Shredding toys?

[oceanmist]

The first thing I ever saw of Cherry was her chasing a feather toy, so obviously that was one of our first toy choices.

The first one we had, I accidentally broke the stick for it(I forgot that if you bend something, chances are it will break) and she still pulls some feathers from it.

The second one I left on the floor and couldn't find it(Cherry likes to take her toys and hide them).I found it a few days ago and it was broken in half and shredded down to a few feathers.

And the third one disappeared for a while and I found it this morning under my bed, all that was left was one measly feather.

My dad is sick of buying them if the cat is going to rip them apart and I'm sick of finding feathers everywhere. Is there any way to stop her from tearing them to bits?

[Pawsitively Nicole]

I look forward to hearing what others have to say. As far as I can tell this is a normal kitty response. After all, if they got a feathery bird what would they do with it? Shred it of course lol. Feathers are delicate by nature and wear easily. And of course all toys wear with use. At Cherries age her toys are going to be getting some major use and probably will wear a little faster. The only thing I can think of to prevent her from shredding the feather is only allow her to play with them when supervised.

You can try some of these PETCO Fuzzy Mice Cat Toys with Catnip at PETCO They are my cats second favorite toy and I have yet to meet a playful cat that doesn't love them. They are cheap too and fairly durable!

[Susan]

My girls tear apart anything with feathers. So, the only toy they have with feathers is Da Bird, and they only play with that when I'm there to play with them. When it comes to playing on their own, they're left with toy mice, balls and similar items that they don't tear apart.

[Alpaca]

Yah, I don't have any feather toys after I caught Miu eating them. My cats have other substitutes that you can consider. There's many alternatives.

Miu seems to find a cat tent very amusing and will dive in there, pouncing on imaginary foes.

They also play with cat trackballs. They love to swipe and make the ball go along the track. Sometimes I play a ball game with Jack where I swipe it to him and he swipes it back to me.

[JohnMT]

I don't buy toys with feathers anymore, as my cats tear them to pieces, eat parts of the feathers, then hork it up on the carpet The toys with the feathers are always pretty delicate toys and usually a bit overpriced for how long they are going to last.

Most of the fuzzy mice toys I buy them end up beheaded, gutted, and torn to pieces within a few days too. The skins are usually dropped in the water dish after that. Luckily the toys come in 12 packs and are pretty cheap. In my house there's always at least a couple headless fuzzy mice laying around on the floor

Some cats can be petty gentle with their toys, and others are very rough on them. It sounds like you got one that's pretty rough. There are some toys out there that have survived in my house pretty well. They have to be made with some pretty heavy material though.

I'd just stop buying the toys with the feathers and go for something that's a little more durable...or buy cheap 12 packs of fuzzy mice and when they get destroyed, buy another 12 pack

[oceanmist]

@Pawsitively Nicole: We seem to have two toys that have lasted a while. One has big feathers and the other is a fabric tube with feathers at the end. I think I'll look at some of those mice. We used to have a bunch that we got from my grandma(no idea why she had so many when she moved, she didn't have any cats...), but I think Casie stuffed them under the fridge, oven and couches.

@Susan: That looks a bit more than my dad will probably pay for replacements for the Da Bird....

@Alpaca: We have a few old tents from when me and my brother were little that I may use with her when my dad will let me have them, but we have a tunnel made of the same material that Cherry loves.

Those track things look pretty cool. I wanted to get one the other day but we were in a rush to get home, maybe my dad will let me get her one.

@JohnMT: Like I said to Pawsitively Nicole, I think I'll try the little mice.

Thanks everyone!