Twizzle (the cat) ran away but stayed within hailing distance. He skulked in the undergrowth in that way that makes owners heart-string-tuggingly guilty.

We had to find a way of getting him to come home. I read once that buttering a cat’s paws is generally a good thing. But how to get butter to the cat?

The cat-a-butter-pult fires small pats of butter. Any pats that hit will get extensively licked off all as part of an attempt to remind the cat which side his bread is buttered.

Needless to say we used the manual prototype and missed. Later, he brought home a juicy mouse.