Friday, October 24, 2008

Casey's Cat Toys




I've been a slacker on the knitting blog. I know. It's been mentioned.

But rest assured, just because I haven't been here doesn't mean that I haven't been finishing any objects. Like these cat toys.

One of the life events that's been happening off-screen was the death of my cat, Casey. "Casey" was just a nickname. Her full given name was Killer Cat, shortened to K.C., then lengthened again to Casey to obscure her ill-behaved past in the shelter.

I'm not sure that she ever actually killed anything in her life, but she was so fierce at the shelter that the vet refused to administer her shots before she left. She wasn't immunized until a week later, when she was knocked out to be spayed. Soon after, she bit my ex so hard that a doctor visit was required (for the ex, not Casey). The shelter workers told us that her behavior problems likely stemmed from the fact that she had been born the runt of her litter and picked on by her siblings. (Casey, not my ex. Although...)

Casey mellowed after a few years in our otherwise pet-free and child-free home. She lived another 14 long and happy years.

I found these cat toys on Ravelry and decided to make some for a shelter like the one that Casey came from.  (There were supposed to be four of them, but SOMEONE distracted me and caused me to fubar the last one. You know who you are. And thanks again.)

I stuffed each one with a crinkly paper ball, one of Casey's favorite toys, and a couple of cotton balls each. Casey loved stuffed toys like this, things that she could bite into and strut around with like prey. The paper toy in the stuffing gives it a cat-pleasing crinkly sound, and hopefully it will mean that when the knitted part is quickly destroyed, there will be another toy inside to play with.

The cotton is also a tribute to Casey. In addition to those commercially available stuffed mouse toys that she favored, she also occasionally stalked whole herds of cotton long-tailed mice that she found hiding cleverly in a box under the bathroom sink. They may have tried to disguise themselves as something called "Tampax," but she was never fooled by this obvious ruse. 

She was a killer, after all.

Take a look at the picture of Casey taken shortly after she came home from the shelter. Despite her runty kitten body, she had giant bat ears and a tail longer than she was tall. I thought she looked more like a lemur than a kitten.

Rest in peace, Casey. You were a credit to your species. And to lemurs everywhere.



1 comment:

Lisa said...

God Speed Casey! You just reminded me that I can also make these toys for our local SPCA. I am already a volunteer for the kittens and I'm certain they would love more toys...And, I'm sorry that I never met Casey. She sounds a lot like my Eraser....