The present invention involves a recreational pet toy for cats which is intended to hang vertically and provide an inner channel for receiving and displaying catnip to a pet cat, the channel being beneath an outer cover for enabling the catnip odor to effect the cat while preventing the cat from accessing the catnip itself.
The effect of catnip on virtually all feline species is well known. Catnip or NEPATIA CATAIRA is a plant native to North America. The dry leaves of the catnip plant express a mint-like scent. Catnip has a hallucinogenic effect upon cats, although it is not toxic. This “catnip response” is due to the plant's active ingredient, NEPETALACTONE.
When a cat smells catnip, it characteristically exhibits a range of behaviors somewhat dependent upon the age of a cat and whether it is capable of reproduction. Most reactions last from five minutes to fifteen minutes and include sniffing, licking, chewing, chin and cheek rubbing, and head-over roll and body rubbing. The feline receptor to the active ingredient, NEPETALACTONE, is contained within the animal's vomeronasal organ located above the feline palate. The location of the vomeronasal organ may explain why cats do not react from eating gelatin capsules of catnip. NEPETALACTONE must be inhaled for it to reach the receptors in this organ.
Many pet toys intended for feline use contain catnip. However, many of these toys, in an attempt to insure that the catnip is not made accessible to the cat, imbed the catnip deeply within the toy thus negating its effect by limiting the intended “catnip response.” Other cat toys are intended for providing a nondestructive scratching platform providing the cat with a surface to enable the cat to carry out its innate scratching response.
It has been recognized that an ideal recreational toy for a cat would include a scratching surface as well as a relatively large catnip reservoir enabling the cat to both scratch and do so in conjunction with the anticipated “catnip response” encouraged by such a configuration.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a recreational pet toy for cats which has a relatively large surface area, a covering which is somewhat resistant to cat scratching activity and which can provide catnip odors to encourage the “catnip response” highly sought after by cat owners.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a recreational pet toy for cats which can be hung vertically such as from a doorknob while lying relatively flat against a vertical surface to provide a suitable cat scratching surface for a pet cat in conjunction with the dispensing of catnip odors.
These and further objects of the present invention will be more readily appreciated when considering the following disclosure and appended drawings.
The present invention is directed to a recreational pet toy for cats comprising either a soft tubular or rigid planar member, each having a cord attached to the pet toy for hanging the recreational pet toy during use. Each embodiment includes an elongated channel for receiving catnip and for distributing the catnip along the tubular or rigid planar member.
Turning first to
Although recreational pet toy 10 can be used in virtually any orientation, it is ideally employed by making use of cord or rope 15 which is sized to enable recreational pet toy 10 to hang from, for example, a doorknob. The pet cat would then use either sisal surface 16 or rug surface 17 as a scratching medium. In doing so, the present invention makes use of surfaces 16 and 17 noting that one surface over another may be more preferable to some cats while the general longevity of the pet toy is extended by providing multiple surfaces for scratching.
Although
Turning to
In constructing the embodiment of
In one embodiment of the present invention, an elongated, and preferably linear channel 25, for receiving catnip (not shown) and for distributing the catnip along rigid planar member 24 is shown. In the embodiment of
Recognizing that catnip ages and thus loses its sought after hallucinogenic effect, it is contemplated that the present invention include the ability to withdraw spent catnip from the present recreational pet toy and to insert fresh catnip when needed. In order to facilitate this aspect of the present invention, a catnip fill port 26 is provided. Ideally, fill port 26 is funnel-shaped and is configured within rigid planar member 24 having a relatively wide mouth 30 for receiving catnip and a relatively narrow port 31 for communicating catnip to elongated channel 25.
In that a user of the
As further embodiments of the present invention, it is noted that the funnel-shaped catnip feed port need not open merely at the top of the recreational pet toy. In this regard, reference is made to
As yet a further embodiment, reference is made to
Turning once again to
As an alternative embodiment, reference is made to
In the embodiments disclosed herein, once the catnip has been spent and the catnip odor substantially depleted, flap 18 or opening 17 can be accessed such that the catnip contained within recreational pet toy 10 can be dispensed simply by appropriately orienting the recreational pet toy 10 upside down and shaking it until the catnip leaves or appropriately withdrawn.
Although the discussion to this point has involved substantially planar recreational pet toys, the present invention need not be so limited. For example, reference is made to
As in the previous embodiments, it is desirable to provide catnip throughout the length of recreational pet toy. This can be done in several ways. As a first embodiment, a zipper or hook-and-loop fastener 74 can be configured within fabric surface 72 to enable one to selectively gain access to the interior of recreational pet toy 70. Once closure element 74 has been opened, catnip leaves can be applied through substantially the entire length of the pet toy.
As an alternative embodiment, reference is made to
It is quite apparent that there are a number of alternative choices one could make in replicating the present invention. No attempt was made in describing the present invention to exhaustively encompass all fabric, rug, rope or other suitable surfaces to be used as cat scratching media. Certainly, there are a myriad of such choices currently available, all of which could be employed herein. Further, although applicant has disclosed three possible configurations for feeding catnip to the interior of the present recreational pet toy, certainly other geometric configurations could be made while remaining within the spirit and scope of the present invention. In this regard, although only rectangular recreational pet toys were disclosed, other shapes and sizes could be made in the practice of the present invention.
It is further noted that the size, depth and orientation of the elongated channel employed to receive catnip could be of various alternative geometric shapes while remaining within the teachings of the present invention when dealing with the embodiment of
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/386,627 filed on Mar. 22, 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 11024399 | Dec 2004 | US |
Child | 11895437 | Aug 2007 | US |
Parent | 11386627 | Mar 2006 | US |
Child | 11895437 | Aug 2007 | US |