Hi all.  First off, condolences to those who have lost their friends
recently and even to those who lost them a while ago.  Even though the
pain lessens every day, you never forget.
 
Ok, now here's my puzzle. . .I'm a bit confused when it comes to Nibbles'
behavior in certain instances.  Can anyone help me decipher these
behaviors?  First off, she does this thing with a little tiny "yarn ball"
that was part of a cat toy we had given her.  The yarn ball had a bell
attached to it and was in a wire ball.   The bell came off and the yarn
hardly stayed in the wire ball to begin with so we let her play with the
yarn ball as long as we are around.  This is what she does with it.  She
grabs it with her front paws and pulls her paws under her body like she's
holding it close to her chest.  Then she uses her back legs to go around
the room in reverse.  If she loses the ball on the way she grabs it again
and resumes her course.  She goes around the entire perimeter of the
room, sometimes twice, until she gets bored.  Is this a game she made up
or just some type of natural behavior (like dragging food into a burrow)?
 
The other odd behavior is that she'll lay down to do the "ferret speed
bump" and then proceed to drag the front of her body (chin and chest)
along the carpet.  Is she leaving her scent?  She did this a lot the
first day or two that we let her run around in her new room in our new
apartment.  She also did it after we gave her a bath, but only after she
was pretty thoroughly dry.
 
If anyone can help me figure out these two odd behaviors, I'd appreciate
it.  I'm sure they are not sickly behavior, just strange.
 
Thanks,
Jim and Nibbles (I'm not strange Dad, I'm just weird.)
[Posted in FML issue 1188]