Cat toy FAILURES!

[bikeman]

Following the new direction this thread is going on what not to buy cats - instead use what you have... Paper bags are never a disappointment. Also found out today that the long stalk of an onion plant from the garden is a good toy, as long as they dont eat it. Fresh green beans (as in raw uncooked) smells good to cats and they might bat at them or toss them up into the air.

Ember a few years back in a bag.

 

[Silver Crazy]

My toy failures generally don't come from lack of attention. Rather they're from TOO MUCH attention
Soccer Ball: $7.99 for three minutes of play before it had to be taken away so he didn't ingest the chunks.
It was flat within a minute. Most new toys suffer the same fate.

I have 3 used bowling balls you can have...but will probably knock them through a wall or something..maybe not good idea..lol

 

[Silver Crazy]

My latest toy success has been balloons...down to my last ones from the pack but he loves them and doesn't care if they go pop.

 

[betsygee]

Our cats love crinkle tunnels! But our toy fail (well, one of them) was the ripple rug. We were at a friend’s house watching her cat have a blast with this thing. So of course we bought one. ZERO interest—in FOUR cats!

 

[maggie101]

Our cats love crinkle tunnels! But our toy fail (well, one of them) was the ripple rug. We were at a friend’s house watching her cat have a blast with this thing. So of course we bought one. ZERO interest—in FOUR cats!

My cats loved it! Cats are so different it's hard to know

 

[betsygee]

Cats are so different it's hard to know

Aren’t they!

 

[Purr-fect]

As the list of failed toys is too long (and painful to dwell on), I will list the successful toys.

A big plastic bag..............arnold still loves this toy and still uses since last xmas! Ironically the bag was acquired when we bought a toy that is no longer used.

His favorite toy comes with accessories...........my fingers. We call the game "bleeding finger". This is were he goes into the bag headfirst, so he cant see me. I poke the bad with my finger and he tries to grab it.

If you want a sure fire toy, spend hours on the internet, read all the reviews, carefully zoom in on images, ensure toy has no pieces that can be chewed off and become a choking hazard (impossible if you own a bobcat. ?..sorry Gibbs). Order from amazon, reorder from amazon as the site froze when you ordered the first time (now you might get two toys...or more, or just get one toy and be billed twice, all part of the fun toy experience). Wait for toy to arrive. Then with great fanfare............. open the packaging, throw away the toy, give the wrapping and bag to your best buddy and enjoy their hours of delighthtful antics.

 

[bengalcatman]

..... with great fanfare............. open the packaging, throw away the toy, give the wrapping and bag to your best buddy and enjoy their hours of delightful antics.

Best advice of the thread!

 

[Purr-fect]

Best advice of the thread!

Its advice Arnold gave me.

"Bagged" after winning yet another game of "bleeding finger (s)"

 

[Father of furbabies]

Ignores the fluff ball and scratch pad in preference of an empty box.

Played with packing paper instead of a scratching board.

 

[Hotrodroxie]

- my grandmother also got that flipping fish... none of her 3 cats (all different breeds) want anything to do w/it. IMO it’s much too noisy; mechanically. My 10mos old Labrottie puppy LOVES it though but she would break it & eat battery acid within minutes so she can’t play with it. I believe I have seen that centipede in action somewhere and wasn’t impressed, perhaps I just heard bad reviews about it. I may have seen it on video reviews
Post up your toy failures!
[/QUOTE]


NOW- I searched endlessly for an automatic laser toy.... which led me to my Alibaba (‘express’?) app.
On Alibaba I found a thousand of identical/nearly identical ‘robot-shaped-cat lazer toys...but after reading the descriptions of many of them on there- I found one that:
-Automatically turns on every *1.5hrs (rather than every 3hrs)
-runs for 15mins each time (some had shorter times)
-has 2 speeds; fast lazer movement/ &normal-somewhat slower
-has 5? different settings that make the circle pattern that the lazer travels in; bigger/smaller. (Some don’t have such adjustments)
-it comes with a [short] usb charging cord OR takes batteries! (not many had tht feature either!) ...u just have to use your own usb charging block(plug).
....don’t remember how, but i ended up ordering from amazon...this was during COVID19 , and it came from China...so shipping did take like 2mos, but TOTALLY worth it
I recommend putting it up high so they can’t tell where it’s coming from (keeps interest longer), and so the circle can travel the whole room. Search: ‘Zoto Cat Lazer Toy’ ‘automatic rotating lazer pointer for cats’ on Amazon...since I can’t post a link here.
The dog goes berserk over it, but when she’s not insanely/clumsily jumping around looking for it... Spooky cat loves it too!
I do wish it was more RANDOM movement (I know they exist) rather than a back’n’forth circle pattern but it totally does the job & is the best pet toy I’ve taken a chance on to date! [$25]
My pets do also like that battery SmartyKat toy that moves the mouse in a *circle under fabric, and it’s a decent toy...my complaint is that the fabric isn’t designed perfectly to avoid getting caught up on the toy as it goes around ..so I feel I have to straighten out the fabric frequently to keep it from getting ‘tangled’/uncovering the toy’s arm mechanism. In reality, they would probably play w/it with/without the fabric attached [it is just elastic holding it in the center, pops right off]; but the fabric just hides the toy making it more enticing.
Thanks for reading!

 

[white shadow]

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If there's a takeaway lesson.........

Spoiler

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[clpeters23]

Scribbles making herself comfortable on Chewy kraft packing paper.

 

[susanm9006]

Willow is currently playing with the best cat toy ever, a fly. Eventually she will catch it and eat it, but until then great fun and exercise.

 

[susanm9006]

I have 3 used bowling balls you can have...but will probably knock them through a wall or something..maybe not good idea..lol

Try a few golf balls. So Noisy but cats love them.

 

[Caspers Human]

Willow is currently playing with the best cat toy ever, a fly. Eventually she will catch it and eat it, but until then great fun and exercise.

Cats need protein in their diets. Right?

 

[white shadow]

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speaking of protein.........

Drop a single frozen green pea on the kitchen floor.......and stand back !

Same for frozen bean bits, too!
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[white shadow]

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.............it just hit me......we've done a 180 to bengalcatman 's thread
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[pearl99]

This is great. I also bought a tunnel, because my daughter's one cat LOVES it. Still plays in it after 3 months. Mine- one of them had fun for a couple of weeks, now it sits.
Also, treat balls do not work. Even with the BEST treats in them.

Best toy is Da Bird. Da Bird Da Bird Da Bird. Never fails.
And, the paper in boxes from Chewy and Amazon. They like to rip holes in it and poke their heads through.
And, a Ripple Rug. And miller moths.

My daughter's cats LOVE edamame pods.

 

[susanm9006]

One of my cats loved to play with potatoes. If a bag was left out she would tear it open, fish out a potato and knock it around through the house. The problem was that eventually she would bite into it and apparently raw potatoes don’t do well with a cats digestive system and she would start vomiting. So the potato bag needed to be kept locked away.