Cats

Cats are unique creatures! Here are some interesting ideas and facts about cats that we have crafted for your entertainment. Our goal is to give readers an educated opinion about cats that comes from pet industry professionals who own and love cats.

COLOR VISION

Despite what many believe, cats do see color. Their eyes have two rods that make them sensitive to Blue and Yellow Green! This is exciting information if you are choosing a cat toy color. Research at CatTamboo has revealed to us that the color Aqua (click aqua to see our product sample) is particularly visible to cats. Aqua is also our most popular color for CatTamboo™ interactive cat toys. Green is also available at special request.

Most people may not know it, but blue light penetrates the deepest into water. Like water, a cats eye is deep and uses low light in the same way. Cats can see with one sixth the light that we require to see!

Cat Behavior – from the CatTamboo Lab

more cats — 16 pound test cat named Hobbes loves his CatTamboo!

At CatTamboo, we perform regular behavior test and observations with cats and our range of cat toys. We try to reach a wide range of domesticated cat’s and even some wild cats. Wikipedia’s definition fails to mention how domestic cats and wild cats are fundamentally similar. Both wild and domestic cats have an innate hunting instinct as a basic and fundamental characteristic. The difference is that domestic cats can have social and behavioral problems. Within feline psychology are the trails of being raised in human households. We have observed how many felines have lost connection with their hunting instincts. We have learned through our trials that by re-engaging those instincts, some of the behavior disorders can change rapidly as if a trigger is switched within the suffering cat. We have learned that by captivating all 5 senses of a bird or insect and bringing it into the house and relationship between house cats and owners, you can effectively reconnect most felines with their innate hunting instinct that is fundamentally important to a cats psychological and sociological well being.

At CatTamboo headquarters in Billings, MT – researchers have discovered more interesting incites into a cat’s mind.

About cats from our perspective:

Cats have active imaginations. This may seem trivial because cats are so playful, but it is an important fact because the flip side of imagination (especially when lacking stimulation) is boredom.

Our customers like to engage their pets often and keep life fun for their fury friends. Their testimonials are profound in our understanding of people and their pets. Our most common testimonials say: (1) my cat doesn’t want to play with the other toys – he wants his CatTamboo; (2) where do you hide your toy? -my cat finds it on the highest shelves! (3) What do you put on your toys that makes my cat so crazy for them? You forgot to tell us that CatTamboo pet toys are addictive!

The addictive nature of CatTamboo™ pet toys:

We believe the addictive nature a CatTamboo™ cat toys results a combination of factors.

Cats have active imaginations that help them easily imagine our interactive pet toys as real prey – even to the point of fooling cats to believe it is absolutely real!
Socially, cats love their people and want to share their lives with them! Hunting is typically a solitary activity and with CatTamboo™ cat toys, your cat(s) can share their talents with you! All cats love to show off their moves: stalking, pouncing, swatting, jumping, scratching, speed, agility, cunning, and accuracy! A cat’s success while hunting directly effects his or her self esteem. This is because the hunting instinct is a basic instinct that never leaves them and is fundamental to their nature.
CatTamboo™ cat toys are straight up fun for everyone! The energy in the room when cats and people are interacting with CatTamboo is explosive and fun; cute and cuddly and just straight up creates happiness.

Personality and Intelligence

Other resources on cats skip over the important facts about cat behavior. Wikipedia for example states that “one poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human owners”. In our opinion, this is not poorly understood at all. Most cat owners know that cats bring their owners gifts out of love. Cats are hunters. They patiently hunt and then bring us the prize!

Cats love people! They love sharing! They love you, they love life, they often love each other, and the love hunting! Cats are intelligent creatures that possess unique many of the empathetic qualities that differentiate human beings from other animals. This is because cats are intelligent and they absorb these qualities from humans. Other animals do it also, but cats do it uniquely well.

Cats teach people in the same way that nature teaches us. They have this ability because they are tuned into nature.

When you observe cats, you quickly learn that they are fully aware, connected, and attentive to the world around them. I was observing a coyote at Yellowstone park on day. I walked the river with him and observed. The intense focus in him was a sight! Cats get the same way. Their minds aren’t muddied up with distractions. Instead they are more connected and aware. When humans connect with their lives in the same way, it is a deeply spiritual and meaningful life indeed!

I’ve seen every kind of personality in cats and the simple reality is that each cat is unique like people are unique, but some cats (like in people) are simply blessed with personality and charm. Cuteness, beauty, and adoring attention make those unique personalities.

For instance, meet Sockington cat on twitter! He has nearly 1.5 million followers on twitter. Pure personality and cuteness has made this cat a star. Sockington does nothing much beyond tweeting about his everyday treks to the litter box, eating, sleeping, and doing what cats do. Peoples personalities get caught up quickly. We also have active imaginations! Think also about the digital pets fad. People who can’t have pets because they live in apartments etc will enjoy following twitter feeds from a cat because it satisfies part of a need. Children do the same with digital pets. Digital pets are really virtual pets that you interact with in different ways. In many ways all they do is waste your time, but people love them anyway because it is a part of their personalities.

Cats PLAY : Wikipedia style.

Domestic cats love to play. The play behavior mimics hunting and teaches felines to stalk, capture, and kill prey. Cats also like to play fight with each other and with their humans.

Due to the similarity between hunting and play, cats prefer playing with objects that resemble their prey, such as CatTamboo™ cat toys. Wikipedia notes that cats rapidly lose (and become habituated) in a toy they have played with before – however, this is only observed in toys that do a poor job of imitating real prey. Wikipedia also states that cats tend to play with toys more when they are hungry.^[2] String is used a lot as toys, but if it is eaten, string can get caught at the base of the cat’s tongue and then move into the intestines which is a medical emergency that can cause death.^[1] Owing to the risks involved with cats eating strings or choking themselves with them, we recommend a avoiding string toys. CatTamboo™ cat toys are string-less and safe.

References

Eye expert challenges laser pen ‘danger’ BBC News 24 November 1997
Hall, Sarah L. (1998-06). “The influence of hunger on object play by adult domestic cats”. Applied Animal Behavior Science 58 (1–2): 143–150.

Ecostar Award, Montana USA

In February of 2010, CatTamboo™ Pet Toys received the EcoStar Award for our environmental efforts. We felt honored to be among the other 27 small businesses that won the award.

That February, we gathered in the capitol city of Helena, MT at the capitol building, in the rotunda. Our Montana governor (Brian Schweitzer) gave a wonderful speech about our heritage in relationship to nature. Montanan’s have always been good stewards of the land and those who where not didn’t make it out here.

It was impressive to see how much other companies have done to help our environment. In the future, we had hoped to see many others join this event, but once you’ve won the honors those who participated will bring other businesses along or encourage them to make some changes. In 2012, CatTamboo™ Pet products got more green with the introduction of a new program. The program involved collecting wild game birds from Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and South Dakota. Comparing the statistics of how many game birds are shot each year, the numbers of wasted natural resources are staggering. Our networking goal for 2013 was to process multiple hundreds of each species including ducks, geese, wild turkey and pheasant. Now it is 2015 and we are still striving to make use of these otherwise wasted natural resources. Click here to learn more about our Game bird conservation program and the statistics on how many game bird hunting licenses are pulled each year in Montana alone and what that equates to in terms of feather and feather toy numbers. The fact is that most game bird feathers are wasted because collecting and processing them is a challenge and expense. It is much easier to just hook up a supplier from China. But we have the same values as all Ecostar award winners in our commitment to make the planet greener, and we love supporting the US and Montana economies.

Another development from 2012 game bird conservation efforts is happening this fall of 2015 with the possible addition of yet another feather resource and feather type. We are researching the possibility of adding white domestic turkey to the mix. White turkey feathers are strikingly beautiful and make awesome cat toys.

In addition, we have large scale plans that will continue to take plastic waste out of the environment and employ Americans for production and distribution of our made in the USA pet toys.