Davey Loves Fat Cat

The most played with toys in our house are, without a doubt, Fat Cat toys. Dave, our 2 year old pug/beagle mix spends hours with these toys every week. Despite the slightly deceiving name Fat Cat Inc. makes toys for both dogs and cats.

For those that don't know me, let me introduce you to Dave. Here he is, happy as can be post tug/fetch play session:

Looks innocent enough, no?

No.

Dave is a destroyer. Like so many of his fellow canines he sees a stuffed toy as a challenge. A toy with stuffing is an object to be disemboweled- the consumption of the squeaker heart the ultimate prize. We long ago gave up hope that some flimsy stuffed toy could keep the beast that is Dave occupied for any length of time.

No toy is safe in the jaws of the monster. The sweet happy smile above is a ploy to lure soft little toys into those scissor teeth. In this house there are disposable toys, and then there is Fat Cat.

The geniuses at Fat Cat surely have met a fiend far worse than Davey the puggle. While Fat Cat toys are by no means indestructible, they manage to still be fun while creating minimal carnage.

The Flip-Flop Yankers are my absolute favorite Fat Cat toy. These colorful, creative characters are made of extra tough material and re-enforced with a nylon belt down the middle. Plus they have minimal stuffing (mostly in the head) so they are fun but not too messy if your furry friend has the same toy goals as Dave.

Here are the before and after of Dave's beloved Yanker, the Yanker on the left having experienced countless hours of yanking.

Although clearly deaf and flat headed, the used toy above is still very much viable, and fun. Which is really the most important thing in this house, after eating squeaker hearts, that is.

Dave has a whole collection of Fat Cat toys, including a beloved "Big Mean Kitty" from the Terrible Nasty series, a postman, a rainbow trout and an "ex-boyfriend". They have lost their middle stuffing but Dave has chosen to let most of them keep their limbs so they are all the better to flop around during tug sessions. As you can see from the pictures below the ex, aka "torso" has had some Davey-surgery and will be retired tonight.

Keep in mind, "torso" has been in service since July of 2008 and the rest of the toys were Christmas 2008 gifts. Davey gets a TON of playtime out of each one, tug being his game of choice.

Fat Cat toys are available at pet stores such as PetCo or can be ordered in packages of 3 on-line through the Fat Cat website. Individual toys are $10 to $12 for the larger toys shown above. Locally I get my Fat Cat toys from Sirius Cooks in Oak Park.