These coordinating cat toys can be purchased separately or paired up to create a playground for your feline — I love their adaptability and modern design

Advertisement
Shoshi ParksMay 30, 2020, 04:11 IST
These coordinating cat toys can be purchased separately or paired up to create a playground for your feline — I love their adaptability and modern design

When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

Shoshi Parks/INSIDER

  • Interactive toys including scratchers and food puzzle toys provide cats with mental stimulation and help them to tap into their hunting instincts.
  • Catit's Senses 2.0 Collection includes 10 different styles of interactive toys.
  • The Senses 2.0 Collection is color coordinated and the toys can be used together in a variety of combinations.

Since my cats landed a job testing products designed for the feline kind, our home has become a playground of scratchers, catnip doodads, food puzzle toys, and play tunnels. They love it. My partner, he's on the fence.

It's not that he doesn't enjoy playing with the cats, it's that our usually well-organized, mid-century-modern home has become somewhat chaotic with mismatched cat toys filling every nook and cranny. Because most cat products are manufactured with the cat's enjoyment in mind, often there's not a lot of thought put into their appearance. This is as it should be. Why buy a cat product that isn't made for cats? But is it too much to ask for cat toys to actually look good?

Not if you ask Catit.

With their Senses 2.0 Collection, Catit has developed a series of well-coordinated interactive cat toys that aren't just fun for felines but look stylish together. The green-and-white elements can be put together in a variety of combinations and easily rearranged to entice cats to return to play after they've lost interest.

Altogether, the Catit Senses 2.0 Collection contains 10 interactive BPA-free plastic toys (along with several forms of catnip including a live grass planter) to encourage play. Each is sold separately. For this review, we received five of them: the Food Tree, Super Circuit, Digger, Oval Scratcher, and standing Scratcher. Here's how they stacked up.

Read the original article on Insider
Advertisement

Catit Senses 2.0 Food Tree

Catit Senses 2.0 Food Tree
Shoshi Parks/INSIDER

I love interactive food puzzle toys for cats. One of my cats, Osito, is a big fan too. While there are tons of food puzzle toys on the market for dogs, the cat industry is just beginning to experiment with new cat versions. Catit's Food Tree is one of these innovations and it's been a big hit.

Shaped like, not surprisingly, a tree complete with a green canopy, the Food Tree has three stacked levels for placing kibble, treats, or even little catnip toys. On each level, cats can reach with their paws through large openings in the tree's vertical sides to bat at the food. On the higher, more challenging levels, this may mean knocking the morsels onto lower levels then batting them around again to free the food from the tree's "branches." From the lowest level, food falls directly into a basin on the tree's base for easy snarfing.

The Food Tree is about 14 inches tall, has a wide base for stability, and can be disassembled for cleaning. While it took Osito a couple of days to figure out that the toy had three separate levels, each of which contained something tasty, he quickly got good at the game. To keep it interesting, I've alternated between using the Tree and Catit's Digger for daily feeding.

Catit Senses 2.0 Super Circuit

Catit Senses 2.0 Super Circuit
Dari Mills/INSIDER

Catit's Super Circuit takes the idea behind the Bergan Turbo Scratcher, a ball rolling around a track, and kicks it up a notch. Unlike the Turbo Scratcher in which a ball rolls endlessly around a circle, the Super Circuit's track functions like that of a toy train. Its 10 sections can be fit together in more than 100 configurations.

Each piece of the Super Circuit track has a peek-a-boo cover with a long opening in the top that is wide enough for a cat to easily bat the ball inside but which provides enough coverage to prevent it from going off the rails. When the track isn't arranged in a circular pattern, two small "cul de sac" pieces attach to the ends to prevent the ball from escaping. The dimensions of the track pieces are perfectly matched to the other toys in the collection and can be woven through and around their bases.

When I set it up independently, Osito showed only limited interest in the circuit. From his interactions with the circuit, it seemed like he was getting frustrated with the peek-a-boo covers. But when I combined the circuit with the other toys in the Senses 2.0 Collection, Osito's interest surged. He stopped to bat the ball after eating from the Food Tree or Digger or after digging his claws into the Oval Scratcher.

While the pieces of the circuit were relatively easy to put together and take apart to move into different configurations, I had a hard time removing the peek-a-boo covers once they had been locked into each section of the track. When I applied too much pressure to one, I snapped off a plastic tab that locks the cover into its base.

Advertisement

Catit Senses 2.0 Digger

Catit Senses 2.0 Digger
Shoshi Parks/INSIDER

The Digger is the collection's other interactive food toy. The design is simple: Five green cups set inside a stable white plastic base. Add some treats or kibble to each cup. To get it out, the cat must use their paw to reach in and drag each piece of food up and over the rim.

I didn't expect Osito to particularly enjoy this one, but it's become one of his favorite food puzzle toys. I like it too, primarily because the Digger is super easy to fill and to remove the cups for cleaning. This toy also comes with an optional rubber base that keeps it from shifting around while the cat plays.

Catit Senses 2.0 Oval Scratcher

Catit Senses 2.0 Oval Scratcher
Dari Mills/INSIDER

There's not a whole lot to say about this basic Oval Scratcher. On its own, the 19-inch by 9-inch scratcher is no better or worse than most flat corrugated cardboard scratchers. It is best combined with other toys in the collection, especially the Super Circuit, which perfectly fits as a border around the Oval Scratcher.

Advertisement

Catit Senses 2.0 Scratcher

Catit Senses 2.0 Scratcher
Dari Mills/INSIDER

The Scratcher is the only toy we tried in the Senses 2.0 collection that missed the mark, at least for my cats. On this toy, eight triangular corrugated cardboard pieces can be stacked onto a vertical plastic rod that nestles in a sturdy plastic base. A plastic cap screws onto the top of the rod to keep the cardboard in place. When fully put together, the scratcher is a little over 16 inches tall.

In theory, this scratcher is good. The cardboard pieces can be easily replaced and arranged to change the overall shape and color, but in practice, it didn't work. Even after I heavily doused the whole thing in catnip my cats wouldn't go near it. I also had trouble getting the rod to click into the base, which is necessary to keep the whole thing from tipping over when scratched.

I dropped off the Scratcher to a neighbor to see if her cat would have a different opinion of the cardboard tower. Catnip enticed her to give it some good sniffs, but even after several days with the Scratcher, she hasn't yet attempted to dig in her claws.

Based on our experience and that of other reviewers on Chewy, I'd recommend skipping this scratcher and sticking to some of the other items in the collection instead.

The bottom line

Catit's Senses 2.0 Collection includes a variety of interactive toys for feline mental stimulation. Each color-coordinated green-and-white toy can be purchased and used on its own but combined, they form a cat playground with endless combinations. Not every toy is worth the money — my cats, for example, showed no interest in the standing Scratcher — but the majority are unique, well-made toys that most cats will enjoy, particularly the interactive Food Tree, Digger, and Super Circuit.

Pros: Collection stimulates different forms of play and includes scratchers and food toys, made with BPA-free plastic, easy to clean, easy to rearrange to reignite cats' interest

Cons: My cats wouldn't touch the Scratcher and it's difficult to lock the vertical rod into its base; my cats preferred the Super Circuit when it was combined with other toys in the collection; difficult to remove the covers on the Super Circuit after locked in place

Advertisement
Next Story17 cult-favorite French pharmacy skincare product...
Advertisement
Popular on BI
Latest Stories
View All Latest
Trending News
Buying Guides
Advertisement
Popular Categories
Trending Right Now

Copyright © 2024. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.