Drabble by Kevin Fagan for August 26, 2023

That cat always looks like it has wings.

Years ago, I had a friend who had a Siamese. He would pack the end of a straw to weigh it down a little, toss it, and that cat WOULD fetch. For like 5 minutes at a time. Amazing. I never saw that again.

If you wanted the ball so bad, why did you throw it away?

Oogie is waiting for you to do something that entertains her, Ralph…

You have to throw something the cat wants.

Our cat used to bring us her small cloth ball and she would fetch it several times before tiring of the game. Her favorite was hide-and-seek. She would hide behind the bedroom door and jump out at us as we went past or she’d hide at the top of the stairs laying as flat as she would go with her ears back flat on her head she would peek over the edge of the top looking for us to find her. I think we were her favorite toys.

No, no, no, Ralph: a kitten’s/cat’s attention will only be caught by a very important object you mistakenly left laying out in plain sight that they’re NOT supposed to get. . .so far, it’s been my glasses (which had to be repaired), my toothbrush (which, thank gawd was ready to be replaced), my sister’s comb (which still hasn’t been found). . .

My cat loves to fetch. He likes his mouse, dingle ball, paper balls and his favorite zippy ties. I tell people my cat plays fetch and my dog a chihuahua watches

We had a cat who liked to play fetch with milk jug rings.

A tennis ball is far too big for a cat to fetch (unless you’re trying to keep a mountain lion as a pet or something). Try something smaller like a pith ball.

I used to play a soccer-like game with my cats (in the basement, where there’s a big tile floor). I started out using a tennis ball, but they got scared of something that big coming at them. When I switched to a smaller “jingle-ball” toy, they got into it.

Are real throws or fake throws more interesting to cats? It’s a toss-up.

Oogie’s on to you, he figures you threw it away so you don’t want it.

It’s a cat: throw the ball at him and maybe he’ll leave for good.

I have a cat that fetches. When he first started doing it I thought it was cute – but now I usually rue ever having encouraged it. He will come and insist on playing at the most inopportune times….like when I’m on the job working remotely from home. Staring me down. He does fortunately tire after a few throws but usually not as quickly as I would like!

I had a cat that fetched.