Does your cat love model new toys from the pet retailer—or would they somewhat simply play with the packaging all of it is available in? Most cats like to play with home items simply as a lot as any store-bought cat toy.
One such feline favourite is hair ties. From batting them throughout the ground to carrying them round of their mouth, hair ties (and rubber bands) present countless leisure for some cats. However what’s it about them that piques cats’ curiosity?
Key Takeaways
Many cats like to play with hair ties as a result of they make superb “prey,” stimulating their pure searching instincts.
Some cats will attempt to chew or swallow hair ties and this could make them a harmful selection of toy.
To stop your cat from enjoying with hair ties, preserve them out of attain and provide your cat safer various toys as an alternative.
Why Do Cats Like Hair Ties?
There are many explanation why cats like hair ties. Listed below are the 5 commonest.
1. Cats Are Curious
Cats are naturally curious creatures and discover their surroundings by patting, knocking, and swatting at completely different objects that they arrive throughout. Their delicate paws, which include a lot of nerve endings, assist them to determine what an object is and whether or not or not it’s secure.
When a cat bats at a hair tie, it usually flies throughout the floor at a quick pace, inflicting the cat to instinctively chase it. This brings us naturally to purpose quantity two.
2. Pure Searching Instincts
Home cats have a robust searching intuition leftover from once they wanted to hunt to outlive. Though our pet cats don’t have to hunt to eat, their intuition to chase and hunt stays robust, even with indoor cats who will nonetheless chase, pounce on, and “kill” toys.
A cat’s intuition to exhibit predatory habits is so robust that even inanimate objects are typically handled as prey. Enjoying is a pure outlet for that searching intuition and hair ties are a typical selection of “prey” as a result of they’re light-weight and transfer readily when batted.
Hair ties can turn out to be caught on issues (together with a cat’s claws) and, in doing so, mimic the motion of a prey animal reminiscent of rodents. This will increase the cat’s prey drive even additional.
3. Cats Just like the Texture
Hair ties are fascinating for cats as a result of they make the right “prey” for them to bat round and to observe their searching abilities. Shutterstock.com
Relying on the hair tie, your cat is likely to be drawn to the feel of it. A few of them are fluffy, which may mimic a prey animal. A few of them make crinkly sounds that may entice your cat’s curiosity. And plenty of of them are gentle, that are tactile to your cat’s gentle paws. The feel of a hair tie can even have an effect on the best way it strikes round when your cat performs with it.
4. Favorable Smells
Cats could just like the comforting scent of their proprietor on the hair ties. Cats have an especially well-developed sense of scent, with much more olfactory receptors than people have. Actually, a cat’s nostril is sort of 40 instances extra delicate than ours, so even brand-new hair ties provide intriguing smells to your cat. I’ve a cat who enjoys rubbing on and scent-marking rubber objects round the home, reminiscent of dumbbells and tires. Many hair ties may have that rubber elastic scent that some cats like.
5. They Can Be Hoarded
Chances are high you will have greater than only one hair tie round the home, particularly in case your cat retains making off with them! Cats are opportunistic hunters, which suggests they are going to hunt when the possibility arises, even when they’re not hungry at that second.
They’ll then retailer and save their catch for later. In case your cat is treating hair ties as prey, then they is likely to be hoarding them for later. Attempt checking inside your cat’s mattress, below the sofa, or your mattress for a secret stash of hair ties.
The Dangers of Cats Enjoying With Hair Ties
For a lot of cats, enjoying with hair ties is innocent and only a little bit of enjoyable. Nevertheless, it may be extremely harmful in case your cat ingests one among these overseas objects. Not solely do they pose a choking hazard, but when your cat swallows a number of hair ties, it might trigger an obstruction in your cat’s gastrointestinal tract, together with the esophagus, abdomen, or intestines.
This may be life-threatening and your cat will want surgical procedure to take away the obstruction. Indicators that your cat has an obstruction might embrace a lowered urge for food, vomiting, lethargy, and stomach ache. Name a veterinarian instantly in case your cat exhibits any of those signs.
Supervise your cat in order that they don’t develop a style for them and chew or swallow them. In case you are in any doubt, it’s best to not let your cat play with hair ties in any respect, to forestall any critical well being points.
How Can I Cease My Cat From Enjoying With Hair Ties?
Take away The Temptation
The primary and most evident answer to forestall your cat from enjoying with hair ties is to take away them from their attain. Retailer them someplace they will’t entry, reminiscent of a drawer or field, and watch out to not go away stray hair ties mendacity round. Make all relations conscious to do the identical factor and educate kids the significance of not letting your cat play with hair ties.
Present Safer Options
In case you are nervous about your cat choking on or consuming hair ties, there are many secure toys in the marketplace to exchange them with.
There are many safer alternate options to hair ties that you might contemplate. Fleece balls, catnip toys, and even a scrunched-up piece of paper can all present the identical enjoyable as a hair tie. Encourage your cat to play with these cat toys by rolling them throughout the ground, putting them inside a field, or throwing them on your cat to ‘fetch’.
Indoor cats usually tend to attempt to alleviate boredom by enjoying with issues they shouldn’t, reminiscent of hair ties, so it’s particularly necessary to supply psychological stimulation and spend time every day interacting and enjoying along with your cat.
Some cats will chew on inappropriate objects as a technique to alleviate stress. In case your cat is chewing excessively on hair ties, communicate to your veterinarian for assist. Hair ties could pose a choking hazard and will trigger a gastrointestinal blockage if swallowed. It’s finest to at all times supervise your cat when enjoying with them.
Ceaselessly Requested Questions
Why does my cat play with my hair tie?
Cats are curious and hair ties are, merely put, enjoyable to play with. Hair ties are light-weight and straightforward to bat, making them superb “prey” which stimulates a cat’s robust searching intuition.
Ought to I let my cat play with hair ties?
More often than not, hair ties are only a little bit of enjoyable for cats to play with. Nevertheless, they do pose a choking hazard if swallowed and will trigger a gastrointestinal obstruction which may be life-threatening, so at all times supervise your cat enjoying with hair ties. For those who assume your cat may eat hair ties, then it’s best to forestall him from enjoying with them in any respect and supply different secure toys for him to play with.
Is it regular for cats to eat hair ties?
Most cats simply play with hair ties however some cats will chew on them and even eat them. This may have critical penalties on your cat so it’s best to at all times supervise your cat when enjoying with hair ties. In case your cat tries to eat them, then at all times be certain that hair ties are stored out of attain.
