people say "da bird" is awesome, but I forgot where to get it...

 

ya i've seen posts about that toy too...too bad it's not at the stores near by me

 

Google it! I'm sure you can get it at Petsmart! I'm thinking about getting it too.

 

I would definitely recommend "da bird". The "fishing pole" toys are a great substitute, but "da bird" is much better - my kitties like it cause it twirls really nice, the feathers look realistic, and it's got really good hang/glide time, which really gets them interested. The only places I could find it was online, and I bought directly from go-cats.

I've bought every single possible toy out there, and none go over too well. I'm the only one that gets excited. Won't stop me from buying tons more toys, though. They've gotten bored with the panic mouse, and the laser light, and anything not moving. Ginza still loves his foam balls, though.

You mentioned that he's worn out his existing ones, maybe just buying the same ones again to replace them? It's great when you find something they like and aren't bored with in 2 secs.

 

I found this link:

http://www.thecatconnection.com/miva/me ... e=TYS-0649

I'll probably get it since I can't find it in my neighborhood petsmart.

 

My cats favorite thing to play with is peacock feathers. I find them in the floral depatment of the supermarket. They really go nuts over those!!!

They also like the laser light thingy.

 

eep

you need a few feathers found about the yard, a rubber band and a piece of string. i have doves all over the place here and their always dropping wing feathers. rubber band em together to the string and you have a yummy bird smellin toy, cheap. well i suppose it does i dont smell em but the cats love em. it brings out the instinct in them.

 

good ideas ....ya my cats fav toy was the white little mouse i got from petco its ripped apart and he still plays with it ...i got a new one and this one was gray and he doesnt play with it! he keeps playing with the other one...he ate the tail opened it up and still carries it around in his mouth

 

I would recommend da bird if you have a lot of space to use. I "thought" my living room was big, until I started playing with this toy. Jack and Mia like to FLY through the air after this toy, and Jack ran into the coffee table twice in one night, then I decided to put it away. If you have LEAPING cats, make sure you have a lot of room.

I also recommend the cat dancer. It's so cheap and simple, but for some reason my cats just go crazy for it.

My cats also play with those little furry mice that you can open up (velcro) and put little catnip bags in. They love those.

 

Skeeter's favorite toy is a crumpled up piece of paper. Maybe you don't need to spend money to replace their worn-out toys? Perhaps you could experiment with some "trash toys." We play with bottle caps, milk rings, paper bags, plastic strips, coke boxes...pretty much anything. Some things go over better than others, but we tend to spend more time with "trash toys" than the expensive store-bought ones! (Lucky for mommy and daddy!)

 

I got Da Bird a while ago for Thomas, hoping play therapy would help wear him out. Well...He plays with all his toys...mostly the rabbit fur mice that make the rattle sound when you shake them. But he LOVES Da Bird. We play until he is panting (about 10 - 15 minutes). The funny thing is I bought it for Thomas...But Kitty actually gets in the act too! I mean, Kitty is 11 years old and activity for her is to walk to the litter box. When toys usually come out, she just watches attentively and if the toy comes close she'll touch it. But Da Bird actually has her MOVING. She doesn't run around like Thomas, but she'll position herself on the floor and when Da Bird whizes by, she'll run after it for a few steps. I actually have to make sure that Thomas and Kitty don't try to get it at the same time! So weird. Either way, I'm so happy that both Thomas and KITTY love this toy! I bought it from CatConnection, but the shipping was sooo much. You can also get it now from Drsfostersmith.com. When you go to check out follow the instructions that say you have a coupon. When you get to the page you can see that you can select that you saw the ad on TV and get $5 off your order. You may have to spend $20 for that to apply though. Anyway, Da Bird rocks!

 

THE CAT DANCER!!!!!
I bought one last week, and OH MY GOSH, the cats love it....one of my kitties isn't a jumper, he only plays with things at floor level, until he met the Cat Dancer.
Now, he jumps like a fiend.

 

My cats like "trash toys" as much as anything. They also love those tiny fake mice that feel real and pole toys. I got them a pole toy tonight and they already tore it up! :lol:

They love anything with fur or feathers. I wish I had birds around here so I could make that home made feather toy the other poster spoke of. Our place is small so we can't have just any kind of toy. Oh, I do buy a toy at Wal-mart that my cats love. It's a mouse that hangs on a long bungee cord and you place it in the top of a door way. The cats hardly ever tire of that one.

I've also heard before that if your pets get tired of a toy, put it away for a while. That way when it's brought back out later on, it's like a new one to them again.

 

A while back I also posted a whole bunch of suggestions for homemade and bought toys here. If you don't feel like going to that thread, I've copied it again here. The original post was for a bored kitty.

* Rotate toys, since mine get very easily bored with the same things. I wash them too, and catnip them, so they'll have a different smell.

* Empty TP rolls, stuffed with newspaper and a treat in the middle.

* Giant boxes, top cut off, with ping-pong balls in there for them to bat around.

* Wiggle the feather wands/fox tails under a rug or sheet, and play hide and seek that way.

* Build a mountain of crumpled up newspaper so they can run through and jump on. They love the noise.

* Dangling toy mice. Remove them at night so you don't have to hear the thump thump thud at the 3am playtime.

* Laser light chase. Mine just goes nuts over them.

* Panic mouse. Buy lots of extra mice; they'll get ripped away within 5 mins.

* More giant boxes, all taped up. Cut 1 big square for him to go in, and lots of smaller squares with a box cutter, then play hide and seek with feather wands, poking them in and out of the different holes. I also put toys in there, and treats for them to find.

I also did some smaller boxes like the one in the upper right corner of this pic, you can see the holes I carved out.

Tissue boxes with toys inside also seem to work.

* Tunnels with toys and treats scattered inside. Mine love to run and play hide and seek in these, I bought a bunch of them and tied them together.

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Basically anything that makes a rattle noise, doesn't have small parts that she can swallow, if it's hairy or furry even better

That tube thing looks so cool SK! They must have a lot of fun in there.

 

Superkitties, those are wonderful ideas! Thank you so much and thanx for the pics too.

 

my cats again are trash toy cats - rolled up tinfoil, twist ties from sandwish bags, pieces of string boxes they can hise in and pounce on the other cats from - anything except all the expensive toys we used to buy them.

I have four cats and they all love those little foam balls - although they do all have their own colour ball and won't play with the other colours.

I also buy them those little furry mice that have feathers for tails and rattle when they move which they all love but they tend to end up soaked in the water bowl (does anyone else have this problem?)

Their favourite toy of all however, has to be their water dome - they love to put their paws on top of the fountain and splash it at easch other!

 

- Da Bird, get it from www.gocat.com, not only is it cheaper there than all other online pet stores, i checked, but also they are the ones who manufacture the toy in the first place, others are resellers. Don't forget to pick up some attachements, they will go FAST.

- Laser Pointer

- Cat ring, ones with a ball inside, seems to be a perrenial favorite

- Catnip stuffed toys, just get the best ones. CatConnection has these catnip 'cigars' which are out of this world, and i think they offer free shipping on them.

 

the website is http://www.go-cat.com/

my cats didn't show any interest in it - but they love the laser idea - a bit worried about them banging their heads chasing it though!

 

the website is http://www.go-cat.com/

my cats didn't show any interest in it - but they love the laser idea - a bit worried about them banging their heads chasing it though!

whoops really, no interest? Maybe you got a defective one? - i can't imagine cats showing no interest :?

 

Yeah -- I'm with RarePuss. If you wave the daBird back and forth through the air, it flaps and sounds just like a bird. I can't imagine cats paying no attention to it -- unless you're just dangling it for them I guess.

 

i tried everything - they just didn't seem to like it at all. Boomer showed some interest in it for a few minutes but then got distracted by a real one flying into my nice clean windows.

I had something similar a while back that you suspend from the ceiling and it flies around and they didn't seem to like that either.

Give them a ball of foil from a chocolate bar however, and they play for hours.

 

This is one of my favorites:

My friggin cousin broke it though... so I have to buy a new one! Grrr!

They don't have this one on their website that I love so much... it's a toy that clips onto the bottom of the door - and dangles a little stuffed toy (I believe there is a bell too). He loves it! There was a choice between a lady bug or a mouse... I wanted the lady bug... it's so cute!

I've been told that this is a very good video - and that almost if not all cats love it. I can't wait to get one and try it out. Anyone else back up the Catnip video?

 

I posted pics of the box with cutouts here: Playtime

Hey, thanks Artemisa and Storm! Yeah, they love the tunnels, and I re-tie them in different configurations to make it exciting for 'em.

Gabreilla, they really like their fur dancers too. Haven't gotten the video yet, will go buy one!

Here's another fun toy:

 

yeah, i noticed that da bird was cheaper off of gocat.com's website as well... but if you're looking for refills, you can probably go with cat connection, as they ship the refills for free.