2016-07-28 04:03 Buying cat toys is a gamble
Y (Kuma's owner)
If you hear the word "gambling," you would imagine slot machines, card games, horse racing or lottery tickets. Gambling is exciting and, if you are lucky enough, you may win a fortune. I have tried gambling three times. I bought lottery tickets in Australia and Japan. Well, I'm not a millionaire now, which means the tickets I bought were all just pieces of paper.
I read a book written by a mathematician. The author said he calculated the probability of winning by gambling, and he came to the conclusion that gambling has high a probability to lose money. Whatever the advertisements of lottery tickets say, I would not buy one anymore. I trust the mathematician.
However, against my will, I sometimes need to gamble. As you already know by the title of this journal, it's about buying cat toys. I have three cats. They are same as us, you know. Different strokes for different cats. One cat likes to play with a small stuffed animal on the end of a string, and others like the string. I've been living with them for a long time and I know what kind of toys they like, but I still choose toys they don't like by mistake. If I could I go shopping with my cats, I would ask them which toys they want.
One day, I bought toys for my cats. I examined the toys in a pet shop carefully and decided to buy balls. On the way home, I was imagining they would be excited with the new toys. What happened when I gave the toys to them was that the youngest cat played with the toy and two other cats ignored it. The oldest cat looked at me reluctantly and his face seemed to be saying, "This toy is for kittens!" Can you guess who was the most excited about the new toys? It was me.
Several days later, I heard the youngest cat running and chasing something. He seemed very excited. I thought it must be the toy I gave him! I rushed to the next room and I saw that the youngest cat was chasing a small piece of cat litter. My cats use the cat litter made of a kind of clay. He preferred to play with a piece of clay than the cat toys I bought at the pet shop. I was very disappointed.
However, I think I can say that they gave me a hint. I don't have to spend money on cat toys, I can make them. I made a ball of old newspaper and threw it. My cats seemed to like it a little bit. I haven't made a toy that has become a big hit with them yet. It depends on the design and how the toy moves.
The biggest hit in my house were the ornament balls from the Christmas tree. You know, those metallic shiny colourful balls. My cats loved to hit them. Therefore, as soon as I decorated the Christmas tree with beautiful balls, they hit and dropped them. Things didn't go as I had expected.
One of my friends who loves cats said it's good to have something that you cannot control as you want. She said that is what cats are like. Yes, there is some truth in what she says. That's why I love cats.