The Story of Mr. Squid
The Story of Mr. Squid
Being a mostly accurate account of the discovery of this new device
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The Duke watches as Pyewacket tries out her Squid skills |
Both of us are unapologetic cat people and we have been through our share of cat toys. Sure, the catnip mouse is a hit, until it is ripped open or the catnip 'dries out'.....and the rubber squeaky toys are either completely ignored or gnawed down to rubber shrapnel in a day or two. We had pretty much given up on cat toys and had left our cats to entertain themselves with their stash of twist ties and rubber stoppers. Then, one day, upon returning from a fishing trip, Jim left his tackle box open while he went to shower. When he returned, he was horrified to discover two of our cats fighting over one of his bass lures, oblivious to the danger of impaling themselves on it's 4/0 hook. After a few anxious moments, Jim retrieved his lure, closed up his tackle box, and decided that there was no need to bother Lori Jo with the details of the unfortunate bass lure episode, as it came to be called. She did, however, start to wonder why the cats would get so excited whenever Jim got out his fishing tackle.
However, the obvious attraction of the cats to his fishing lure stuck in Jim's mind and, a few days later, he pulled out one of his fishing rods, 'baited' it with one of his lures (without the hook this time), and began casting it to the cats. A few hours later, Lori Jo returned to a house littered with turned over plants, broken knick-knacks, and exhausted cats. Jim explained that there had been 'a little bit of a mess' as a result of his poor casting aim and the cats' overly rambunctious pursuit of the lure, but the toy had been a huge success. This marked the start of the
Mr. Squid story.|
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The Duke keeps a careful eye on the Squid assembly process |
Since this beginning,
Mr. Squid has undergone several years of design changes and improvements. At Lori Jo's insistence, the fishing pole was dropped early on and a number of mounting schemes were tried to permit the cats to amuse themselves. Lori Jo and Jim tested different materials for both durability and 'fun potential' and scoured tackle shops and tackle suppliers all over the country looking for the ultimate cat 'lure'. Each and every design change was rigorously tested by their team of experts, Morgan le Fey, the Duke, and Admiral Nelson (with the recent addition of an apprentice, Pyewacket). But even this was not enough, successful designs were sent to outside testing 'labs' where further testing was performed by our consulting team, Lucretia, Butch, E.O., Trouble, and Pizza (Jim and Lori Jo appreciate the efforts of Scott and Rachel in recruiting our consulting team). To date, only Admiral Nelson has proven to be indifferent to Mr. Squid (although he is a particularly evil-tempered beast who finds amusement in very little).|
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SquidTech's Quality Control Team, Admiral Nelson, the Duke, and Morgan le Fey, take a well-deserved break. |
What has emerged from this development is a safe and simple cat toy that will provide hours of amusement for your cat, with or without you around. This is a tough, durable toy that will hold up to whatever your cat can inflict upon it. Our test
Mr. Squids have lasted well over a year, in spite of daily (and nightly) 'workouts'. We hope you and your cat get as much pleasure and enjoyment out of yours as we have ours.
