The Cats Fly after Neko Flies

Pet Product Advisor was really pushing Neko Flies recently. And with a 10% coupon code, I decided to give them a try. The concept was interesting - life-like critters on a wand. The videos at the Neko Flies web site made the products even more enticing.

We have a zillion wands in the cat attic. The cats don't normally go for them with a lot of gusto. Ivan gets obsessive over wands with a big clump of long feathers on the end of the string - he grabs the feathers and locks them in his jaws and growls ferociously, as if he has caught himself a big, tasty bird (good thing those wands are cheap, usually $5 or less, because it doesn't take long for Ivan to destroy the feathers!). Boo is less motivated, but a few wand-like toys get him going, especially the Cat Dancer (which is a long, slightly flexible wire with random pieces of cardboard on the end - the wire causes unusual movement and the cardboard pieces move around like a bugs legs). Another wand toy that fascinated them for a while was the kind with a mouse on the end that squeaks when it moves. However, as with all wand toys, they grew bored with it.
Why did I think Neko Flies would be any different? I didn't necessarily, but I thought they could be more instruments in the cat exercise arsenal. The cats would be fascinated by them for a while, then grow tired of them, at which them the toys would go into the cat attic and come out again a few months later, and the cycle would start again. No problem.

The minute the Neko Flies wand with the included attachment, the small kittenator toy (a very lifelike mouse - the photo above does not do it justice!), came out of its box, the cats were interested. Ivan went bonkers after I pulled the mouse across the floor. Soon he was in overdrive, and after about 5 minutes of overdrive, Ivan was a panting maniac, his pink nose almost bright red with excitement. Ivan and Boo used to take turns with toys like this, Boo taking over while Ivan rested, but Ivan was so obsessed that Boo could hardly get a swipe in. After about 10 minutes of Ivan chasing, catching, and not letting go of the kittenator, panting heavily, I had to put the toy away!

Now, every time I ask if they want to play with "the toy" they go wild. As with all toys that they get obsessive with, it must be hidden in a place that is inaccessible to them, or they'll get it and destroy it. In the beginning, it was very difficult to get the mouse from Ivan. Upon catching it, he would try to carry it away in his mouth. Sometimes I would let him, following him with the wand. After about a week of trying to teach him that it's better if he lets go of the toy after a while, he finally seems to be getting it. He'll relax his grip on it just enough that I can pull it away from him and engage him in the chase once again. When he does get completely tuckered out or otherwise distracted (the latter does not happen very often at all!), Boo will come in. He hasn't gotten as crazy about it as Ivan. He'll run back and forth a few times and then flop down. But he is interested, and he is always the tougher one to get interested in most toys (he will go crazy over the Undercover Mouse, though, if Ivan isn't in the way).

I bought all three of the insect attachments for the wand, because I thought they looked especially enticing to the cats. I thought I'd let the cats get a little tired of the kittenator before trying any of the other "flies". The insects do look very real, with gangly legs and bright colors. The dragonfly has iridescent wings! Again, the photograph below does not do it justice.  I'll write again once I do use the other flies with these crazy cats.


The price of the wand with three additional flies was $51.37, including shipping and a 10% discount, from Pet Product Advisor. The discount almost made one of the flies free. You can probably find better deals elsewhere.  However, be sure to check out the photographs and video at the Neko Flies web site.

I've seen Jackson Galaxy of "My Cat from Hell" pull a Neko Flies wand and small kittenator out of his guitar case, but I hadn't seen him actually use it until the most recent episode, "My Cat is a Bully" (an episode that showcases one of the weirder pet-owning families featured in the show). Jackson seems to prefer Da Bird*, which we also have, and which these cats also go crazy over. The one benefit of the Neko Flies over Da Bird is that, since Da Bird's lure employes only feathers, the lure gets very beat up rather quickly. The small kittenator mouse that I'm using with the Neko Flies wand, on the other hand, is pretty darn tough, despite Ivan wanting very much to crunch it like real prey.  However, both toys are very enticing to the cats.

*I was certain that Da Bird had been reviewed here, but in trying to find the review to link back to, I discovered that it has not, in fact, been reviewed!  We will right that wrong in the next installment!

July 4th: Happy 7th Birthday Ivan and Boo!

"Mommy"

The birthday boys

Ivan and Boo were born high up in an old oak tree seven years ago.  Yes, their mother was a feral cat (albeit beautiful, and, according to the vet who handled the N part of her TNR*, was once owned by someone) that we were never able to touch, but she was a wise and calm animal, and for the most part she imparted those qualities to her offspring, who were amazingly unafraid of humans when we first took them in.  Ivan is the genius, and Boo is the gentle giant.  They are both shy of strangers (their feral heritage) but warm up to folks fairly quickly.  They are also great test subjects for toys, food, and other cat products, as they are quite different: Boo is difficult to motivate into action, while Ivan will chase just about anything.  So a toy that gets Boo moving is a good toy, indeed.

Since these boys were born on the Fourth of July (Independence Day in the U.S.), it's a good time to remind you to take extra special care of your pets on this day, especially tonight when the fireworks will be popping and exploding and frightening pets everywhere.  Keep your pets indoors - shelters across the country receive more pets on and after July 4th than any other day, due to all of the cats and dogs who run away, frightened by loud firecrackers.  I have to wonder if the same problem happens in the U.K. on Guy Fawkes' Day (Nov. 5), another very popular day for fireworks.

1 oz. tub

Since this is a product review blog, we can't close without reviewing something!  We kept hearing about "bonito flakes".  Bonito, called katsuobushi in Japanese, is a dried, fermented and smoked form of skipjack tuna.  It is cut in very thin shavings called "flakes".  While the Japanese use this as a seasoning and addition to foods, it is sold in the U.S. as a high protein cat treat.  Ivan and Boo LOVE the stuff.  Because it is shaved thinly, the cats can get a big pinch of the stuff and not get a lot of calories, which is important for indoor-only cats.  The best price for the largest quantity that we've found comes from Pet Product Advisor, whom we have recommended in the past.  They are somehow affiliated with VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance), which we also recommend.  The 1 oz tub of bonito flakes is $7.95, but they also sell a 4 oz bag for $23.99, a savings of $8.00. There have been connections made between smoked and fermented foods and stomach cancer, however (in humans), so I would not feed your cats a lot of this.  We feed a pinch a day after the cats eat their dinner.

*TNR=Trap Neuter Release, performed on feral cats to reduce feral populations

We're Baaaaack! A Review of Past Cat Product Reviews

It's been a long time since we last posted.  We are fine.  Ivan and Boo are fine, still faithfully testing cat products and foods.  However, work, life, etc. got in the way of us sharing their opinions on those products with you.  Despite that, there are so many cat products beckoning for reviews that we could no longer resist the siren song!

Ivan and Boo, happy and healthy.

First and foremost, we have gone through a few food transitions.  Last time we posted, we were trying Blue Buffalo products.  We gave them a fair shot, but Ivan seemed to vomit more than usual (which is pretty rarely) on the Blue Buffalo Wilderness food.  The ingredients are great, don't get us wrong - high protein and low carbohydrates - but it just did not sit well with everyone, so we stopped feeding it to the boys.

Around that time we were introduced to a company called Petflow.  These guys offer a WIDE variety of pet foods (and other products) with FREE SHIPPING!  I kid you not!  And they carry both Evo (the food we really like (and the cats do, too) but found hard to get) AND our favorite cat litter, World's Best Cat Litter!  With free delivery to our home AND all the products we want, we had to give these guys a try.  We are happy to report that we are still using them!  The beauty of Petflow, in addition to the above, is that it is very easy to change your delivery schedule until you get it just right.  We give these guys a THUMBS UP, along with our old favorite food, Evo, available in kibble and canned.  We feed Ivan and Boo mostly canned, but they get about 10-15 pieces of kibble at each feeding, after finishing the canned, to aid in cleaning their teeth.  Our vet recommended that we cut back on the kibble as they were a little overweight at their last vet visit.

Now let's take a look at some cat toys that we mentioned in previous posts.  First is the SnazzyKat NosyMouse.  It was new when we mentioned it, and we had discovered that it did not contain catnip, but the package suggested that we store it with catnip.  Frankly, I have no memory of trying this after it was stored in catnip.  So we dug it out, presented it to the cats, and they were singularly unimpressed.  Some kitties might go for this toy, but ours did not.

Next was the Lazy Pet Products 8 in 1 Kookamunga Catter Up.  Again, I swear that I did not make that name up.  And I re-affirm that I have no idea what the "8 in 1" refers to.  But I can tell you that the toy is still attached to the door next to the Kittywalk Cozy Climber, and I don't believe I've seen the cats playing with it for years (we even moved into a new house since the last blog entry!).  There are probably plenty of cats who would be entertained by a fuzzy ball with a feather sticking out of it, hanging from a string, but not ours.

Last was the Toyshoppe Playables Cat Toy (it was negligently not identified in the review!) - a fishing pole type toy with a non-replaceable feather on the end of the line.  Ivan still loves it, as long as we put it away for a while.  When it is brought out after a hiatus, he definitely goes for it.  And you cannot beat the price ($3.99 at PetSmart; in fact, all of the above toys were found at PetSmart), especially as it's not a toy that has a replaceable lure.  Boo is not quite as interested in this toy, by the way, probably because Ivan growls like a mad cat when he has the feathers firmly between his teeth.

Scrap of Ribbon with a Clip Attached at the End toy

Now for the toy that currently has both of the boys flying across the living room, and collapsing in panting (yes, panting!) heaps 15 minutes later!  It's the amazing Scrap of Ribbon with a Clip Attached at the End!  Seriously.  The guys have not played so hard in MONTHS.  They whip around, fly through the air, scrabble on the hardwood floor, and tear across the carpet to get at this thing as we drag it and flip it around!  Can someone explain this to me?  There are cat behaviorists and cat observers and cat experts out there designing amazing toys, yet the cats seem to go for the homemade toy when they are surrounded by store-bought ones.  When they are surrounded by homemade toys, do they go more for the store bought ones?  I will never understand...

The game-changing clip

At first we were trying to get them to play with the ribbon alone (no clip).  That kind of ribbon is very light and doesn't go where you want it to, though, so we were reduced to walking around and trailing it behind us.  However, I came up with the brilliant idea to add a bit of weight to the end of the ribbon so that we could toss it where we wanted, and that is when the cats turned maniacal!

The moral of the story is: watch your cat for patterns in the kinds of toys he likes.  We knew that our boys preferred snakey kinds of toys, mice covered in real fur (sorry), as well as toys with LARGE feathers. Further, they love to grab at things from behind the bannister poles on our staircases, and from under doors.  They also like to attack things that are under a rug or piece of fabric.  And, finally, they love to chew.  We have created a collection of toys and treats that fall into many of these categories.  We will share those with you in future blog posts.  But we will also be trying new products outside of those categories, and we'll share our reviews of those, as well.  Just remember, your own mileage may vary.

Until next time, keep exercising your cats, to keep them mentally AND physically healthy, and to keep you sane!

Daffodils are Toxic to Cats; New Cat Food - Blue Buffalo

Greetings! It's been over a year since we've posted! We have simply been very busy with life. However, we plan to do our best to post a bit more regularly now.

Earlier this week we bought some cut daffodils and brought them home and put them in a vase. We planned to take them to work the next morning to enjoy in the office. As with all cut flowers, unless we know for certain that they are not toxic to cats, we planned to put these in a closed room overnight so that the cats could not get to them. However, we were distracted and forgot to do so.

The next morning we got up and fed the cats as per the normal morning routine. Ivan wasn't terribly interested in his kibble, which is unusual, but he scarfed down his ration of canned food. However, almost immediately he threw it up. Then he went and sat in his "don't bother me" spot, and we knew he didn't feel well. Was there something in his environment that may have caused this? We spied the daffodils. Hmm. We inspected them for signs of cat chewing, and there we found that a cat had eaten about the equivalent of one petal. We immediately hit the Internet to see whether daffodils are toxic to cats.

We found quite a bit of good information that indicated that daffodils are toxic. The bulbs are the most toxic (they contain all the energy that the plant needs to survive). Thankfully Ivan had eaten only one petal. The consensus seemed to be that if he did not vomit again and did not get diarrhea, that he had probably thrown up all the offending material and would recover on his own. This is exactly what happened. We did read about instances where cats got very sick from daffodil ingestion, requiring veterinary care, and there are one or two documented cases of cats dying from the effects of daffodil ingestion. WHEW! We were lucky!

As some cats are wont to do, Boo cleaned up Ivan's vomitus. Later that evening Boo didn't seem as hungry as usual. We wondered if that might be because he had eaten some of the daffodil material in the vomitus. But he was fine the next morning. However, the moral of the story is that you should be careful with any plants in the house. Ivan does have pica (he eats things that he shouldn't, namely fabric), but any cat might eat plants, even poisonous ones.

Now to things that cats should eat. You may recall that we have discussed cat food here in the past. We wanted to make sure we gave Ivan and Boo the best food possible, to try to avoid the cancer that struck our two previous cats, who, though aged 20 and 7, died only 10 days apart. We were also concerned about obesity in our cats, and after discussions with our vet and some research on our own, we decided to put them on grain-free diets. Our vet recommended Evo.

The cats really like Evo, but it's not always easy to get. Only two stores in the San Jose area sell it, and neither is terribly close to us. So we started looking around at the PetSmart near our house to see what kind of grain free, high protein options they had. We found something called By Nature and By Nature Organics. They had a grain-free variety in dry and canned form. The price was good and the cats liked it. End of story.

Not exactly. This week we went to stock up, and there was one bag of By Nature left, and no cans. There was a sign saying that PetSmart would no longer be carrying it. THANKS, PETSMART. So we had to do some quick research to figure out what to get!

We found Blue Buffalo. They have a high protein, low carb, grain free line called Blue Wilderness. It is supposedly patterned after the diet of the wild lynx, and the line sports a lynx on the bag and cans. Their other lines are wheat and soy free, but they do contain rice. However, our vet really has no problem with rice as long as there are no other grains or soy in the mix.

We have just started feeding the boys the Blue Buffalo canned food (we bought the Blue Wilderness cans, as well as the Spa Select and Healthy Gourmet cans - the latter two contain rice). We have a little By Nature kibble to finish before we start them on the Blue Wildnerss kibble. We will keep you posted on their progress.

New Toys

We rotate Ivan and Boo's toys, so that once they get bored with the current rotation, we can pull out some things they haven't seen in a while, and they think they've got new toys. This week we brought out a couple of items that were still in their packaging, not having been opened yet. We also purchased a new item and put it into immediate use.

One of the items we've had for a while but only just opened is the SnazzyKat NosyMouse. This is a smallish mouse made of shiny fabric with feathers on its back. We assumed it contained catnip, but when the cats were not terribly interested in it, we checked the packaging, and here's what it says on the back: "To lure your cat to play, store or roll NosyMouse in SnazzyKat organic catnip (sold separately)." Well, at least they tell us you have to supply your own catnip, even if it is in fine print! We are storing the toy in catnip at this moment, and we will report back later on how interested the cats are in it once it reeks of nepetalactone (the feline-attracting chemical in catnip).

Another item we had in the cats' toy storage box but had not yet opened is the Lazy Pet Products 8 in 1 Kookamunga Catter Up (I swear I did not make that name up). This is one of those toys that hangs from the top of the door, supposedly enticing cats to bat it about. The cats are mildly interested in it. We hang it next to their Kittywalk Cozy Climber, and they bat at it from inside the Cozy Climber. The toy consists of a hanger, a long string, and a ball and feathers attached at the end of the string. We're not sure where the "8 in 1" comes in, and there's no explanation with the packaging.

The last toy is the biggest hit. We pulled out an old "cat fishing pole" (a stick with string and a lure tied at the end of the string) with the remains of a feather on the end of the string, and Ivan went nuts over the old feather, so we decided to look at PetSmart for a new feather to attach. Not finding that, we instead found a whole new cat fishing pole with feathers on the end for only $3.99. So we bought it. Ivan went nuts over it immediately. Even Boo was interested in it! Ivan gets so involved with the feathers that he growls as though he is guarding prey! We can get Ivan running back and forth and jumping after it, twisting and turning gymnastically in mid-air. Boo, on the other hand, will run in circles after it, tearing up the carpet with his claws. This toy is made by ToyShoppe Playables and is called the Feather Wand Teaser.

Mind you, Ivan and Boo went nuts over the Cat Dancer and the Cat-Aerobics Action Toy (both similar to the "cat fishing pole" type toy), but then grew tired of them. That may happen with this Feather Wand Teaser, also. But we'll keep bringing it out for the boys as long as they show interest.

That reminds us - the Fling-a-Ma-String has been out of circulation in our house for a few months. It's probably just about time to bring it out again and see Ivan and Boo react to it as though it were brand new!

More for Cats Who Like to Chew

Ivan loves to chew. He chews the cardboard on cat scratchers, he chews the wrist strap on cameras, iPods, Wii remotes, and other portable electronic devices. He even occasionally chews small cables. And, if you're a regular reader here, you know that he likes to chew fabric - especially clothing.

We wanted to try to redirect his passion for chewing so that it would not be so destructive. We tried cat chew toys (yes, PetStages makes cat chew toys that are intended for teething kittens), we tried rawhide chews made for dogs, etc. We eventually found dried chicken breast strips, marketed for dogs and sold by Trader Joe's. The cats went nuts over these, and the strips seemed to satisfy some of Ivan's chewing urges. However, Trader Joe's stopped carrying those, so we had to find an alternative source. We did, at PetSmart. However (again), we read, after feeding those to the cats for months, that those made in China seemed to cause some health problems in dogs. Knowing about the Chinese melamine pet food scandal, we decided to stop buying dried chicken made in China. Unfortunately, EVERY brand of the chicken strips we could find was made in China! So for the past year or so, Ivan hasn't had much to chew on except what little he could find in the house that we had not already removed from his reach. We substituted freeze dried salmon and shrimp cat treats for the chicken strips, and while the cats love the salmon and shrimp, neither is terribly chewy.

Well, Trader Joe's started carrying a product for dogs that looked interesting. It is a piece of rolled rawhide wrapped in dried chicken breast. Hmm. And it's made in the U.S.A.! Of course, it didn't have to be made here. We would have bought it if it were made just about anywhere but China. But it is made here. We gave each cat one of these, and they went wild! They threw these chicken breast wraps in the air, knocked them around, and pounced on them and chewed the heck out of them. FINALLY! Not only do they like to chew these things, but they like to play with them, too! We hope to have less cardboard and fabric chewing in our future! See Ivan in the photo below looking rather guilty about his bad habit.

Trader Joe's also carries the chicken breast strips again, but we find the chicken breast wraps (with rawhide) to elicit more chewing from the boys. They gobble the breast strips down pretty quickly, and while the chicken is low carb and high protein, the boys are on diets (being indoor cats, they tend to be less active than outdoor cats and so gain weight, despite being on a no-grain, low carb diet already), and the chicken breast wraps have a bit less chicken and require more work (and burning of calories) to get it.

Be very careful in giving these kinds of treats to your cats. You may even wish to speak to your vet about giving your cat the dehydrated chicken breast. We are lucky that our cats are chewers, so they very thoroughly chew the dried chicken and have no problems swallowing or digesting it. But all cats may not be quite so adept at handling the dried chicken. If you want to try it with your cats, break off a very small piece of the chicken and let them eat it. Then slowly increase the size of the piece. The good thing about the chicken breast wraps is that the chicken is wrapped around the rawhide roll, and the cats have to chew bites of the chicken off the rawhide. The chicken is a bit crumbly and so they aren't getting big pieces. But the dehydrated chicken strips are definitely a bit more chewy.

We Love Feliway, and ModernCat's New Boutique

FELIWAY

We love the Feliway diffuser. Feliway is a synthetic version of feline facial pheromones. When your cat rubs his or her face on you, or a corner of table, or a wall corner, or anything else, s/he is rubbing a pheromone of well-being onto those objects. It is a form of marking, but not necessarily a territorial type of marking, like urine marking or vertical scratching. So veterinarians decided that this pheromone was a good thing, and that diffusing it into the local atmosphere would keep cats calm. They also found that it reduced territorial behavior like urine marking and vertical scratching.

I'm here to tell you that it works! We first used it when our 20-year old male cat Ian was diagnosed with cancer. He was given prednisone tablets, which helped him somewhat, but the Feliway diffuser, after a few weeks, really seemed to help Ian calm down and feel more relaxed. He had fairly advanced lymphoma, but with the use of the Feliway and prednisone, he lived a comfortable two months, during which he was eating well and interacting a lot with us.

After we lost Ian, having lost our dear Aggie 10 days earlier, we adopted two kittens, littermates, from our feral cat colony in the country. The Feliway helped Ivan and Boo transition into their new home. Now it helps them remain calm when their tendency is to fight over who is top cat. We can tell when it's time to replace the Feliway diffuser refill - Ivan starts terrorizing Boo! Boo, though the bigger, heavier cat, is so polite that he will not fight back much. So the Feliway diffuser is a true aid in keeping these silly brothers from fighting in the first place.

The diffuser is very simple to use. It is a small unit that plugs unobtrusively into a wall outlet. You screw in a diffuser refill, which lasts about 30 days. The refills are admittedly pricey (typically around $25.00 US), but it's a small price to pay for maintaining peace in the household, not to mention preserving furniture and carpets! We occasionally find the refills on sale and stock up. There is also a Feliway spray, which is useful for spraying in a cat carrier, when you need to take an uncooperative kitty to the vet, or for spraying in a room, when a new kitty has arrived but is in seclusion before being slowly introduced to the indigenous cat population.

MODERNCAT BOUTIQUE

Our friends at ModernCat have opened a new shop in Phoenix. They plan to make their wares available via Etsy. Check them out at their Facebook page to keep track of when you can buy their products on line. And if you're in Phoenix, drop by and pay them a visit.

Cat-Aerobics, and a Bolt Update

Yes, even cats need some aerobic exercise. Exercising your cat keeps him fit, not to mention out of trouble! Cats who don't get exercise can get bored and develop bad habits. Even though we don't have dogs, and are pretty much bona fide cat people, we watch The Dog Whisperer, and his credo is "exercise, discipline, and affection" in that order. The exercise is important because it provides a natural energy drain. In the wild, dogs and cats would be hunting to live, and that would take up a lot of their time and energy. Domesticated animals don't need to hunt to live, so, unless we provide them some exercise opportunities, they build up a lot of energy that needs to be dissipated somehow. If it is not dissipated through exercise, it is often dissipated through other means, and those means may be undesirable.

This is why we are on a quest for toys that really engage our cats and get them moving. We've reviewed several here already. Another that we recently found is the Cat-Aerobics "Action Toy" and step-by-step aerobics program. Yep, that's what it says on the package! The package contains a toy that is somewhat similar to the Cat Dancer (see our previous blog entry), but improved upon. That is saying a lot.

We were astounded by how our cats reacted to the Cat Dancer. It is such a simple thing: a piece of baling wire with cardboard rolls attached at the ends. Ivan and Boo went nuts over it and even asked us (in their inimitable feline way) to get it out each day. Now they do that with the Cat-Aerobics toy, but even more! Why? Because the makers of the Cat-Aerobics toy have, as mentioned, improved upon the Cat Dancer theme by enhancing it. They've added a wooden handle for the human on one end, and a colorful lure on the other end for the finicky feline.

Also included in the Cat-Aerobics package is a booklet entitled CAT-Aerobics EXERCISE PROGRAM Instructions. This little booklet contains some good ideas for exercising your cat, some as simple as scratching him under the chin to more complex movements of the toy that cause him to jump into the air.

Ivan and Boo went nuts over this toy the moment it came out of the package. They turn into panting maniacs when we drag this toy around the room. The rubber, critter-like lure on the end seems to be the big attraction. Congratulations, SunRae Products, for improving on what we thought was the ultimate cat toy!

We bought this product ourselves and did not receive a review sample from the manufacturer.

FROLICAT BOLT UPDATE

After three months of fun, the Bolt laser toy decided to stop working in automatic mode last week. We searched the web for a FAQ that might tell us how to fix it, but instead we found the manufacturer's site and checked the on-line product user guide, which indicated that they would repair or replace a defective Bolt within one year of purchase. Here's the text from the user guide:

If you have questions about BOLT™ or any of our products, please call us toll free at (888) 726-MEOW (6369) to speak with one of our knowledgeable cat-loving staff. If there is ever a problem, FroliCat will replace or repair your BOLT interactive laser toy for one year. Just call our toll-free number.

We called the number, and as we are on the West Coast, and they are in Chicago, and it was late in our business day, we got voice mail for "Sarah". We left Sarah a message, explaining that we'd purchased the Bolt about three months ago, and it suddenly stopped working in auto-mode. We told her we had the receipt for purchase, and we wondered what we needed to do to get the item repaired or replaced, and we left our call-back number. Sarah's greeting indicated that we would be called back on the next business day. The next business day was Friday. We did not receive a call back. Today, the third business day after we left our message, we still have not had a response.

If the Bolt web site had not indicated they would repair or replace, and if Sarah's voice mail had not indicated that we would be contacted on the next business day, perhaps we would not be so disappointed in this crummy customer service. Maye we should have told them that we have a cat product review blog and had already given the Bolt a glowing review. But we didn't. Since then, because the cats have really missed their Bolt in auto mode, we bought a new one. They are $19.99 at PetSmart. That's a bit pricey to last only three months! FroliCat, if you read this review and are interested in repairing or replacing the defective Bolt (or simply refunding us the cost of the replacement we bought ourselves), drop us a line.

The Kritter Kondo Lets Your Indoor Cats Go Outside Safely

We were excited when we ran across KritterKondo on Twitter. We checked out their associated web site and discovered that they were developing a cat playpen for cats who live in condominiums, apartments, or townhomes. Space might be limited indoors, but with the Kritter Kondo, kitties could play safely outside.

After a few months, we got word that the Kritter Kondo was finally available for purchase! We contacted Lisa, the owner and mastermind behind the Kondo, and asked if she would be interested in covering the shipping cost to send us a Kondo for review. She immediately agreed, so we saved around $18. We paid only for the Kondo itself, which currently sells for $124.99.

It took a week and a half or so, but the Kondo finally arrived via UPS. It comes with its own padded carrying case that has lots of pockets inside for holding the bag of pins that give the Kondo its structural integrity, plus it can hold lots of your own supplies - pet food and treats, people snacks/water, pretty much anything you like! The case is large, so the shoulder strap on it is a must. It is relatively easy to tote around - from the car to the patio, or from the car to the park or beach - you get the idea. The carrying case measures 30 inches tall by 36 inches wide and about five inches thick.

We first set up the Kondo indoors, to let the kitties get accustomed to it. It's easy to set up. Lay it flat on the ground, with the base frame on the bottom, and lift up the two ends. Then you insert the eight pins and voilá, you're done, and the Kondo is ready for its residents to enter!

Ivan and Boo checked it out for the couple of days that we had it open in the house. Then we made some space on our patio (which is currently pretty well occupied by potted plants, a small table and chairs, and a barbecue grill!) and set the Kondo up outside. It is a perfect fit on our patio! And it is quite spacious, even for two adult cats. They had room to walk around and check things out. They had quite the afternoon in the sun! The fully opened enclosure is 2 feet tall, 2.5 feet wide, and a whopping 5.5 feet long!

Almost every evening we open the sliding glass door that leads to the patio and we leave the screen door shut, and the boys love to lounge in front of the screen. We tried to escape-proof the patio with the plastic equivalent of chicken wire, but we are not convinced that the cats won't find some miniscule escape route, so we rarely let them out, and when we do, it's only for a few moments. However, the Kritter Kondo puts all our fears of escape to rest! We can leave the boys on the patio and go answer the phone or the door, or take a bathroom break, and we know they'll be fine. This is a great load off our minds!

The boys love the opportunity to be outside and smell the smells, hear the sounds, and see the sights. The sun was warm on them today, and they lounged in it. The birds were flitting about, and the boys clucked at them (you've probably had cats who do that!). There were leaves dancing about on the cement of the patio, and the cats batted at them. It was a wonderful afternoon!

The KritterKondo appears to be very well-designed and well-made. It is ridiculously easy to set up and take down. The door opens and closes easily and has a latch to make sure it stays shut when your cats are inside. You'll want to get a zip-loc type bag to store the pins in - the bag of pins will slip right into one of the pockets inside the Kondo storage bag.

There are other companies that make cat "playpens" and outdoor pens, but this is the biggest one at the best price. We haven't seen any other outdoor cat pens of this size, certainly not at this price. And you don't have to live in an apartment to use the Kritter Kondo. We recommend it for anyone who wants their cats to enjoy the outdoors without the risk of them escaping or running away. The Kritter Kondo is available from Kritter Kommunity at www.kritterkommunity.com. Tell them Ivan and Boo sent you.

Please be sure to provide your cats with a shaded area while they are in the Kritter Kondo. Lay a towel over one end of the enclosure, or set it up so that it is partially shaded by a tree. Cats can get sunburned and can even get skin cancer from sun exposure, especially cats who have white fur on part or all of the body.

Your Cats Will Beg You for this Toy

Seriously. Since when do cats beg? Apparently since they were made aware of a toy called "The Original Cat Dancer". Huh? Yes, I ran across reviews of this toy on Amazon.com when purchasing other cat items, and the reviews were so overwhelmingly positive, to the point of gushing, that I had to check this thing out.

I had no idea what it was. The Amazon.com entry didn't really describe the item very well. And on receipt of it, I could see why. It is ridiculously simple. It's basically a yard-long piece of bailing wire with some cardboard bits attached at each end. If you read about a cat toy like that, would you buy it?

Of course not! At least, not unless you were somehow convinced that it magically attracts cats, like the pied piper attracted rats. So how does it work?

I'd like to know as much as you would. I really have no idea

why our cats go absofreakinlutely insane over this thing. The first time we showed it to them, they went nuts immediately and we had to put the toy away after 15 minutes or so, before they had heart attacks from over-exertion. That's pretty much a first for any toy. With all other toys, they eventually get tired. But not with this one.

And, yes, just as the title of this blog entry says, your cats will beg you for this toy. Ours do. We come home in the evening and feed them, and the moment they have finished eating they start meowing at us and standing in front of the cabinet where we keep

the Cat Dancer. (We have to put it away when not in use or they'd find it and obsess over it and do who-knows-what to it!) They are not satisfied until the Cat Dancer comes out and engages them. And "engages" is a mild term for what really happens. They turn into crazed predators. They run back and forth as we drag this thing across the floor, and they also leap through the air after it if we dangle it above them. They get so involved in chasing the Cat Dancer that they actually pant like dogs from the exertion (and yes, we've had them thoroughly checked by the vet, and they're hale and hearty - no worries about the panting). Even Boo, who is normally tough to motivate with toys, goes wild over this one.

The best part about this toy? It currently sells NEW on Amazon.com for $5.31. Well, when you consider what it's made of, you'll think that's a fortune, but once you see how your cats react to it, you'll think it's one of the best deals ever.

By the way, the boys still love The Bolt laser toy. We turn it on before we leave for work in the morning (and let it shut itself off in 15 minutes).

On other cat topics, I came across a web site, recently, called The Random Cat Project. The site's premise is a truly enlightened idea and makes for touching content. The site's creators have filmed and photographed random cats that they've encountered while walking through London, and they've posted the photos and videos at the site. They are soliciting similar photos and videos of random cat encounters from all over the world. I was so smitten by this web site that I sent the link to, among several others, ModernCat, and they posted it in their newsletter/blog. So now it's my turn. Lovely idea, Neil & Co., keep up the great work, and we'll be on the look-out for random cats to document here in Silicon Valley.

Laser Toys Everywhere

We've been using laser pointers with our cats for many years. We first noticed our dear Mala (R.I.P.) running madly after the small circle of light that reflected off my watch face. But that only worked when there was direct sunlight in the vicinity. Then laser pointers appeared, and we recognized immediately that these pointers would make great cat entertainment! Those early laser pointers really sucked up the battery power, however, and they used unusual batteries (those small hearing-aid type batteries) that were not always very easy to find. But, nevertheless, our cats learned to recognize the sound of the laser pointer as it was being picked up (it had a key chain on it that jingled) - that's how much they loved to chase The Red Dot!

Recently several cat products have come on the market that purport to entertain cats with lasers while the humans get on with other business. This is a bit sad, because half the fun of the laser pointer is to get your cat flinging himself crazily around the house after The Red Dot, and laughing insanely at his silly antics. However, we're pretty sure that a few cases of tendonitis arose among cat owners who went a little bonkers with the laser pointers, and relief from that would be welcome. And sometimes, we have to admit, we just don't have as much time as we'd like to spend a lot of play time with the feline members of our families. So these automatic cat toys were definitely intriguing.

The first we found was the "Ba-Da-Beam Rotating Laser Cat Toy" made by Multipet Inernational Inc. Bit of a mouthful, that. But it looked interesting - it's shaped a bit like a NASA space capsule from the 60s, and it has a lid on top that lifts up to reveal a mirror and a laser. The mirror adjusts to two different positions so that one can direct The Red Dot at the floor or at a wall. Clever! It was $16.99 at PetSmart. Our cats are not as enamored of The Red Dot on the wall as they are of it on the floor, so we used the floor setting. However, the floor setting resulted in a Red Dot that moved languidly in a fairly small-diameter (2 to 3 inches) oval. It stopped every so often and sat for half a second, only to start its weary rotations again. The cats were fairly interested in it at first but seemed to quickly grow bored with it.

We fiddled with the lid/mirror, to see if we could entice it into any positions between "floor" and "wall". No luck. So we stacked a few things under one edge of the "capsule". This did result in some better laser action. The Red Dot actually moved in a larger oval, which interested the cats a bit more. And the Ba-Da-Beam has an automatic shut-off, so we could turn it on and let the cats play, and it would turn off after about 15 minutes. This is not described in the instructions - that makes it a Bonus Feature! The instructions do state that the Ba-Da-Beam may be held in the hand for a more "interactive" experience. We tried that, and Ivan perked up quiet a bit. He looked like he had suddenly acquired a palsy of some sort, his head bobbing in a manner reminiscient of an elderly Katherine Hepburn. Ivan was more interested in The Red Dot when the Ba-Da-Beam was held in the hand than when it was set on a table or on the floor. But that sort of defeats the purpose - it was the "automatic" nature of the toy that was most enticing. However, on the bright side, the Ba-Da-Beam comes with batteries included! That's a rarity.

We saw a review of the Bolt automatic laser toy in the ModernCat blog. We then kept seeing ads for it in our pet insurance e-mail newsletters (through Pet Product Advisor). However, if we ordered it through Pet Product Advisor, we had to pay shipping. So we checked at our neighborhood PetSmart to see if they carried the Bolt.

The first time we checked, they did not have the Bolt, but they did have the Ba-Da-Beam, and that's when we purchased that toy. We checked a couple more times, but no Bolt, until today, when we went into PetSmart to get some cat litter. Voila, there was the Bolt! It's hard to miss once you've seen what it looks like. It looks a bit like a bowling pin with a hole near the top where the mirror and laser are located. It was $19.99. Not including batteries (it takes 4 AAs).

The Bolt, made by FroliCat, is the laser toy perfected. It can be placed on any flat surface - a table, a counter, the floor - and turned on, and The Red Dot moves about semi-randomly. The movement is reminiscent of the movement of the Undercover Mouse toy. Its basic track is a circle (or oval, in the case of the Bolt) but it moves forward and backward along the circle in random motions, stopping and changing direction constantly. That kind of random movement drives cats crazy. Once we set it up and the cats got accustomed to it, even Boo was chasing it, and Boo is fairly difficult to motivate when it comes to chasing things. And, the best part about the Bolt is that the mirror is adjustable, so you can have The Red Dot moving in wide arcs across floors, walls, and even ceilings, or you can have it move in a fairly small arc, to keep it right in front of kitties who lose interest once The Object of Their Interest moves out of their line of vision. The Bolt also has a 15-minute automatic shut-off, so that the cats don't keel over from too much exertion. Truly, that is sometimes a concern with hyper Ivan!

So if we had to choose between the two laser toys discussed here, we would definitely choose the Bolt. For $3 more than the Ba-Da-Beam you get a much more adjustable toy that works well entertaining cats while you go off to clean the bathroom, but it also works as a hand held laser, allowing you to interact a bit more with your feline friends.

The Kittywalk Cozy Climber and Music for Pets

Ivan and Boo spend most of their time in our small apartment. They travel well, so when we go up north to our 20 acres in the mountains, they go with us, but work's been busy so we haven't gotten out of town as much as we'd like this year. The apartment is only about 800 square feet (real estate is insanely expensive, even for leasing, in the San Francisco Bay Area). So we have got to work to find ways to maximize that room so the boys get some decent exercise.

One way we maximize the room is with the Kittywalk Cozy Climber. This ingenious "hanging cat tree" attaches to any interior door. It has four levels, with holes between each level to allow the cat to climb to different levels easily. However, Ivan often climbs up the Cozy Climber on the outside and sits atop the "roof"! He's the daredevil in the family.

The boys love the Cozy Climber and often sleep in it. They also use it as a refuge when they know we are getting ready for bed and plan to boot them out of the bedroom for the night (we do that so they can't jump on our heads at 3:30am in the morning, wanting to play). The only way we can get them out of it is to offer them dehydrated salmon (we've talked about that salmon here before).
One of the many attractive features of the Cozy Climber is the ease with which you can hang it and take it down. We take it down each night because it is on our bedroom door, and if we leave it hanging, the boys jump in and out of it during the night and rattle our bedroom door. So we take it down, and then hang it up again each morning. Of course, this amounts to one less distraction for them during the night, meaning they often get into mischief while we are sleeping!

We purchased our Cozy Climber as an "open box" item on Amazon.com for around $100. Currently Amazon.com is selling them for about $160.00. However, we saw it as low as $148 via a search on Google.

Kittywalk makes some great products. We also own the Kittywalk SUV Pet Stroller, which easily holds both Ivan and Boo (at the same time!). We'll review this product in a future blog entry. And we are eyeing the Kittywalk Deck and Patio system. We'd love to let the boys lounge outside in the sunshine on our patio in one of these. However, there is another similar item we are looking at from another manufacturer, the KritterKondo. We'll let you know if we choose one over the other and what we think of whatever we choose.

Another cat-related item we acquired is the Music My Pet CD of "Classic Cuts". This is a CD that offers classical music pieces that, studies show, help to calm cats and dogs. It's also pretty darn calming for humans! We've played it for Ivan and Boo, and they do seem to mellow a bit when it's playing. A web site that we found through our pet insurance, Pet Product Advisor, offers this CD for $12.99. However, they were out of it when we tried to order it, so we found it on Amazon. com (I swear that we do not own stock in Amazon.com!) for a bit more, though at the moment they offer it for the same price as Pet Product Advisor! The CD contains calming pieces by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, and Schumann., as well as Schubert and Scarlatti, and, finally, Chopin. We understand that the studies done on this topic found that cats and dogs seem to prefer music that remains even in tempo and volume, as well as frequency. The reviews of this product on Amazon.com all recommend the product and indicate that it works well to calm pets!

One last item: we received a sample of bonita flake cat treats from Pur'fect Cat Treats. The boys love these as much as the dehydrated salmon! The only difference is that the bonita flakes are soft and very thin and small. However, if your cats are on a diet, these would be just the right treats for them!

That Big Furry Cat Toy

Remember the furry cat toy we mentioned a few entries ago? We finally got the information on it from our local pet store. The product is made by Vo-Toys, under the "V.I.P" brand (stands for "Very Important Pet") and the line is called "Furry Friends". We found today that they make the large sized toy, which we purchased a few weeks ago and which Ivan and Boo love, and they make a smaller one, as well, which is $1.00 cheaper. We had not heard of Vo-Toys before buying these furry toys, but their web site shows that they have quite a few items available for cats, including many furry mice and similar toys. Our cats seem to really like fur, so this is a good find.

You may also remember our mention of the cat cubes that we found at Target recently for a very inexpensive price. We found a tunnel to attach to the cubes (it velcroes on), and we created a nice tunnel-cube-pyramid play area for the cats. It doesn't happen to be color-coordinated with the cubes we already had, but hey, we're pretty sure the cats don't mind. Plus, the tunnel has that crinkly, paper-sack sound that a lot of cat-toy manufacturers are using these days. (Ivan used to be afraid of that sound, owing to the fact that he got a paper grocery bag around his neck when he was younger and ran around the house trying to get away from it for a few minutes before we could catch him and remove it! However, he seems to have finally gotten over that aversion.)The product is made by "Sport Pet Designs". The cat cubes and pyramid we already had are made by "Pet Essentials" but we suspect these two companies are related and both supply pet products to Target. In fact, there is a photo on the back of the "Kitty Tunnel" which shows the cat cubes and pyramids that we already have, but in a different color scheme. This tunnel, like the cubes, was under $10.00. Ivan loves to take his toys into the tunnel-cube-pyramid system. He also loves to zoom into the tunnel, hang out in one of the cubes or the pyramid for a while, and then zoom out.

Great Interactive Toy - The Tornado

Recently we saw a reference to dog toys created by Nina Ottosson. The reference was in a cat context, and the writer suggested that the Ottosson toys, though designed for dogs, were great for cats. We had never heard of Nina Ottosson, so we googled her, and we found quite a bit of information on her and her toys. We also found several toys that even she recommends for use with cats. The above link goes straight to her own site.

Ottosson creates toys that challenge dogs (and cats), and that force the animals to use their brains. We've been looking for toys like this for a long time. We have one item, which we ordered from Drs. Foster and Smith, called the Peek-a Prize Toy Box. It's a box with holes along all but its bottom panel. It comes with balls to bat around, but we put treats in it, forcing the cats to work to get the treats. Boo, seeming to have some Maine Coon blood, puts his paw in, curls his toes around the treat, and pulls it straight up out of the box! Ivan has to work a bit harder, but he uses a bit more ingenuity to get his treats. The photo here is from the Drs. Foster and Smith web site.

We wanted something a bit more challenging for our cats, so when we heard about the Ottosson toys, we were very interested. After reading about several of her toys, we were most intrigued by the "Tornado". It was specifically marketed for dogs and cats. Ottosson does have a page at her site where she indicates the featured toys can be used by dogs, cats, "Polecats, Mini pigs, Parrots, Ratts [sic], Horses..." However, the Tornado looked to us like the easiest one for cats to use. (The word polecat, by the way, refers to a different animal in Europe than it does in the U.S. In the U.S. it is a skunk, but in Europe it refers to another member of the Mustelid family which we in the U.S. would call a ferret). Interestingly, the skill level of the Tornado is listed as "hard" on the box, but Ivan figured out the general principle, at least, in a matter of seconds! Of course, most cat lovers would argue that cats are more intelligent than dogs, and that this is proof. However, as we love cats and dogs, we will refrain from getting embroiled in that argument!

The Tornado is a bone-shaped toy (hey, the cats don't notice!) composed of different levels with compartments. Each level rotates separately around the center of the toy - hence the name Tornado. The cat must use its nose and/or paws to move the different levels and expose the compartments. We placed a piece of freeze-dried salmon in each compartment, and then we rotated all pieces so that each level lined up with the others and all compartments were covered. The salmon has a relatively strong smell which the cats love, and so they become intent on finding each piece (needless to say, they also love to eat the salmon!).

We videotaped Ivan and Boo (mostly Ivan) having a go with the Tornado.

We put a piece of salmon in each compartment and let them have at it. The video is only about three and a half minutes long, but the total elapsed time it took Ivan to find every piece of salmon was about 10 minutes. That's a long time to keep a cat busy! Even if you don't watch the entire video, just watching a few seconds of it will give you an idea of how it works.

We highly recommend this toy to mentally stimulate your cat(s). However, we have to add that they are not very interested in finding Greenies in this toy. These boys will only work for freeze dried salmon (which we discussed in a previous blog entry)! We purchased the toy from Dogs in Play via Amazon.com. It was $49.99. This is expensive, but after seeing our cats with it, we feel it is well worth the price. However, with a bit of web research, you may be able to find it for a lower price.

Another Litter Box Alternative, but This One Looks Good!

Just got word about a new product called the ModKat Litter Box. This thing looks COOL! Not only does it have an unusual shape and profile for a litter box, but entry is from the top ("roof")! Further, the liner (pictured below)is re-usable! It's made of a tarpaulin material and has built in handles for ease of lifting in and out, and it's very easy to clean. Wait there's more! It comes with a well-designed litter scoop that has a brush on one edge! And the scoop snaps right on the side of the box.

Don't let the above photo fool you -- there are four different colors available, at least per the web site.

This box should reduce litter tracking, as the cat will shed litter he's collected in his pads while climbing out of the box. And the holes in the "roof" not only provide ventilation, but they also allow litter that falls from the cat's paws to drop back into the box.

Shortly after first hearing about this gem, we learned it won the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) Editor's award for accessories. Not bad!

You can sign up at the ModKat web site to be notified when this litter box is available. There are also many more photos at the web site. And kudos to the ModernCat blog/newsletter for alerting us to this cool find!

Corny Cats and Furry Toys and Litter Robots

Corn litter. It's a great idea. It's biodegradable, it's renewable, it's non-toxic. It works in the Litter Robot. It's also dust-free and doesn't track much, and we don't have to worry about Ivan or Boo developing a giant ball of bentonite in the gut from licking clay litter off their paws.

These are good things.

The corn litter makes the laundry room (where the litter boxes are) smell like Corn Chex. And for some reason, Corn Chex Scent does not mix well with cat urine or feces - the smell is not easily described. Suffice it to say that it's not exactly pleasant.

These are bad things.

Since the good outweigh the bad, we decided to purchase a product that our pet insurance newsletter has been recommending: Zero Odor. It supposedly neutralizes odor-causing microbes and is marketed specifically for use in litter boxes. So why not try it? If that helps with the Corn-Chex-Cat-Waste scent action going on in our laundry room, the story will have a happy ending.

We just received the Zero Odor yesterday. We decided to test it immediately. First, we needed to get a good baseline whiff of the litterbox. After thoroughly scooping the box, we sniffed, recoiled, and then took the bottle of Zero Odor and gave it several good squirts into the litterbox. Then we immediately sniffed again. The recoil reaction was not as strong. So either we'd maxed out our Corn-Chex-Cat-Waste olfactory receptors with the first sniff, or the odor was now weaker. We sprayed some more Zero Odor into the box and sniffed again, and the scent definitely seemed quite a bit weaker. In fact, we seemed to be smelling mostly Corn Chex without the Cat Waste notes.

So the preliminary results indicate that we CAN have a Corn-Chex-Cat-Waste-scent-free home without abandoning the corn litter!

By the way, the litter we use is The World's Best Cat Litter - multiple cat formula. One more favorable attribute of this litter - it's quite a bit lighter than clay, so it's easier to purchase a big-ass bag and get it out of the store without damaging one's back.

Now, a more exciting topic: furry toys! We've had toy mice made from real fur in the past, and Ivan and Boo just love them. So when we saw a big furry critter toy at the local pet store, we decided we needed to try it out with our cats. They LOVE it! We accidentally discarded the packaging before we could record important information about this toy, but we'll go back to the pet store and get another. It was quite reasonably priced, and with two cats, one favorite toy is one too few! Ivan does amazing gymnastics with this toy. We'll try to catch him on video and show you.

We mentioned the Litter Robot above. We just realized that we have not given it a proper review! Here in our blog we've talked about how much we like it, and we've hinted at how it works, but that's about it. Well, let us tell you...this thing is IT! It really is the best automated litter box that we have come across. It doesn't get clogged. It doesn't have a "rake" that can get stuck. It doesn't have a difficult-to-install waste bag. This thing is a BREEZE! The initial outlay is a pretty penny, but, frankly, it's not all that much more than the rake varieties of automated litter box, and it works a million times better. In a nutshell, this baby sits and waits for your cat to climb in and use it. Seven minutes after it detects your cat has exited, it starts a cycle. The globe rotates 360 degrees, and during this rotation the litter slides across a sieve, leaving the clumped pieces, while the clean litter falls through. As the globe continues to rotate, the clumps of waste are dumped into the receptacle beneath the globe. Finally, the globe rotates back in the opposite direction to restore the clean litter to the bottom of the globe. It even rotates a bit past "level" to make sure the clean litter is re-distributed evenly. You simply pull out a bottom drawer, which is lined with an inexpensive standard "tall kitchen" garbage can liner, remove the garbage bag, and dispose of the waste. Inserting a fresh garbage bag takes about 4 seconds. You can watch a demonstration of the Litter Robot cleaning cycle here.

We love it so much we bought a second one for Dev and Belle. In their case we decided to purchase a reconditioned unit. Occasionally someone will have a cat who is not interested in using a new type of litter box, and since Litter Robot comes with a 60-day return policy, the folks with finicky cats return the little-used or completely un-used Litter Robot, and people like us can buy it at a discount. It is completely cleaned and sanitized before it is resold, of course.

We learned of this product on Catster, and numerous folks there recommended the Litter Robot to us. People with multiple-cat households, especially, love it. No more scooping litter! A fresh litter box for Fluffy every time! What more could s/he ask for? Hmm, well, yes, food that is available 24-hours a day, perhaps, but if they can't have that, at least they've got the Litter Robot!