Cat in a Santa Hat

I’ve done it so many times now and the novelty still doesn’t wear off, the little kitties look so cute in that red and white hat. You can even get some that include a white fluffy beard or a lacy ruff, making for an even better picture for the family album.

Just make sure that the hat fits properly and the elastic isn’t too tight, and if your kitty really doesn’t like it then please take it off. Otherwise, have fun!

One of the products is the Catit Senses Play Cicruit, a cat ball track much like the Bergan Turbo track. Made up of a series of hollow plastic tubes, the play circuit holds a ball that can roll up and down the inside of the tube. There are slits and gaps along the sides of the tubes which are just the right size for an inquisitive paw to poke through, allowing kitty to give a palyful swipe at the ball as it rolls past.

As with so many cat toys, how much fun the Catit Senses track will offer depends very much on how energetic or curious your cat is, but if you don’t try these things you’ll never know what your cats will think.

Both Arthur and Kitty took a little while to get used to it, as they didn’t immediately realise they could poke their paws into the tubes. In this respect the Bergan Turbo track is better, as it’s open-top track makes it easier to get at the ball.

However, with some gentle tuition Arthur and Kitty soon got to grips with it and they loved it. Arthur, being a lively fellow, would just go bonkers chasing the ball up and down the tube, bashing it from end to end. Kitty, on the other hand, likes to take a more thoughtful approach and she would give the ball a spirited whack and then wait for it to roll back to her.

They both seemed to get more enjoyment when the track was laid out in a single wavey line rather than in a circuit. This is helped by the end pieces which have a sharp incline that sends the ball rolling back in the direction it came from.

To see the Catit Senses track in action check out the video below. This isn’t Arthur or Kitty, just a video I found on Youtube, but it shows how much fun can be had .

One great way of enhancing the circuit is to add different ball toys. With Arthur and Kitty I found that adding a ball with a bell in it was particularly appealing. Either that or they just found it really annoying and wanted to stop the ringing, but either way they bashed away at the ringing ball more than they did the plain ones that came with the circuit.

The tubes are quite strong and can easily cope with the chewing and scratching of an eager cat. In fact there’s very little you can say against the Catit Senses Play Circuit, it does exactly what it says on the box and does it well.

I bought my Catit Senses circuit from Amazon for just $18.99 where I got their usual speedy delivery service.

As you can it’s a vertical triangle and it features three fun kitty toys, all attached to a single pole that’s hinged in the middle. At one end is a wand with some tassles, at the other end is a stuffed mouse, and in the middle, partially obscured inside a hole, is a ball.

The pole works just like a musical metronome and moves back and forth on its axis. As kitty bashes a toy it will swing away and then bounce back again. Also, as one of the toys move so do the other two, giving kitty a choice of three moving targets to play with. Down the sides of the Tick Tock Teaser are additional holes, allowing kitty to wave her paws around inside to try and catch the moving toys.

It’s another nicely built toy from SmartCat, with nice smooth wood and no nasty edges. One thing I would recommend is loosening the fastening screws for the wand to let it move a little more freely, it’s got quite a stiff action straight out of the box.

Both of my cats played with this, although it has to be said that Arthur got a lot more fun out of it than Kitty did. But then Arthur does like bashing things while Kitty is more thoughtful!

Smartcat Tick Tock Teaser With IterchangeableToys Cat US $9.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 23:11:30 PST Add to watch list

SmartCat Tick-Tock-Teaser - Interactive Cat Toy US $18.95 End Date: Wednesday Feb-15-2012 20:35:04 PST Add to watch list

SmartCat 3836 Tick Tock Teaser US $19.90 End Date: Friday Feb-17-2012 6:17:48 PST Add to watch list

It’s essentially a wooden box with holes cut into it, into which you can drop balls, treats, pom-poms … anything really. The idea is that your cat will then try to fish out the items or just have fun knocking them around through the holes.

It’s a simple idea for a kitty toy but sometimes that’s the best thing. The box is very nicely made from pale wood, with no rough edges for waving paws to pick up splinters. I think it really looks quite smart and is strong enough to last for years.

Smartcat Peek and Play Toy Box W/ 2 Toys Stimulating US $24.25 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 23:10:48 PST Add to watch list

NEW SmartCat 3841 Peek-and-Play Pet Toy Box FREE SHIP US $35.98 End Date: Saturday Feb-11-2012 0:33:23 PST Add to watch list

SmartCat 3841 Peek-and-Play Pet Toy Box Durable Wood Toy Encourages NEW US $30.00 End Date: Thursday Feb-16-2012 6:48:48 PST Add to watch list

2-1/2" ERRATIC PLASTIC MUSIC BALL CAT FERRET PLAY TOY US $3.49 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:02:27 PST Add to watch list

2 Kitty Cat Play Toy Tent Bed Kittens Furniture Ball US $8.94 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:28:56 PST Add to watch list

Frolicat Bolt Laser Cat Toy

It’s a laser-based device that generates a red dot on a surface and proceeds to draw out random patterns. This will send even the laziest cat into a red-dot-chasing frenzy, giving him valuable exercise and you plenty of amusement.

The Frolicat can be programmed to run automatically, where it controls the pattern, or you can pick it up and direct the dot yourself much like you would with a laser pen. Whichever mode you choose the laser will shut down after 15 minutes so that don’t exhaust your excited kitty!

The Frolicat Bolt is really easy to use. Just load the batteries (it takes 4 AAs which are not included), press the power button on the top and the Frolicat then runs on its own for the full fifteen minutes. It makes a bit of a whirring noise as the laser moves around which is not so loud as to be annoying but is load enough to tell your cat that the machine is on and it’s playtime!

I found the best place to put the Frolicat was high up on a shelf or table with the mirror directing the beam downwards. This reduced the chance of the cats blocking the beam and losing the dot, and also made it less likely that the cat looked directly into the beam.

One advantage of the Frolicat Bolt over other cat toys is that the cat doesn’t play with the toy itself, just the laser dot. This means the Bolt doesn’t get bitten/scratched/bashed as other toys can do, so as long as the electricals remain reliable it should give your kitty plenty of entertainment for many years to come.

The Frolicat Bolt is available to buy from Amazon and other pet toy retailers.

A cat tree can take many forms, from a straightforward platform on a post to a ‘cat condo’ style maze of posts, platforms, boxes and ladders. The basic idea is that the cat has somewhere to jump onto, scratch and play on.

So what should you be looking for in a cat tree? Probably one of the most important hings is a nice wide base to make sure that it’s stable, otherwise when your crazy cat launches itself onto the top it’s likely to fall over. On the subject of stability, if you go for an enormous 6ft cat tree you may want to look at anchoring it to your wall, just in case it does topple over and injure you/your cat/young child/plasma-screen TV.

Some cat trees will come with toys already bolted on, but even if you get a basic tree you can just attach a spring or piece of string onto it and add a toy of your choice.

Cat Tree Toy Bed House Scratcher Post Furniture F12 US $36.00 (22 Bids) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:08:27 PST Add to watch list

52" CAT TREE CONDO FURNITURE SCRATCHPOST PET HOUSE 67L US $49.88 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:09:10 PST Add to watch list

52" CAT TREE CONDO FURNITURE SCRATCHPOST PET HOUSE 67B US $44.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:10:08 PST Add to watch list

Majestic Pet 40" Bungalow Sherpa Cat Tree Cat Condo Sheepskin/Sisal Playground US $64.95 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:17:08 PST Add to watch list

Tree Cat Poem Removable Wall Vinyl Decal Sticker SS220 US $7.50 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:22:09 PST Add to watch list

It’s a simple idea – take a track and drop a ball into it, and then let your cat knock the ball around the track for as long as it feels like it. The walls of the track are high enough to stop the ball getting knocked for miles with a swipe of a paw, but low enough to give kitty easy access to bash the ball backwards and forwards.

The track is made up of separate pieces that can be assembled into various layouts. If you think your cat is getting bored you can re-arrange the track to create a new layout, or even buy more pieces to extend the track.

Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy, Colors May Vary NEW FREE SHIP US $20.97 End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 4:11:56 PST Add to watch list

Bergan Turbo Track Cat Toy NEW FREE SHIP US $29.91 End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 4:11:56 PST Add to watch list

Bergan Turbo Track Cat Toy NEW FREE SHIP US $34.98 End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 4:11:58 PST Add to watch list

NEW Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy 2DAYSHIP US $15.95 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 0:04:33 PST Add to watch list

Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy Replacement Pads 2 Pads US $9.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 2:54:39 PST Add to watch list

Cat ball toys are so simple yet so much fun. Even just scrunching up a bit of kitchen foil can give your kitten lots of entertainment, but sometimes you and your kitten may want just a bit more.

Ball toys for cats can vary in colour, size, texture and sound. From simple little plastic ball with a bell inside to a stuffed and cuddly ball, from solid rubber ones to ones stuffed with catnip – there are plenty to choose from to keep your little one amused.

2-1/2" ERRATIC PLASTIC MUSIC BALL CAT FERRET PLAY TOY US $3.49 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:02:27 PST Add to watch list

2 Kitty Cat Play Toy Tent Bed Kittens Furniture Ball US $8.94 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:28:56 PST Add to watch list

FUR BERRIES PLUSH SCENTED ORANGE TANGERINE CAT STUFFED ANIMAL BALL TOY US $12.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:31:59 PST Add to watch list

2" Glow Pom by:CanCor Catnip Yarn Ball Cat Toy  US $2.49 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 17:40:39 PST Add to watch list

Crocheted Catnip Ball Cat Toy - Green US $5.00 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 17:42:05 PST Add to watch list

There are so many to choose from it can be difficult to know where to start. From simple cat ball toys through to big cat trees and cat condos there will be something to suit your budget and tastes.

Vo-Toys 15' VIP Extra Strength Polybraid Dog and Cat Tie Out 4173 US $16.59 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:39:51 PST Add to watch list

LEGO Friends Lemonade Stand Cat rare NEW Toys R Us Building Event Exclusive htf US $2.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:46:01 PST Add to watch list

15 JINGLE BELLS Ideal Cat Toys Costumes Hobby Craft Christmas Decorations US $2.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:02:27 PST Add to watch list

Lot of 5 Handmade Organic Catnip Bags Cat Fun Toys US $4.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:08:20 PST Add to watch list

BRAND NEW CATNIP CAT TOY BY VO-TOYS EMBRIDERED BURLAP BALLS 2 PACK US $4.15 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:08:49 PST Add to watch list