Like most cats, Midir & Etain are hard to please when it comes to their toys. Etain, like a little princess is disinterested in almost everything I bring home ... but here are a few that have even gotten her to lift a paw on occassion ...
The Cat Dancer, all I can say is that I'm sorry I didn't discover this toy sooner. My fat little cats have really slimmed down thanks to this toy. As soon as take it out they start dancing with excitement, yes, even Etain.
The Play 'n Squeak mouse with wand, this has got to be one of the all time greatest cat toys ... ours has been used to death and I'm in the process of trying to find it in a local pet store, but may resort to ordering it online. For the life of the microchip inside, the mouse makes little squeaking noises when it is moved and fortunately it's not an annoying noise, though you might put this away at night. My cats both went absolutely wild for this toy, it lasted through over a year of chewing and clawing until finally the mouse became detatched from the sting. It was well made, none of the parts ever posed a risk to Midir ... who will try to eat anything. They loved it long after it stopped chirping. They had the most fun when a person was controling this toy, but that didn't stop them from playing with it on their own. They really like the version on the wand, I tried bringing home the regular play'n squeak mouse to no avail.
The laser pointer, Midir really gets riled up over the little red dot ... Etain will watch it with curiosity, and occassionally make a half hearted attempt to swat it, but she's just not the active type. It takes Midir a long time to lose interest in this ... though he will stop chasing the dot after he's figured out that there's nothing to sink his claws into ... so it only provides a moderate amount of exercise.
The milk cap ring. Simple and free. Midir comes running everytime I open a gallon of milk because he wants that toy! He goes wild for these, but eventually, he loses them all underneath the oven, then he entertains himself by trying to fish them out with his paws. At the other end of the spectrum, Etain watches him like he's crazy while he plays with these. I guess the princess thinks trash belongs in the trash can.
Felt balls filled with catnip. I was buying these for 95 cents a piece at a local garden and pet supply store. Both Midir and Etain went absolutely nuts over them ... Must be some good catnip :) I bought one for another cat I know named Sidney. Sidney is very old, and very lazy ... but he put this toy to good use as well. The only reason I stopped buying them is because Midir was shredding them with his claws and eating the tufts of felt that came off. As far as I know, this hasn't been a problem for any other cats, just my destructive little fella ... Midir tends to chew and claw his toys like a dog would, so they have to be sturdy with nothing that will break off for him to eat.
Catnip Bubbles are in my opinion not worth the money. I bought them based on the advice of someone who said their cats loved em .... so maybe I just got cheap ones, but my cats were only mildly interested in the bubbles, the bubble solution was messy and sticky and just saturated the floors in a gooey slime.
The Wooly Bully mouse has been played with by Midir and Etain to a moderate extent. They like to chew on the mouse, but I think it's a bit big for a cat toy, they tend to like small things they can easily swat with their paws. This cat toy is about the size of a dog toy and I think that's why it goes for days without being "attacked".
