ThePaws.com: 12 Toy Kitty Gab Bag - $3.99

FREE shipping with coupon code.

ThePaws.com is offering this cute little Kitty Grab Bag, which includes 12 toys, for only $3.99 with FREE shipping when you use coupon code cats4me during check out. This is a great deal for those who have a little cat (kitty) they like - and these would probably work for small dogs, too!

Take advantage of the best cat toy deal around! This Kitty GRAB BAG features several kinds of toys your cat will love to play with. Here's what it features:

  • Catnip Flatties
  • Foam Soccer Balls
  • Pyramid Pillows
  • Stuffed Socks
  • Mylar Crinkle Balls
  • Mini Kix with feathers
  • Catnip Pillows
  • Jingle Jangle Jars

There are many styles and colors and we would be glad to choose for you. We will pawsitively do our best to select one of each style for you. Psst...for a limited time we're adding in 2 more toys for free! That's 12 toys instead of 10!

Cute Kitty Movies for Kids

My child is currently obsessed with “puppies and kittens.” She asks for new ones every day (though we’re perfectly happy with the “old” ones) and, even after we just got a third cat, a little five-month-old named River, she continues to beg for yet another a kitten or puppy. While we’re not about to do that, we can let her watch all the kitten and puppy movies that she wants (within reason; I’m not letting her watch Cats and Dogs for twenty hours a day, like she’d prefer). I have noticed, however, that there are many, many more movies that show dogs in a positive light than cats.

Here are some good kitten and cat movies for children who can’t get enough of the feline frenzy. If you can think of any others, feel free to add them in the comments.

Milo and Otis

The titular character, an orange tabby named Milo, gets into dozens of mishaps and adventures throughout this fun, originally Japanese movie, before settling down with his pal, Otis, and their two families.

Homeward Bound

My daughter loves the cat in this movie, Sassy, and her incredible antics. She likes to quote her with, “Cats rule and dogs drool!” Plus, Sassy survives an enormous fall from a waterfall and proves to be one tough cat.

Cats Don’t Dance

This animated adventure features a singing cat named Danny who wants to become a big movie star. It features a huge cast of animals, some fun song and dance numbers, and the message that you should never give up on your dreams.

Hocus Pocus

My daughter loves this movie, too. It’s a little dark and shouldn’t be viewed by the younger crowd (there’s a walking zombie, scary witches, and other spooky elements), but it features the most adorable talking cat named Binx that you could ever hope to have in a movie. He’s so adorable, in fact, that we named one of our cats after him.

The Aristocats

This animated Disney adventure is a classic and lots of fun to sing along with, no matter what age you’re at. It’s very old-fashioned and not very clever at all, but the cats are pretty darn cute.

The Cat Returns

This Miyazaki film is both funny and charming, featuring Cary Elwes as the titular character. The cats in this film all have human personalities and are very entertaining, as is the film’s heroine, voiced by Anne Hathaway.

The Domestic Cat: Ancestral History

In 2004 archaeologists investigating a Neolithic site in Cyprus discovered the grave of a small child, carefully buried with seashells, polished stones, and other decorative natural artifacts, and the skeleton of a kitten, apparently added to the grave a few months after the initial burial. The grave was made about 9,500 years ago, on the site of the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos. Previously, the earliest evidence of the close association between cats as domesticated animals and pets was Egyptian, and about 4,000 years later.

The domestic cat or "house cat," known to biologists as Felis catus, is a sub species of Felinae and is itself a sub-class of the larger class Felidae. The house cat's closest relatives include the wildcat and the Chinese Mountain cat. Felis catus, based on a ceremonial burial in Cyprus, seems to have been a human companion for at least 9,000 years, or since the Neolithic era (think Stonehenge and earlier, thousand of years before the pyramids). Technically, wild cats or Felis silvestris are the ancestral species of the smaller Felis catus; the primary distinction being that Felis catus has been selectively adapted by humans.

Felis silvestris, the Wildcat is a small cat, albeit one that is larger than all but the very largest of domestic cats. It is native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa, and like its domestic relative, it hunts mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. Wildcats are currently divided into five extant subspecies: the European wildcat, the Near Eastern wildcat, the Southern African wildcat, the Central Asian wildcat and the Chinese desert cat. Recent DNA research has demonstrated that all of the domestic breeds we think of as house cats or Felis catus are descended from one of five female of the Wildcat species in the Near East known as Felis silvestris lybica, first domesticated about 10,000 years ago. The DNA of all house cats and fancy breeds of cats are descended from this Near Eastern Wildcat species, according to DNA studies by Carlos A. Driscoll published in the journal Science in 2007.

About the time of that Neolithic burial in Cyprus, farmers were growing semi-domesticated grains, especially wheat, rye and barley. Growing grain inevitably leads to storing grain, a practice that attracts rodents. Rodents attract cats, and so it seems quite likely that the conditions were perfect for a human-feline partnership to be born. One of the things that's particularly compelling about that kitten, apparently buried in a grave with its human, is that Cyprus was settled by Neolithic farmers who crossed over to the island from Turkey, and would have brought all their domesticated animals with them, including cats (there is no evidence at all of any native wildcats in Cyprus).

Image credit: Digital Medievalist; from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
C. 332–30 B.C. Egypt's Ptolemaic period

Cat vs Printer: The Translation [NSFW]

We've all seen the a cat becomes fascinated with Things that Move. The Moving Thing can be a cat toy on a string, the cord of the new blinds you've just put up, or a shoe string. In this video we have a cat fascinated by a printer—and a voice-over translation providing commentary from the cat.

Simon's Cat: Santa Claws

I think anyone who has ever simultaneously been owned by a cat and owned a Christmas tree can relate to this animations from Simon. You will note the characteristic feline attempt at plausible deniability, on the part of Simon's Cat, and an equally characteristic feline interest in the important matters, like food.

Don’t Punish Your Cats for Clawing Stuff

When we first met our tabby, Fuego, at the local Humane Society (which is actually a bit of a drive for us), we were informed that his previous parents had also adopted him there—and returned him five years later, before moving. They had complained that he scratched things, but they did not provide him with any scratching equipment—which, to me, is like complaining when you don’t vote, or something to that effect.

Cats scratch for a variety of reasons. One reason, researchers have discovered, is to communicate with one another. Another is to sharpen their claws. For whatever reason, it is normal, natural cat behavior, and it should be expected and tolerated, not punished.

On the other hand, you also don’t want your furniture (or, in our case, carpet) destroyed, either. You can protect your property while still refusing to be hateful to your cat easily enough. First of all, providing scratching posts is essential. Two or three are a must; if you like, providing even more—one or two in each room—can even be done to ensure the least amount of property damage. Kittens and young cats will likely take a liking to these posts quickly, especially if you put them near places they enjoy scratching already. Use favorite toys, such as play mice or jingle bells, to play around the scratching post to garner interest. You can even purchase scratching posts that already have toys attached to them, which will also interest your cat.

If your cat still isn’t interested, get creative. Try scratching the post yourself! You’d be surprised at what might work. You also want to keep it out in the open, in the main parts of the home. It might not be a beautiful sight to see, but if you keep it out of sight—say, behind the couch, like we did for a while—it likely won’t get used. Older cats can be harder to change, as they already know what they enjoy. After all, how hard is it to convince a loved one who drinks whole milk or who eats white bread (like my husband) to make healthier choices? You can still provide encouragement, such as treating the posts with catnip.

You can also discourage cats from clawing up furniture in a more humane fashion. Remove the furniture or carpet, for example, or cover it with a hard plastic that can’t be scratched as well. Be sure to keep providing the scratching posts while you do this, and your cat will likely get the hang of it.

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