Besides playing games with your cat to strengthen your connection, toys can provide hours of entertainment for both of you. Although clever store bought toys can be had, I find that one of the most inexpensive items that has amused all my cats is simply a cardboard box.

Many years ago, I learned quite by accident my first cat's love of boxes. After removing the contents of a mail order shipment, I temporally left the empty box sitting in the living room. However, I noticed Noelle loved to run toward the box and jump into it, making lots of noise. Often her momentum moved the box across the hardwood floor, and she ended up in a different part of the room--much to her delight. In later years, another one of my cats, Tatianna, adopted a flat box that a large checkbook had been shipped in. The box became a permanent fixture under the Queen Anne coffee table in the living room. It was big enough for her to stretch out, and she exercised her front paws by rubbing on its well-defined edge. She often slept on the box for hours. When Tatianna passed away, I saved her special box for years, unable to part with a piece of her.

Lexie Lee likes a deep box that she can jump into and then spring out to surprise or scare me. She loves this game, and I can almost hear her snickering. She also likes a shorter, shallow box to lounge in. When I have a tall box, I turn it on its side creating a tunnel. Lexie Lee crawls to the end to secretly hide or to later sprint out.

So I have learned to decorate my home with at least one cardboard box at all times. As the box becomes tattered and torn from zealous play, it is replaced by a new box. After a brief breaking in period, the box is part of Lexie Lee's favorite play things.

Do you have a funny story about your cat playing with cardboard boxes?

Happy Purrs!