Back in the old days, cats had to make due with whatever makeshift object passed as a cat toy- Milk jug caps, shoelaces, crumpled up balls of foil. If they were lucky, their pet parent picked them up a toy from the grocery store or on special occasions, the pet shop. They would be completely shocked to see the toys cats these days get to play with, especially cool cat toys like those from FroliCat®.
With three 6 month old kittens, I was trying to find ways to keep them busy i.e. tire them out, so they stayed out of trouble especially while I was at work. It was easy when they were younger. I mean they found their tails entertaining. It can’t get much easier than that. But as they got older, it was taking more to keep them entertained.
Enter interactive cat toys.
What are interactive cat toys?
An interactive cat toy is one that does something to encourage the cat to interact with it. It can be a toy that requires a human to operate it, like a cat teaser or throwing a ball(In contrast, a ball that is just laying around would not be interactive as the cat has to be in the mood to play with it by iteself). It can be a toy that you add food to that your cat has to work at to eat, like a treat ball. It can also be a toy that uses power to make the toy do something, like the FroliCat toys my kittens got to try out.
What makes interactive cat toys a must have for cat parents?
Interactive cat toys have a few benefits for your cat.
- They encourage exercise– In the wild, cats alternate their sleeping with hunting. Our house cats follow they same sleep pattern, but it really doesn’t require much hunting skill to find the food bowl. This means our cats are missing out on much-needed exercise. Interactive cat toys get cats up and moving.
- They get to use their natural instinct and skills– When you food is handed to you on a plate, you don’t get to use what Mother Nature gave you. Pouncing, pawing and trying to catch their toy prey will help make up for our cats missing out on catching their own dinner.
- They help strengthen the bond between cat and owner– According to a new study, cats really do want to spend time with you. And what better way to spend time together than to play. Interactive toys that require a human to operate it makes for great bonding times. Yes, all their attention might be on the toy, but they know you are there and they’ll look forward to playtime each day.
FroliCat® Toys
It would be nice if we could just spend every minute of every day keeping the cats busy. But occasionally we have to put the toys down and do some life things. And someone has to pay for the cat food so our cats may be left alone for awhile. FroliCat® provides automatic play experiences so you can sit back and watch your cats go crazy. Or you can set them to initiate play sessions while you are gone.
Here are the 2 FroliCat® Toys my kitten crew tried out.
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FroliCat® Fox Den
Features
- Fuzzy “foxtail” that whirls around and flicks in and out.
- 2 play settings
- one time play- gives 10 minutes of playtime
- Play all day- 10 minutes of play every 2 hours through a 6.5 hour period
- Automatically turns off
- Motion detector- detects motion during the Play All Day setting and turns on for 2 minutes to initiate play.
- Chittering noises that alert cat to toy turning on
- Battery operated
- Smooth plastic casing
We tried the Frolicat® Fox Den first. It was an easy take it out of the box, insert batteries, set on the floor and get ready for some fun set up. The kittens were a little unsure at first. The Fox Den makes a chittering noise once it starts then there is whirring noise as it moves into action. Once they got used to the noise, curiosity took over and they really got into batting at the tail. Even Uncle Pyro got in on the play. I did find that they lost interest in the Frolicat® Fox Den if I used it often. I found it works better at getting them playing if I pull it out every few days.
FroliCat® MULTI LASER
- 2 laser lights that flash in a pattern
- lasers rotate in 360°
- 15 minutes of play then powers off by itself
- Smooth plastic casing
What cat doesn’t enjoy chasing the red dot? Image the fun with 2 red dots! The kittens loved the Multi Laser. They hear it turn on and come running from the other rooms. And watch out anyone who happens to get between them and a dot. This toy keep them busy for the whole 15 minutes. And it holds their interest even if I turn it on several times a day. The power of the red dot is that strong!
The kittens say one can never have too many cat toys, so we’ve added these other cool cat toys from FroliCat®/PetSafe® to our wishlist.
We haven’t put away our balls, mice and spring toys. They are always out. But the Frolicat® toys give me the chance to change up our playtime and give the kittens the exercise they need.
Something new! I wish I had kittens to try these. My senior cat loves playing with the toys the preschooler has left laying around – although she doesn’t love the preschooler.
This is so important! When Bear gets bored … things get really interesting around here. He pesters me, misbehaves … he’s calmed down quite a bit now – but it used to be like herding a couple toddlers. It was hard to interest him in playing by himself though … I bet he would’ve enjoyed these though!