Cats sleep a lot. But when they are awake, they love to hunt. Even though Freya and Fiona were indoor cats, their hunting instincts were on par. They never actually caught living prey (except for the occasional sky raisin, aka housefly), but strings, pieces of paper, and cat toys kept them occupied whenever they felt the need to catch something.
When they were kittens, I played with them a lot. I remember many monkey-in-the-middle sessions where my now-husband and I were throwing a little ping pong ball to each other, while the kittens were trying to catch it. They made the most amazing jumps. They didn’t play with each other anymore after they grew up, mainly, I think, because Freya was much larger than Fiona, so Fiona was a little scared of her. Well, they did have the occasional tiff, but that wasn’t really serious playing.
But they did take turns playing with me. Usually, Freya was the first to play, and then Fiona would take over after a bit. They would both watch each other play.
From time to time I would buy some cat toys at the pet store, and those were usually played with only for a short amount of time. Mousies were fun at first, but Freya and Fiona both quickly lost interest in them. Fiona loved them more than Freya did, and she also loved playing with strings. She regularly got crazy eyes and ran through the house, hunting invisible prey.
Freya mostly loved soft, small balls, and strings as well. She even played catch when she was young. She would pick up a soft ball and bring it to me, while trying to meow at the same time. It was a very peculiar sound.
One time, a good friend of mine sent me a present for Freya’s birthday that included a small, felted ball. That was a true jackpot toy. Freya played with it a lot. As well as with a random piece of white string and the occasional bit of paper or fibre. Freya also hunted invisible prey sometimes, howling in the middle of the night.
I made another little video, this time of Freya and Fiona playing. I’m glad that I still have these videos. It feels as if they are almost here again when I watch those. I’m so lucky that I got to spend their lives with them.
