Monday, August 26, 2013

The Cat's Meow toy: An unofficial review

You may have heard of the Cat's Meow toy--it's been advertised on television like crazy. Generally, I don't go for this type of stuff (our cats prefer the boxes the toys come in!), but our friend Roberta had an extra new toy, and she sold it to us. I thought I would do a review of it and share with our fellow cat lovers.


Benny, of course, could not wait for me to open the packaging.


The toy is pretty simple to put together. You'll need 3 C batteries and a small Phillips screwdriver to open the battery compartment.

There's a little wand that fits easily into a section on the side of the toy.

Hurry up and put it together!

There's a little cap that lifts up on the top, and you set the piece of fabric on top, then put the cap back on. To start it press the button that's in the middle (on top).

Benny LOVED this toy. Here's a video of the first time I turned it on.

Next, I called Tucker into room. He took a few seconds to figure it out, but even he played with it a bit. Notice Benny zooming in and playing too.


Lastly, I put Sadie in the room. The poor girl was afraid of it. Benny frightened her even more by zooming into the room while it was on. I took a video, but it's not very exciting and it might embarrass the poor girl. She walks far around it and then hides under the futon.

Pros:
It's easy to set up
The motion of the wand seems random
You could replace the fabric if you have a sewing machine

Cons:
The C batteries are not a common size
Not all cats will like it
If the cat sits on it (Tucker), the wand can't move 

Benny gives this toy a big two paws up. Tucker gives it a one paw up. Sadie, sadly, doesn't give it any paws up.

13 comments:

SeaThreePeeO said...

We've always wanted one of these toys. That was a great review and has given us lots of things to think about.

The Paw Relations

Old Kitty said...

Awwww lovely to see Benny and Tucker enjoying this toy! Awwww poor Sadie!! Nevermind!

Gumtree and Charlie have one of this but the mouse hadn't lasted! LOL!

Take care
x

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

That looks like a lot of fun. WE think you have a typical testing group

Anonymous said...

Impressive work by Benny - but Tucker seems to have figured it out very quickly.

Quinn and Angel brandi said...

Hmm. Mommy wondered about this toy. Sounds a little too noisy for my liking, and I bet that's why Sadie doesn't like it.
Mom says to tell you I left the room when she played these videos.

Summer at sparklecat.com said...

I would probably like this - my favorite game is to kill toys that are trying to hide from me!

Quinn and Angel brandi said...

I explained about the two litters on my blog, FYI

Greg_1948 in_WA said...

I was thinking about purchasing this. I am glad to watch your cats playing with it. I do not believe the television stunt cats are having as much fun as they seem to. It looks like an act to me! What I am interested in, is to find out if your cats are still interested in the toy in a few weeks. I would look forward to that update. My cats are generally more interested in the box the toys arrive in, rather than what is inside. The boxes hold interest longer than the toys that came in them! I have a pile of cat toys no one will look at anymore!

Rene said...

Greg--generally, Benny is interested in things for a long time. I know Tucker will tire of it quickly, but he's not as active as he used to be.

I have found it helpful to rotate toys. Put some away for a while and bring them out a few weeks later. It's like they are "new" again. I have pop up cubes I do this with too.

Roberta said...

You gave such a great description of the toy, Rene. I, too, rotate Tiny's toys so he won't get bored. He sometimes sits on the toy just like Tucker so I have to lift him up to get both of them moving again. I'm still enjoying your videos and will never get tired of them.

The Island Cats said...

We had the Undercover Mouse version of this toy and we loved it. The only problem we had is that we would knock the arm off of the motor all the time. The mom wished it had a timer on it so that it would shut off after a certain amount of time. Then the motor on it died and the mom never got us a new one. :(

Connie - Tails from the Foster Kittens said...

Sits on it.. LOL. Well I'm glad someone liked it..

I found one and bought it and it is still sitting in the box for some reason..

Saku said...

We've had one of these for a couple of weeks with mixed reviews too. If one of the cats grabs or sits on the wand, it stops.

We just changed the batteries tonight so they didn't last very long.

The cats like it though (all three) so I'll keep it around.

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