Well, Patrick the Screwy Orange Cat has discovered a new toy.

[Brigid]

I forgot and left a hair elastic lying around, and now I can't get it away from him. I don't think he can swallow it, but what is it with cats and elastics?

[CBHagman]

1. I cannot tell you.

Maybe it's a hunter thing? :shrug:

Do you have pictures of Patrick?

[Brigid]

2. I have a few, but they're not very good.

They were taken with a my blackberry. I need to get a digital camera.

[Flaxbee]

3. Do be careful, though - our cat ate (with glee, I might add) a rubber band last week.

Gave her an upset tummy for a few days - she wasn't a happy girl - and then the third morning, voila! Rubber band in cat puke on the floor. That's better than having it make its way through the intestines.

Some cats are attracted to rubbery things. If it's a covered elastic band, it's probably OK. But if you can snatch it from Patrick when he's not looking... might be best.

[Brigid]

4. If it had been a rubber band . . .

I would have been more agressive about getting it away from him. Those, of course, are strictly forbidden. But this hair elastic is a big, fat covered one, and he wasn't even trying to swallow it. I think he has lost it already.

[Kennah]

5. Cats are one of the great paradoxes of life

Snatch a bird in flight from the air, but a shiny object mesmerizes them.

Of course, dogs eat their own poop, but understand physics, momentum, and acceleration due to gravity sufficiently well to intercept a thrown ball or stick in flight.

[distantearlywarning]

8. Never mind a shiny object, cardboard boxes are hypnotizing to cats!

[Kennah]

6. Now deceased cat of mine, Sweat Socks, would eat tinsel

You'd have thought she was a teenage boy.

"Heh, look at the shiny thing coming outta my ass!"

I swear it seemed like she ate it just to chase it when it was hanging out her ass.

[GoCubsGo]

9. Our family cat used to eat it, too.

After that, no more tinsel on tree. It's kind of a pain anyway, especially when it comes time to take down the tree.

[kedrys]

7. My aunt had a cat who would eat rubber bands and elastics

Ended up at the vet more than once. You might tell Patrick it's not a really good idea.

Elastics look and behave a little bit like snakes. I give my cats old shoelaces instead, and they kill the crap out of those.