Cats and Cotton Balls

So the other day Virgil found a cotton ball (aka best toy ever) that was smaller and coming apart and I am not sure if it got stuck in his mouth (because of the cottony-ness of it sticking to his tongue) but he was trying to eat it - like swallow it. So we now have a rule that if the cotton ball is small or starting to come apart it can no longer be played with and has to go in the garbage. Luckily I caught him and got it out of his mouth, but if I hadn't that would be bad. I went around and gatherred all the tiny, tattered ones and tossed them out. But when he couldn't find any (there were some upstairs that were ok but we were downstairs) he was very distraught. So from now he gets a nice in-tact one but if it starts to go south, he will have to learn to live without it (he actually prefers the old gross ones - I think that he puts them in his food to enhance the grossness). The other thing he is no longer allowed near are ponytail holders - caught him trying to swallow one of those too - got it out before he did. He hasn't ever been a big floor crud eater before, maybe a bit when he was little but he had stopped until about a week ago. Kirzon is one I would think would do that, but not Virgil. He loves to play fetch with the ponytail holders, because they are very easy for him to carry, and don't need adjusting. He never even chewed on them before that time I caught him. I guess that goes to show that even though you think they are good with something that can change. So I have hidden all the stuff that I think he would like to eat (jewelry stuff, hair stuff, ribbons, etc) so he can't get it anymore. Kirzon has in the past eaten a big ponytail holder, which went poorly for him, but he really hasn't gone after big floor stuff since then - the occasional leaf or fuzz (usually cat hair) or weird random bits that were at one point cat food but have been old and dried up and buried and unburied but nothing big. Every once in a while I catch Lola chewing on plastic (either the toilet paper packaging or papertowel packaging) which gets her in big trouble, but other than that they don't really go after "stuff". So if a ponytail holder landed on the floor and it sat for a while (if I am running late for work and plan to get it when I get home) I didn't have to worry. Now it looks like I will have to watch it for a while. Hopefully he will grow out of it - Krizon did (again, other than leaves and fuzz and nasty old catfood bits).

The other concern I have is still with the oven - last night I was making dinner and he was fascinated by the oven. I think it is because it makes noises when it heats (it is gas) and because there is that cat in there (his reflection) that he usually only sees upstairs. I just always worry he will try and jump in (I worry about the others too, but he is much more interested in appliances). Any time I open the fridge he goes into it (the little area in the front where the door goes when you close it) and when I open the dishwasher he either goes straight under it (he loves it there) or sometimes he will jump in. He gets in trouble but he still tries to go into it. And I think he equates the open diswasher with the open stove - they both have a similar look to a cat when they are open. So it is going to be tough for a while. If anyone has a good suggestion to help keep him away let me know - there isn't a door or anything to close - the only option would be to put him in a bedroom for a while, which he would hate. Unfortunately our whole downstairs is open, so there is no way to block off the kitchen area. Again, if you have any ideas feel free to post them in the comments.