What cat toys worked well for your cat, and which were a waste of money/time?

Question

Ooh, good answers.

I like how many standard household what-nots turn into cat toys over and over with different cats -- ours likes the rings from plastic bottles too, and I can no longer ever find a hair elastic. Q-Tips have been safe here, but any cellophane wrapper is fair game.

The electronic mouse: yep, waste of time. We're saving it for when we get a dog.

Thanks for mentioning that the ball-on-spring thing they're 'supposed' to bat at is a pass -- I suspected as much.

And I wish I'd bought a laser pointer straight off -- it turns out to be a great way to exercise an indoor cat. Caution: do not lead the light over the edge of a full bathtub unless your intent really was to give kitty a bath...

Answer 1

Anything that dangles and balls. They have these fishing pole type thing that have little toys hanging off the end, my cats have always loved those. I would tie them to a doorknob when i didn't have time to play and they would sit there for ages playing with that thing. Balls are also a big hit. Laser lights are wonderful too. Mechanical mice that move on their own have only freaked out every cat I've owned since they came out with them so I'd say those are a huge waste of time.

Answer 2

Really, MOST of them were a waste of time!

Here's what worked.

A large piece of dry wall (temporarily or so I thought) leaned up against the hallway wall. It's used as a tunnel.

The ring from around milk carton openings. (A common theme!) And q-tips.

A nylon skirt with lace overskirt that I bought at Goodwill for the trim, and threw on the floor after removing it. It was an instant hit. Great for exercising those rear thigh muscles and claws.

Catnip bags. The small fur-covered mice and little plastic balls with bells (these were actual cat toys).

Carpet remnants hung on aforementioned drywall. Great for scratchin'. A piece of foam padding covered in material left over from recovering a chair. Also hung on the dry wall.

Paper bags and boxes. Laundry baskets.

The things that didn't work - those brushy things you stick on the corners of walls that they're supposed to walk by and rub against. A crinkly bag thing. A mouse creature with long springy legs. Flashlights. Those things that you hang on doorknobs that they're supposed to bat at.

Answer 3

Mine love those little tiny mice ... but unfortunately only the ones with real fur on them.

They also love those fishing rod toys - you know - long stick with string & a toy mouse, fish or feather on the end. They're great, keeps your hands away from over enthusiatic kittens. However, you might want to avoid the really cheap ones as they break & that sort of takes all the fun out of the game.

Mine don't like those big fat mice that you get (generally with catnip written on the side) or the toys made of sisal ... they prefer their sisal to be on their scratching post.

They quite like batting around scrunched up pieces of paper but are not quite so keen on some of the fabric cat balls that you can get.

Mine also like pens & pencils ... maybe they just like being chased ... & they're always partial to nice quiet game of lace & snow making ... just take one toilet roll or kitchen towel roll ....

Answer 4

A cat tree is a wonderful "toy". It will get shabby in its many years of use and I wouldn't consider getting a new one. It belongs to them.

The $5 cat dancer is the best toy ever and never loses its appeal. I had one attached to the firescreen in the living room and one of my cats found it endlessly fascinating to play with. Of course when you are on the other end of it it never loses its appeal.

My young cats and foster kittens all loved the plastic ring with the ping-pong ball inside.

One of my cats was actually frightened by the laser pointer so I didn't use it. Most cats find that to be great fun.

Answer 5

My Scamper recommends fishing pole toys, especially one with a feathered "birdie."

He also loves his cat tube that he can scurry through and lurk in.

My late great Rusty's favorite toy was his radio controlled mousie. (I had to operate it for him; he never learned to work the controller...)

My dear departed Scooter's favorite toy was a length of rope that I'd drag and swish around for him.

Milk jug rings are a favorite of many cats.

For a waste of time, I'd say the big mechanical mouse (more rat sized) that moves and makes sounds when a cat paws it. It was too big and too loud. All my Boys were afraid of it and I was glad they were, because it annoyed me and I was happy to throw it away.

Another waste: Pawbreakers, hard balls made of compressed catnip that they can bat around and chew on. They were too hard for them to enjoy batting around, they didn't have enough catnip scent to keep The Boys interested, and they never figured out that they could eat them.

Pet Food Direct has a great toy section. They have a fishing pole toy with interchangable attachments, so you only have to buy the pole once, and you can replace the birdie or the other attachments when they get all beat up, and they have cat tubes and R/C mousies and lots of other stuff. http://www.petfooddirect.com/

Answer 6

My cats are spoiled rotten. They have every toy in the universe and they played with each of them for about 10 minutes as soon as they came out of the package... I accidentally dropped one of those plastic rings that come off the top of the milk container one day and they took off in one of the most spectacular play frenzies I have ever seen! Now, whenever I open a new milk container, the two of them appear out of nowhere and wait for me to give them their new bestest, most favoritest toy. I find the little ring thingys all over the place and they are the recipients of random sneak attacks several times a day. Go figure!

Answer 7

My cats love the little colored mice that come in a pack of 10-12. There are about 300 of them all over my house. They also like boxes with holes cut in them, computer paper size so they can get in and out, or the pop up cubes you can buy. They love anything with feathers. And their favorite is the Turbo Scratcher, it's a gotta get for cats. Balls with bells in them were a waste for mine, so were the "hide the treat inside" toys, the crinkle sak was not interesting to them. They liked the box it came in.

Answer 8

Wow - i'd say there is extra of a subject matter with preventing ferrets taking area in with some thing (which include some thing they could playfully bite, fantastically your uncovered limbs!). Ferrets are maximum prepared on only masking as a lot distance as they could and investigating each and everything (lots like canine) , so the most area you may supply them the better - or better, take them out in many cases for a walk on a harness..

Answer 9

Mine like different things. One likes a ribbon on a long stick, one likes a fake mouse with real fur on it, and the 3rd one likes a hard rubber bouncy ball that has a bunch of nubs on it so you can't predict how it will bounce. They all love their own little toy. None of them like those balls with the bells in them or the $18 carpet covered base with a spring about a foot up with a big fur ball on it. They couldn't care less.

Answer 10

My cat is spoiled so he has a wind up mouse and hates it,
He loves though I got him a cube with circle cut out and has strings hanging in the top he loves it, also there is the plastic ball with the bells he loves, he really loves the laser pointer... That's his favorite.