I brought a Barbie doll into my life recently among dozens of other toys, cars, action figures and collectibles. For the most part my cat has adjusted quite well to all the new clutter in our tiny house. But there is one toy she can’t keep her paws, or teeth, away from, my Barbie doll.
At first I thought maybe she just liked the plastic. She does chew on plastic. But I discovered I could distract her from all my other toys no matter where they were with toys of her own, usually her little stuffed mouse that she loves to chew on. Not so with Barbie. She refuses to accept it in her house.
I know she gets jealous of things that take my attention away from her. She makes her presence known if I spend too much time looking at the TV, phone or computer. I can sit and assemble a puzzle and she pretty much minds her own business. When I was opening the new toys as they arrived she immediately took to tearing up the plastic bubbles or cardboard containers they were packaged in. Still, there is something different about Barbie.
For starters, it’s the only toy I have demonstrated some level of affection towards. Sure I will admit I play with my action figures. I transform the Transformers. My Ninja Turtles fight bad guys. Even my Scooby Doo is known to run from a villain or two. The Barbie is different. It’s special for a lot of reasons. I brush her hair. I buy her new outfits and of course dress her up. I even take her to bed with me where she sleeps under my pillow next to my head. That is the problem. The cat doesn’t like to sleep that close to my head. She prefers tucked into my side or laying directly entangled into my feet. When I snuggle with the Barbie before bed she gets jealous and attacks it. If I am brushing its hair she bites the dolls face, then hands, then my hands. She goes out of her way to make sure I know she does not approve of me having a Barbie doll in her house.
This is becoming somewhat of an issue because, frankly, I don’t want her tearing up the doll that means so much to me. Obviously they are fairly inexpensive to replace so it would be easy to get another one. The truth is, I don’t want to do that. This doll is special because it was my first. It was the one I picked out and I made sure I selected the exact one I wanted in my collection for my own reason.
My current plan is to get her some chew toys to see if she might prefer those. If she doesn’t learn to keep her paws off Barbie I might resort to a more extreme measure such as coating the doll with some spray or another to repel the cat. The only reason I am hesitant to do that is I want my cat to know she can snuggle with me too if she is in that mood, but I don’t want to ruin the doll or hurt the cat at the same time. I guess me, Chloe and Barbie are all going to have to learn how to live together.
Stephanie Bri 