.tv/2011/03/26/health-benefits-of-cat-ownership/), owning a cat can benefit humans in the following ways: reduced cardiovascular disease risk, lower cholesterol, reduced stroke risk, fewer trips to the doctor, and longer life spans. From experience, having cats around me helps me feel relaxed. When I'm not feeling well (sometimes that happens even though I have cats), a cat lying on me actually makes me feel better. I call Gypsy my feline heating pad, and her purring is simply therapeutic for both her and me.

     I have almost always had cats ever since I was a child. For a brief period in my life, I didn't have cats, and during that time I experienced a few health problems related to stress. In 1999, a friend of mine gave me a kitten, and that reignited my love of and for cats. I now have four cats, aged 13 (Moky), 12 (Gypsy), 5 (Stormy), and a little over a year and a half (Bella). I cherish every moment I have with them. I enjoy playing with them and watching them play with each other (I'm not too crazy about their fighting, which sometimes happens in a multi-cat household). Playing with the cats makes me laugh, and everyone knows that "laughter is the best medicine."