Cat Nip

Our beautiful big ginger cat, Garfield Naidoo has never been one of those to enjoy a shop bought cat toy.  He has been known to enthusiastically dabble with the occasional piece of string dragged past his nose or have a vigorous argument with his tail but otherwise, when not catching a snooze in a shady spot in the garden, he’ll be out hunting (thankfully he’s not too often successful).   

Fairly recently I came across a catnip hedgehog discarded at the till point when shopping for groceries with a friend, and made one of those willful purchases.  When I got home I carefully decanted some of the dried catnip into the hedgehog and presented Garfield with this new phenomenon.  He took a sniff, his eyes lit up and he proceeded to snatch it out of my open hand. 

He had us in stitches as he flick flaked the brown ball of fluff around the room, gnawing at it vigorously and then throwing it high into the air after which he’d bat it away and chase it like a cat possessed only to start all over again. There was a good 5 minutes of leaping around before he flopped to the floor exhausted, gathering the faux creature under his chin. 

It’s been well over a few weeks now and much to my delight; the novelty has not yet worn off. I still find immense pleasure in watching him re-discover the somewhat now bedraggled thing of his affection at random times of each day, and tuck into it like it’s the first time he’s seen it.  However I must remember to hide it at night, as his 2am play sessions are enough to make any jittery South African reach for their tazer…….