I was wondering if anyone else has fuzzies that LOVE buckets?  If I try to
mop the floor while they're out they climb up the side and stick their faces
in the suds, and if I'm not careful Phoebe will wiggle in far enough to
drink the mopwater.  (I'm pretty sure that Clorox Clean-up is NOT good for
her!) So last night I got an empty (clean) bucket to let them play in it.
These are big buckets that laundry soap comes in.  They weren't much
interested in an "empty" bucket, and it was way too cold to put some water
in it, so I put popcorn (UNpopped) in it, then set it in a large flat box
and poured more popcorn in the box.  (I've had this 10# bag of popcorn for
about 100 years Pre-microwave, y'know!)
 
They LOVED it!  Especially Charlie.  He jumped in and bounced and burrowed
and made little tunnels and dug and dooked and danced!  I've never seen him
so excited.  It makes a scratching noise as he moves that he really likes.
They had such a good time that I was planning on just leaving it for them to
play in.  They showed NO interest in eating any of it, just playing in it.
It can't hurt them, can it?
 
And, to put in yet another 2 cents worth on the dog/cat/fuzzie discussion
(sorry,BIG) we have 22 cats, 4 dogs, 2 ferrets.  Pheobe is a very tiny
ferret (1.2 lbs), but she has NO fear of anything, so we keep the "mighty
hunter" cats away from her.  Some of the cats just ignore the ferrets, but
they ignore them from on top of the counter or table.  The kittens watch
them with fascination, then run like mad to get away from them.  Our dogs
(Chow, Akita, Husky, Australian Shepherd) would never intentionally hurt
them, but they're too big and heavy to allow them to "play" with the ferrets
unless I'm right there watching.  I have to keep reminding them to "Play
nice!", and there's a bit of jealousy that creeps in from time to time.  So
it's just safer and easier to lean toward being overly cautious rather than
terribly sorry.
 
Just my opinion, of course!
Linda
[Posted in FML issue 1836]