#is now nearly over. cacoa has been making a point of snuggling and cuddling at all times. her purring is wonderful and i love it

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

When we adopted Cacoa, I immediately began the work of figuring out games she enjoys. She loves chasing things, so little balls with bells, rolled up balls of paper, and toy mice became a favorite. She loves shoelaces, and will carry them in her mouth while making her "I caught a mouse" meow. She does thr same thing with her toy mice...and real mice when they get inside our home.

She's front declawed and an outstanding mouser.

Anyway...

Her favorite games are peek-a-boo and tag. For peek-a-boo, we have two versions.

The first version is me peeking around a corner or edge until she chirps, then I hide again before repeating more slowly. She gets very excited, and eventually comes yelling after me, smacking me with her paw, then running off...which turns into tag. We have two rules for tag: it's over when one of us gets in a box or jumps on the bed. Istg this cat understands English, because I explained this only once, and she fucking got it. She'll run all over the place, trying to get to a safe spot, but if I tag her, she comes racing after me. My husband has witnessed this and just watches because it's hilarious. He says I have a specific laugh that only occurs when we play tag. The moment Cacoa gets to her safe spot, or I get on the bed, it's all cuddles and calm.

The second version is peek-a-boo with toys. Peeking a toy around an edge or corner gets her more excited than a rapidly moving string. I slowly drag a string or shoelace away and a around a corner, and she stalks with butt wiggles. The stalking is her favorite part. She waits for the right moment before leaping. If I toss a toy back and forth, she gets bored. But this? Oh, this is gold.

She also enjoys chasing after toys and hair ties when I throw or launch them across a room. Then she smacks them around for awhile, and will take up smacking and chasing them at random.

My cat is almost 18. Tag is a little too much now, same with most chasing. Laser pointers have never been of much interest. She hears the click from the pointer and won't look at the surface the dot is on. She does, however, enjoy carrying toy mice around at very early morning hours (3AM to 6AM) while screaming she caught a mouse. It never fails to bolt me awake because I do not have a favorable opinion regarding mice being in my home. That kind of panic is not how I wanna start my day, so I put her toy mice in a box or on the bed. For some reason, she won't mess with them that way.

I fucking love my cat.