Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Return of Rattle Mouse

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This is Rattle Mouse. He's always been Wylla's favorite toy, and she loves to chase him, toss him in the air, and carry him in her mouth until he's saturated with kitten drool. Wherever Wylla goes, Rattle Mouse goes too. There's a pocket in her travel bag reserved just for him.

On many occasions,  in the middle of night and on the way to the bathroom, my bare feet have discovered the soggy mouse abandoned in the middle of the bedroom floor.

"DAMN YOU, RATTLE MOUSE!" I would exclaim,  as I shook my fists in the dark.

It's kind of like stepping on a freshly hacked hairball, only bigger and wetter. And grosser.

For months, Rattle Mouse was missing. We decided  he must have been left behind at a motel somewhere between here and California, and kind of forgot about the little fellow.

But yesterday, Rattle Mouse resurfaced. He had been buried in the bottom of a toy basket, and boy was Wylla happy when we made this discovery.  She played with him all day, and I fell asleep to the sounds of Wylla wrestling with her precious Rattle Mouse.

In the morning, instead of the usual sounds of Bean trying to wake me for breakfast, I heard the rattle of Rattle Mouse.

It was a little early to get up and start the day, so I stayed bed, waking and thinking, and I recalled a dream I had of an epic Yahtzee match. I laughed when I realized that Rattle Mouse's rattle does sound EXACTLY  like the sound of someone shaking a plastic cup of Yahtzee dice.

And then I remembered that it was no accident that Rattle Mouse went missing.

We'll let Wylla enjoy being reunited with her little friend for a while,  but don't be surprised if he "goes missing" again.  


23 comments:

  1. Ewwwww, I feel your icky sensation of wet toy and bare foot! But gosh she must be cute playing with her favorite toy!!

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  2. This is why my kitties don't have toys that make noises.

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  3. Too funny! I can relate to that--sometimes toys "go missing" in our house as well. But it's all the more exciting when the toy is rediscovered, as Wylla has proven.

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  4. Oh, good. I'm not the only one who hides "noisy" pet toys to get a break from them.

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  5. Haha!! So much funny here... "epic Yahtzee match" and "DAMN YOU, RATTLE MOUSE!" -- not to mention the picture of the actual little beastie. Good gravy, it's a cute littel thing!

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  6. My cat (Custard) loved 'Purple Mouse' when he was a kitten. Purple Mouse got soggier and soggier and dirtier and dirtier so I decided to buy a new one... Doppelganger Purple Mouse as the new toy became known remains to this day unloved and un-played with! Jo x

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    1. Why is that? I have bought identical toys for my fur babies too, when the original gets too worn to keep, and it never seems to have the same appeal. Hmmm.

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    2. Psychological experiments with toddlers show that if you take their favorite toy, hide it, then give it back to them saying it's a different toy but identical to their old one they'll reject it because it's not their toy. Cats may have the same cognitive process. A new toy won't replace their old one.

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  7. We have banned the mice with the bells inside for the same reason. Also the foam glitter balls feel like hairballs in the dark.

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  8. I recall stepping on one of your sparkle balls now and then. The green one was especially prized for some reason. Equally as gross saturated with drool :D

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  9. Did Wylla feel any separation anxiety when RM first went missing?

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  10. I have these foam rubber balls the size of gold balls that my cat loves. She has the habit of leaving them in the doorway so when I get up to use the toilet in the middle of the night I'd step on them. The balls don't hurt but your first instinct to stepping on something unexpected is to move your foot. (She has also been known to carry it into bed and drop it by my head for playtime.)

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  11. I remember doing the same thing with some of my children's toys when they were little, not because they were like a horked-up hairball but because of the noise they made at the worst times. I'm glad Wylla has had a chance to enjoy Rattle Mouse again for a little while, but I suspect he may be a very, very occasional toy, for some reason. :)

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  12. I ordered two of them on amazon just to see if Zou or Indy would play with it. Zoubi carries a stick toy around (all night up and down the stairs) and Indy only likes a crummy black stick with 3 inches of string left on it. Maybe that Jo Jingles rattle mouse will help them! I'm sure there will be an uptick on amazon for that toy mouse.

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  13. Awww I can relate to Wylla's glee with her toy. When I hear my cats playing with one of their noisemaker toys, it makes me happy!

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  14. Awww, sweet Wylla! Rattle Mouse has re-surfaced for now - I'm sure you will have tons of fun with him until he gets put away again.

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  15. I can imagine Wylla's joy, playing with Rattle Mouse, and the enjoyment you and Craig have, watching her. I love watching my cats go gonzo with their favorite toys. My black cat, Maya, has one that looks like a Tribble she loves to rabbit kick and carry around and leave lying outside my bedroom door, like she's offering to share her toys. ;) If you have a chance, could you record some footage of Wylla playing with her friend and post it?

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  16. Stinkies catnip fishies were banned in my Mom's house - cats played with them so much they were constantly drool-soaked (ew).

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  17. Does anyone else have a cat that drops toys like this (stuffed little mice especially) in their water bowl? Talk about drool-soggy toys.. Drenched toys out of the water bowl are icky, too. Wonder what goes on in their little brains.. do they think that the stuffed animal looks thirsty?

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    1. My little girl used to do that! It drove us crazy.

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    2. Our theory is that they are baptizing their lovies. We've fostered for years and have our own kitties and have never met a single fur baby that wasn't interested in baptism!

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  18. My little boy has Green Mouse. He carries Mouse around while crying when we leave for the day. Then Mouse is either deposited on the bathroom rug, on the rug by the kitchen sink or on top of (or in) my husbands slippers. It's adorable. I always hoped to have a kitty that would carry a toy around and my boy loves Green Mouse. We take him along on car rides to keep little boy company in his crate (little boy and his sister have separate crates - little girl used to get squashed up against the door while little boy spread out and got comfy).

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