Ideas for creative mechanized cat toys

I have two cats who like to play a lot. Most of their play time is
with me where I have some sort of string or wire with something at the
end of it where they chase it if I make it move in an interesting
fashion.

Eg., there's a cheap "cat dancer" toy (see http://www.catdancer.com/ )
that they love (they can barely see it and the slight noise it makes as
it drags along the ground make's them crazy). There's also a furry
tiger tail at the end of a stick and some feathers at the end of a
stick. They love all of these toys if you move them properly. With
any of these toys, if you move them under a rug or a blanket, the cats
go crazy. You also get great reactions if the toy pokes out of a
hole, our under a door.

They also love to chase laser pointers, as long as the laser pointer
light is reacting to them (trying to evade when they pounce, etc)

I'm amazed that nobody is selling any hi-tech toys which include
automatic mechanized movement that does things the above. For
example:

* A laser pointer that moves with a motion sensor so that where ever
the cat is, the laser pointer moves the other way.

* A intelligent electronic mouse that moves around in response to
motion, sound, or touch stimulus. But it would have to be programmed
subtley. If the cat touches it, it stops moving. If the cat walks
away, the toy skitters away quickly then stops. If the cat comes
towards the toy, it tries to run away.

* Some sort of movement sensitive toy that pokes out of a hole when the
cat comes by. It has to be designed so that the cat can occasionaly
catch it, causing it to play dead.

* Similarly, some sort of movement sensitive toy that moves underneath
a piece of carpet, but only when the cat is coming towards it, it tries
to get a way for a little while, then plays dead, etc.

The goal here is to make something responsive and varied enough that
the cats don't get bored with it.

I'm going to try the Multipet Bada Beam (see
http://www.petcarecentral.com/mp-66055.html) combined with a movement
sensor (it only turns on when they walk by), but this is pretty
primitive.

I've searched the web and haven't found any interesting toys. Has
anyone seen any?

Thanks
Ben near DC

On Fri 29 Dec 2006 01:32:29a, bslade SPAMMED in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

I'm amazed that nobody is selling any hi-tech toys which include
automatic mechanized movement that does things the above. For
example:

* A laser pointer that moves with a motion sensor so that where
ever the cat is, the laser pointer moves the other way.

* A intelligent electronic mouse that moves around in response
to motion, sound, or touch stimulus. But it would have to be
programmed subtley. If the cat touches it, it stops moving.
If the cat walks away, the toy skitters away quickly then stops.
If the cat comes towards the toy, it tries to run away.

* Some sort of movement sensitive toy that pokes out of a hole
when the cat comes by. It has to be designed so that the cat
can occasionaly catch it, causing it to play dead.

There's a toy called Cheese Mountain that does this, but my cats
are unimpressed.

* Similarly, some sort of movement sensitive toy that moves
underneath a piece of carpet, but only when the cat is coming
towards it, it tries to get a way for a little while, then plays
dead, etc.


One with motion that mine love is Panic Mouse. They love it so much
that they broke it. Thanks for the reminder; I have to find a
replacement "arm" for it.

--
Cheryl

bslade wrote:
I have two cats who like to play a lot. Most of their play time is
with me where I have some sort of string or wire with something at the
end of it where they chase it if I make it move in an interesting
fashion.

Eg., there's a cheap "cat dancer" toy (see http://www.catdancer.com/ )
that they love (they can barely see it and the slight noise it makes as
it drags along the ground make's them crazy). There's also a furry
tiger tail at the end of a stick and some feathers at the end of a
stick. They love all of these toys if you move them properly. With
any of these toys, if you move them under a rug or a blanket, the cats
go crazy. You also get great reactions if the toy pokes out of a
hole, our under a door.

They also love to chase laser pointers, as long as the laser pointer
light is reacting to them (trying to evade when they pounce, etc)

I'm amazed that nobody is selling any hi-tech toys which include
automatic mechanized movement that does things the above. For
example:

* A laser pointer that moves with a motion sensor so that where ever
the cat is, the laser pointer moves the other way.

* A intelligent electronic mouse that moves around in response to
motion, sound, or touch stimulus. But it would have to be programmed
subtley. If the cat touches it, it stops moving. If the cat walks
away, the toy skitters away quickly then stops. If the cat comes
towards the toy, it tries to run away.

* Some sort of movement sensitive toy that pokes out of a hole when the
cat comes by. It has to be designed so that the cat can occasionaly
catch it, causing it to play dead.

* Similarly, some sort of movement sensitive toy that moves underneath
a piece of carpet, but only when the cat is coming towards it, it tries
to get a way for a little while, then plays dead, etc.

The goal here is to make something responsive and varied enough that
the cats don't get bored with it.

I'm going to try the Multipet Bada Beam (see
http://www.petcarecentral.com/mp-66055.html) combined with a movement
sensor (it only turns on when they walk by), but this is pretty
primitive.

I've searched the web and haven't found any interesting toys. Has
anyone seen any?

Thanks
Ben near DC

my puss loves a very old fishing rod style toy which my previous
destroyed and only has one or two pathetic feathers left on the end of
a elngth of string on the end of a stick, i ahve bought her other stuff
so often (most fo the above things included and a few more) but this is
the one she prefers weirdly enough. I did 'enhance' it recently by
getting what i think is called a 'Wiggly Worm' (basically a long bit of
fuzzy fluff shaped like a big worm) and taping it to the end of the
string to add to the feathers. You get this worm toy from joke shops or
small toy shops, comes in lurid colours, like pink and purple, and when
you drag it along the ground it moves and wiggles as though it were
alive, which is probably what makes it so fascinating for jessie. she
has now started to yowl at me and paw at it on the ground when she
wants to play and wants me to wave it about for her, which of course I
do being the well trained human slave that I am, very cute really.

found the packet it came in now, called a Magic Worm, just a length of
purple fuzz really, with 2 eyes stuck on one end, not really intended
for cats but still hours of fun for just 99p.

she also lieks the cat dancer too because of the erratic way it moves
about, but it has been lost under a sofa or bed for a few weeks now :-(

personally not keen on the mechanised toy idea as I always think that
one should be interactive with ones cast during play, helps build up
that bond between cat and human slave. Also i just don't have the cash
to spend on them right now and so worry that if I bopught one it would
just be ignored and be a waste of money

one other point; my previous cat jasper, who was quite old so it may
have had somethign to do with it, hated anythign which made a noise,
ran away scared from anything with bells on or which jangled, so any
bells had to be removed. he loved fishing rod type toys but only after
the bells had been removed from them, weird or what?

Bookie

bslade wrote:
I have two cats who like to play a lot. Most of their play time is
with me where I have some sort of string or wire with something at the
end of it where they chase it if I make it move in an interesting
fashion.

Eg., there's a cheap "cat dancer" toy (see http://www.catdancer.com/ )
that they love (they can barely see it and the slight noise it makes as
it drags along the ground make's them crazy). There's also a furry
tiger tail at the end of a stick and some feathers at the end of a
stick. They love all of these toys if you move them properly. With
any of these toys, if you move them under a rug or a blanket, the cats
go crazy. You also get great reactions if the toy pokes out of a
hole, our under a door.

They also love to chase laser pointers, as long as the laser pointer
light is reacting to them (trying to evade when they pounce, etc)

I'm amazed that nobody is selling any hi-tech toys which include
automatic mechanized movement that does things the above. For
example:

* A laser pointer that moves with a motion sensor so that where ever
the cat is, the laser pointer moves the other way.

* A intelligent electronic mouse that moves around in response to
motion, sound, or touch stimulus. But it would have to be programmed
subtley. If the cat touches it, it stops moving. If the cat walks
away, the toy skitters away quickly then stops. If the cat comes
towards the toy, it tries to run away.

* Some sort of movement sensitive toy that pokes out of a hole when the
cat comes by. It has to be designed so that the cat can occasionaly
catch it, causing it to play dead.

* Similarly, some sort of movement sensitive toy that moves underneath
a piece of carpet, but only when the cat is coming towards it, it tries
to get a way for a little while, then plays dead, etc.

The goal here is to make something responsive and varied enough that
the cats don't get bored with it.

I'm going to try the Multipet Bada Beam (see
http://www.petcarecentral.com/mp-66055.html) combined with a movement
sensor (it only turns on when they walk by), but this is pretty
primitive.

I've searched the web and haven't found any interesting toys. Has
anyone seen any?

Thanks
Ben near DC

my puss loves a very old fishing rod style toy which my previous
destroyed and only has one or two pathetic feathers left on the end of
a elngth of string on the end of a stick, i ahve bought her other stuff
so often (most fo the above things included and a few more) but this is
the one she prefers weirdly enough. I did 'enhance' it recently by
getting what i think is called a 'Wiggly Worm' (basically a long bit of
fuzzy fluff shaped like a big worm) and taping it to the end of the
string to add to the feathers. You get this worm toy from joke shops or
small toy shops, comes in lurid colours, like pink and purple, and when
you drag it along the ground it moves and wiggles as though it were
alive, which is probably what makes it so fascinating for jessie. she
has now started to yowl at me and paw at it on the ground when she
wants to play and wants me to wave it about for her, which of course I
do being the well trained human slave that I am, very cute really.

found the packet it came in now, called a Magic Worm, just a length of
purple fuzz really, with 2 eyes stuck on one end, not really intended
for cats but still hours of fun for just 99p.

she also lieks the cat dancer too because of the erratic way it moves
about, but it has been lost under a sofa or bed for a few weeks now :-(

personally not keen on the mechanised toy idea as I always think that
one should be interactive with ones cast during play, helps build up
that bond between cat and human slave. Also i just don't have the cash
to spend on them right now and so worry that if I bopught one it would
just be ignored and be a waste of money

one other point; my previous cat jasper, who was quite old so it may
have had somethign to do with it, hated anythign which made a noise,
ran away scared from anything with bells on or which jangled, so any
bells had to be removed. he loved fishing rod type toys but only after
the bells had been removed from them, weird or what?

Bookie