Llyr's Friends

Llyr's stuffed animal friends recently got a new home when I made a kitty toy bag for him.

While putting all his friends away since company was coming over, I was thinking about the relationship Llyr has with each of his friends. I decided for posterity's sake to make a note the different ways Llyr shows his love for his toys.

Mr. Raccoon

Mr. Raccoon is by far Llyr's favorite friend. He was one of Llyr's earliest toys. If one of us squeaks Mr. Raccoon and throws him, Llyr will almost without fail rush to him and attack, usually with teeth chomping and back feet vigorously kicking. You might not think of this as showing "love" for his friend, but Mr. Raccoon is certainly the toy that gets the most consistent attention from Llyr. He is now matted beyond repair (I tried to wash him unsuccessfully). Once, when Llyr got out of the back fence and we were searching frantically for him, I tried squeaking Mr. Raccoon outside and Llyr came running from out of nowhere within seconds.

Ms. Kitty

Any time we had a "father figure" and "mother figure" cat in our small outdoor cat family at my parents' house, the daddy cats inevitably got called Mr. Kitty by me while the mother cats were Mrs. Kitty - I'm not sure why, because they all had perfectly good names ... I just liked calling them that sometimes as a nickname. So, when my mom brought this stuffed animal for Llyr, she became the Ms. to his Mr. When Llyr would sleep on the orange pallet I made for him, I'd often lay Ms. Kitty next to him to see if he would snuggle with her. Usually,  he'd just end up pushing her out of the way, but he never really attacked her, even when I rolled her around trying to provoke him. Now, Ms. Kitty lives in Llyr's kitty-cage-palace-bed and he doesn't seem to mind. He curls up however he pleases, using her as a snuggle-buddy or pillow, whichever she happens to become once he is settled in.

Mr. Monkey

As you can tell by now, though Llyr's name is pretty awesome and original, we didn't worry about taking so much time thinking up original names for his friends. Mr. Monkey was given to Llyr for Christmas by someone in our family. He is kind of like a tolerated friend who sometimes gets a little affection if Llyr is really feeling up to it. Usually if I throw him or try to play with him, Llyr will just run over to see what I threw and then walk away, maybe nuzzle him for a moment or sniff him, but usually not really play with him much. However, the other night Matt was holding Mr. Monkey near Llyr's crinkly tunnel and Llyr came over and sort of gave him some soft nips and kisses. He certainly won't attack him as readily as Mr. Raccoon.

Mousey

This Mousey is actually Mousey #2. The first mouse was brown and Llyr loved chasing him ... but I don't know what happened to him. I looked under all the furniture that Llyr sometimes loses toys under and couldn't fine him anywhere. I've decided that Llyr must have eaten him. The second Mousey is grey-green and if Llyr is in a playing mood, he will chase him pretty readily and bat him around. He likes to lick Mousey's feather tail.

Mr. Fox

Mr. Fox was a Christmas present from us to Llyr. You can see Llyr playing with him on Christmas day in our Christmas post. Llyr played heartily with Mr. Fox early on. As you can see, he tore his nose off and even destroyed the front squeaker in his head. I liked to place the fox on Llyr like a stole, and that would usually provoke Llyr to yank him off and bite him a little. He also likes chasing him, but we don't do that as often now as when we first gave him to Llyr. All in all, Llyr seems to like to attack Mr. Fox if we shake him around, or especially if we throw him in Llyr's tunnel. No one goes in there without immediately being checked out by Llyr, and usually jumped after. Sometimes the visitor gets to stay, but sometimes not.


Those are Llyr's everyday buddies and I hope they make his life as a solitary housecat a little more enjoyable. Luckily, Llyr has recently been able to meet a real-life kitty friend who comes over once a week to visit. I think Llyr likes her a lot, but she's very active and likes to provoke him to fight, usually playfully (of course, to be fair, Llyr starts the fights some of the time). Sometimes, once the night is over and he is exhausted, I think Llyr is happy that throughout the week his closest friends are quiet and soft, take all of his attacks without fighting back, and are only ready to play when he is.