This cat really likes Q-tips

July 2, 2014 6:56 PM

Part One, Part Two.

If you try this at home, you are bound by MetaFilter law to post pictures in the comments.

posted by Jacqueline (34 comments total)

Q-tips are far and away my cat's favorite toy, but I have yet to capture a picture anywhere near as awesome as these!
posted by leesh at 6:58 PM on July 2, 2014

This is what it has come to: me, laughing like an imbecile, at pictures of q-tips being tossed to a cat.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 6:59 PM on July 2, 2014 [13 favorites]

That cat has thumbs and is cheating.
posted by jeather at 7:07 PM on July 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Be careful though; cats sometimes eat them.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:08 PM on July 2, 2014

I used to have a roommate with a kitten who loved Q-tips. But it's a better toy if you bend them into a 90-degree angle, and let the cat play with them on a carpet.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:10 PM on July 2, 2014

That's just...the best. Thank you.
posted by xiaolongbao at 7:14 PM on July 2, 2014

The best cat toy is a pipe cleaner bent into a loose coil. Trust me on this. They're light, they bounce. They have fuzz. Alas, I have no photos, but there are dozens of these underneath my refrigerator right now.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:23 PM on July 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Likes, or is terrorised by Q- tip? Our cat's toy of choice is hair elastics flicked across the room.
posted by arcticseal at 7:28 PM on July 2, 2014

This is a recipe for disaster. What happens if you are lightly swabbing the outer circumferences of your waxy earholes, and the cat decides it is playtime and launches at the q-tip, plunging it directly into your brain?
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:30 PM on July 2, 2014 [16 favorites]

"This is a recipe for disaster. What happens if you are lightly swabbing the outer circumferences of your waxy earholes, and the cat decides it is playtime and launches at the q-tip, plunging it directly into your brain?"

Catricide.
posted by Chitownfats at 7:33 PM on July 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm so gonna try this with our cats.
posted by rtha at 7:54 PM on July 2, 2014

Yeah, I always feared the eating thing, so I do not let my cats get any Q-tips. They are still an object of intense fascination, but I'll stick to letting them play with things that can't fit down their throat.
posted by ursus_comiter at 8:02 PM on July 2, 2014

dammit I don't have any Q tips but now I'ma need to buy some.
posted by sweetkid at 8:08 PM on July 2, 2014

In my experience, cats have ear fetishes in general. I once had a cat that loved to play with those little yellow foam ear plugs you use for loud machinery. And my current cat is obsessed with my ears, no matter how well I clean them. He would live in my ear canal if he could fit in there, and he tries. Usually while I'm trying to sleep. It's almost adorable.
posted by tempestuoso at 8:12 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'll stick to letting them play with things that can't fit down their throat.

Tampons are an excellent substitute.
posted by jeather at 8:13 PM on July 2, 2014

In my experience, cats are obsessed with everything about their people. Mine are obsessed with my shoes, bags, hoodies, and anything that smells like me.
posted by sweetkid at 8:14 PM on July 2, 2014

anything that smells like me.

Let me be clear: unused tampons are an excellent substitute.
posted by jeather at 8:23 PM on July 2, 2014 [18 favorites]

He's training that cat.


TO KILL!
posted by BlueHorse at 8:34 PM on July 2, 2014

anything that smells like me.

Let me be clear: unused tampons are an excellent substitute.

gross! that's not what I meant. I wasn't even referring to your comment.
posted by sweetkid at 8:43 PM on July 2, 2014

I suspect that this was a joke, rather than a serious response to your comment.
posted by arcticseal at 8:46 PM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Yeah, everyone knows that it's dogs who love used tampons.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:47 PM on July 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

I understand that, but it would probably be okay to skip "used tampon" jokes.
posted by sweetkid at 8:48 PM on July 2, 2014

Oona prefers champagne corks, but these pictures have convinced me we need to try Q-Tips with her.
posted by emelenjr at 8:53 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Does Oona's tag say "my name here?"
posted by sweetkid at 8:56 PM on July 2, 2014

Millie adores Qtips. I don't recall any Qtip photos, but she did have an adventure with a green bean. She also enjoys losing pipe cleaners.
posted by maryr at 9:05 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Presumably, it says:

MY NAME IS
OONA

...and the 'is' isn't visible from that angle.
posted by axiom at 9:12 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oona is adorbs. And squirrel watching is srs bzness, my cats agree.
posted by sweetkid at 9:15 PM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Everyone always asked me when I said my cat liked to play with tampons. Every time.
posted by jeather at 9:32 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Though of course I did not think you were referring to me at all, sweetkid, I thought it was just a funny coincidence in post timing.
posted by jeather at 9:33 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yea I'm really not bothered, no worries!
posted by sweetkid at 9:38 PM on July 2, 2014

So, one of my cats constantly jumps up onto my lap when I'm at the computer. When we first got him from the shelter there was a spot on my desk that he would curl up on and nap, but now he's far too big for that. He refuses to accept this thought and screws with the desk, usually trying to partially lay on the keyboard.

Frequently his attempts at lap cuddles are just a clever ruse. See, sometimes when I get out of the shower and use a q-tip I absentmindedly set it on my desk (the clutter, I am ashamed). He uses this position of near-deskitude as a pretense to try and find and consume these. I have no idea how he always knows if one is there (even if obscured). However he is DETERMINED to find and eat them. He has a problem.

Although I suppose less of a problem than his sister who insists on waking my wife up at 4am by standing on her chest and nosing her face. That cat is SERIOUSLY addicted to kitty treats. I wonder if there is any kind of kitty rehab facility, they might both benefit.
posted by Stunt at 10:29 PM on July 2, 2014

Jesus christ how does that cat have thumbs are they evolving??

We are in so much trouble
posted by rifflesby at 11:09 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Frequently his attempts at lap cuddles are just a clever ruse. See, sometimes when I get out of the shower and use a q-tip I absentmindedly set it on my desk (the clutter, I am ashamed). He uses this position of near-deskitude as a pretense to try and find and consume these. I have no idea how he always knows if one is there (even if obscured). However he is DETERMINED to find and eat them. He has a problem.

The Beast discovered that if she jumped up on the table in the hall there was often a set of headphones that she could chew the cord of. After replacing them for the 3rd or 4th time I finally got in the habit of putting them in the little drawer of the table. The other night she must have watched me putting them in the drawer because I walked down the hall about 10 minutes later and there she was on the table patiently *opening the damn drawer*.
Like rifflesby I think that if they ever develop opposable thumbs and can stop licking their butts long enough to organize I think we're in trouble. I for one welcome our new fuzzy-bellied overlords.
posted by bowmaniac at 8:14 AM on July 3, 2014

We had a cat whose favorite playthings were q-tips. She also loved to eat (used) ear plugs.
We called them "earwax-flavored treats" - and took to putting them out of her reach when not in use.
posted by dbmcd at 11:34 AM on July 3, 2014