Weekend Project: Build Your Own Cat Distractor

The one thing that will get your cat to listen to you, follow you around the house like a puppy, and keep itself occupied, and out of trouble for awhile is this thing.

It may look like a little plastic ring, but to the Felis catus, it is crack.

No matter what they are doing at the time, annoying you with those choreographed in 'n outs through your legs while you are taking dinner from the oven, or slapping your face as you lie in bed trying for those last few minutes of sleep, if they so much as hear one of these rings hit the floor you can say, Adios, gato!

There is something about these plastic circles that drive cats mad.  I used to think it was the scent of milk from the milk jug from which they came, but after finding a few under the couch months after they were lost, and they still have the same narcotic effect on them, I now doubt that is the reason.  It could be how the thing springs madly about when slapped with a paw, and can be carried from room to room in their mouths, but I haven't a clue.  It is something powerful, though.  It can distract the most hungry, and persistent cat, the most annoying cat that appears out of no where to sit on your head while you are watching TV.  Just toss it on the floor, and watch the fun.  If we could invent a human equivalent I believe we could achieve world peace.    All we would need to do is have fly a drone over a trouble area, drop a few hundred thousand of these little plastic diplomats onto the angry throngs, and then sit back and watch the distraction.  After awhile, the opposing parties may forget what had them so hot and bothered for in the first place, and go out for a beer.

I hope those smart kids at WPI are reading this.

How to Build Your Own Cat Distractor

The plastic cat ring in its natural state.

1. Buy a jug of milk with a turn off cap.
2. Take off the cap.
3. Take off the ring.  A fork may help.
4. Put cap back on the milk jug.
5. Toss the cat distractor onto the floor in front of cat.
6. Watch the fun.

*  You may pour a glass of milk for yourself between steps 3 and 4.