SmartyKat Electronic Motion/Moving Toys for Cats & Kittens, Battery Powered, Mimics Motion of Real Prey, Fun & Interactive Play - Multiple Styles

This is one of my girls' favorite toys! They loved the first so much that I got a second one! They will sit and stare at the mat until I push the magic button and then roll around on it, under it, pounce on it or simply watch and stalk it. (Sure beats waving a toy around as they just watch.) The video sounds loud, but actually, the sound level isn't bad at all. My kitties love these toys, and they provide up to a half hour at a time of entertainment, which isn't bad for cats!

My cat loves this toy, and I never thought that my cat would be the type to love a toy. One problem that I consistently had was that the toy would come off from the base, and I would have to screw it back on. I put thread lock on it, and it has not come off since. I would recommend either using threadlock or duct tape to secure it, which will prevent the issue of it coming loose. The only complaint I have about it is that I wish it were rechargeable instead of batteries. But nevertheless, my cat loves it!

One of the reasons most of us purchase electric toys is to have entertainment for our cats without having to be 100% involved (while still monitoring, of course). This idea was great for this toy, but the execution was poor - because the human has to straighten out the toy every minute (or more often) for it to work properly. Some reviewers don't understand how this is supposed to work... so let's clear that up first. This furry/feather/ribbony end isn't supposed to peak out from the fabric like other similar toys. Instead, it helps cats with their hunting instinct. It is jointed to stay under the fabric. The hoop within the fabric hem then keeps the circle somewhat taut to make it arch in a few places, so the cat can see the movement above the fabric and gets a peek every so often of a mouse-like shape when viewing it from the side. This concept was right on the mark. I love this concept about the toy... if it only worked with the materials used. Here is where it goes wrong: 1) Fabric is too light. 2) Wire/filament hoop within hem is not attached properly to form a full circle or becomes detached with very little play. The shaping provided by the hoop/wire/filament is essential to keeping the mat flat to the floor but raised at a few places for the cat to "peek" at the mouse. When the frame becomes detached, the "mouse wand" continues to become caught on the place where the circle hoop is not connected - making the fabric twist and twist so that the point is lost and the motor unit is often turned upside down due to the tangle or the cat trying to play with it. I have now had two of these toys (initial order and the replacement order because I thought the first was broken as a fluke). You will see in my third picture where there is about a 1-inch gap where the filament has become detached so that there is no longer a full circle. Even a gap this small causes the problem. I have tried and tried to rethread the "wire" to reconnect it, but the hem is so full of thread or the "wire" is at a seam that it will not reconnect and eventually rips through the fabric if you keep trying. So.... I ordered a replacement. The second arrived with the hoop already disconnected upon arrival. The first and second picture within my review are within one minute of opening the new box. I'm returning both units for a refund. (If I were not already too busy, I would be seriously tempted to just keep one of the motor /machines and make a "fabric and hoop cover" of my own.... because the manufacturers did get so much right on this.) If the too-light fabric and frame/hoop for the mat were not issues, my cats would love this toy. They DO love it for the seconds that it works properly before I have to reset it and reset it. The "mouse," the random motion, the lights, being able to peek at the animal... all of these are often missing from other similar toys, so again, these parts were wonderful. But, I do not want to reset this toy every 20-60 seconds to make it work properly. I would recommend not buying this - as the manufacturers need to resolve the design issues.

I got this 44% off. Definitely worth that price! My cat loves it. It is kind of loud when the toy is caught so if your cat doesn't like noises then maybe get a different toy. You do need to reattach the toy and fix the cover because if your cat gets wild it can come off, but it is really easy to fix. It has two speeds as well, but the slow one is entertaining for my cat. My cat is 12 and slowing down, but this got him excited and playing for a while! It didn't smell at all upon arrival, cats can see the color blue so I'd imagine it makes the toy more interesting. 4 stars because it could be quieter.

I had an older model of this a long time ago [not sure from the same company though] and thought I'd get another one since it broke after a few play sessions but my cat LOVED it. Unfortunately, while I think this one is an improvement in many ways, it also is worse in others. The fabric top is too long now and bunches up easily, making the toy get stuck and unable to work without being reset. It also makes it so the feather top does not poke out and for some cats that can be less enticing for them [though for others like my roommate's cat, it was more enticing so results may vary]. This isn't really a negative, but it's something to keep in mind: It stops moving for a while to, what I think, check to see if the cat is still there? I would rather it just keep going like the older model since I'm there and can turn it off when the cat is done since the stops are often and so long one of the cats will just wait to grab it and break off the feather tip then. So I end up having to reset it every time it does this. The feather tip being easy to remove is honestly a good thing, though. The older model had his plastic tube thing and when my cat got a good grip on it, it broke in half compared to this one that just comes undone and you can reattach it when they drop it. This model is also not very strong and one gentle grab will cause it to stay in place and make this awful noise compared to my last one that had enough strength to pull away and stop if not [or at least it didn't make noticeable noise]. It also tops over easily since my roommate's cat likes to jump over/on it to grab the feather tip so I feel like I'm resetting this thing more than he is playing with it. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a bad toy. Despite not being as good as the previous model I had, the cats loved it all the same and if you're fine resetting it often while they play I'm sure they'll have a blast with it.

I don't write reviews, not even for products I strongly dislike or end up returning, but I will write a review for this product because there were not nearly enough negative reviews to deter me from buying it and I wish there were. Firstly and most importantly, this is just a bad cat toy, and I've only given it an extra star because my cat is a bit of an idiot and is entertained by sitting and watching it spin and will sometimes bat at it - which on the most technical level means it's doing its job. It is very slow on both settings, and I honestly don't know how any cat would be entertained by playing with it, not to mention that the mechanics of the toy are very loud at all times. If it's moving it's making a very audible whirring noise that would definitely scare any skittish or even just cautious cat. But the sound it makes when it's just doing the entire thing it was made to do is nothing compared to the awful clicking sound it makes whenever the moving part gets stuck, and it gets stuck very, very often. I've seen a few people talk about this sound but I underestimated just how often and just how grating the sound would be. The toy gets stuck on everything, the carpet, itself, anything placed in front of it that can't be pushed away by its weak motors, and most importantly the cat when she tries to actually play with the toy, and every time it gets stuck on any of these things it makes a loud mechanical clicking sound until it frees itself (which isn't often), or I rush over to get the toy unstuck so that I don't have to deal with the sound anymore. The fact that it gets stuck is MAYBE excusable, it's a cheap toy, it likely has cheap internals and doesn't have the luxury of sensing when it's stuck on something, thats understandable. But the fact that it makes this awful sound when the cat PLAYS WITH THE TOY is just awful. If you buy this toy and it by some miracle does its job to interest your cat you will without a doubt hear this clicking sound, and it will be terrible, and you will want to turn off the toy. The toy also disassembled itself a few times, which was another thing that made me have to get up when the point of the toy is to entertain your cat when you're busy with something else. The stick part of the toy that goes under the covering is only attached to the base with some threading, so you screw it into the base like a screw and it sits in place. However the constant spinning against a textured floor managed to unscrew it from the base multiple times, so I had to come over and screw it back on and there was nothing else I could do to secure it further. I guess if you wanted to keep this toy you could maybe glue that bit in place? Or maybe you wouldn't have the problem at all and it's somehow just a fluke, but either way that was just an addition to how inconvenient this toy is. I know this was a long review, but if you somehow managed to read to here or just need a recap: DON'T BUY THIS TOY. I wish someone would have told me not to. It isn't worth the money and it's more of a hassle to try and use this than it is to postpone whatever you're doing to play with your cat.

My cat loves this and she plays with it daily! What I like about it is that after a few minutes, it turns itself off so the batteries don't run down! So, when my cat walks away, it will stop until you press the button again later!

This cat toy by far outweighs ANY cat toy I’ve purchased!! My cats adore it and it truly DOES come on and off for hours!!! I literally just ordered my fourth one!! And it takes a beating… as one of my kitties drags it all over the house! lol And he meows every night until I turn it on!!