My shy cat rarely plays with toys, but this scratcher with a light-up ball made her want to leap and dodge as if she was born to play

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• The Bergan Star Chaser Turbo Scratcher combines a cardboard scratcher with a ball-rolling track.
• The Star Chaser is one of the only toys to have ever enticed my shy cat Phoebe to play on her own.
• The Star Chaser's "twinkle ball" contains motion-activated LED lights that flash red as your cat plays.

Only a few minutes had passed since I'd unpacked the Bergan Star Chaser Turbo Scratcher from its shipping box when I heard the first sounds of its ball careening around the track. "Osito found the new toy," I thought to myself, picturing my toy-obsessed cat doing what my toy-obsessed cat does.

But when I poked my head into the room, Osito was nowhere to be seen. The cat pouncing and pawing and jumping at the ball was Phoebe, my ultra-shy, noise-sensitive little lady.

Phoebe rarely plays. When she's in the mood, we can sometimes entice her to chase after catnip-filled mice if we throw them just right, but in our many years together, I've never once seen her play with a toy on her own. She won't even touch a scratcher. Yet here she was leaping and dodging and wiggling her tail as if she was born to play.

It was, in a word, beautiful.

Why cats love the Star Chaser

Bergan's Turbo Scratchers have long been keeping cats entertained. I recently spoke to the manager of a rescue who told me they are one of her favorite toys for cats at the shelter and at home. The design is simple but genius. The Turbo Scratcher consists of a round cardboard scratcher pad bordered by a circular plastic track containing a weighted ball. Cats can swat the ball and scratch the scratcher simultaneously, and the track has just enough of a ridge to prevent the ball from escaping.

The Star Chaser looks exactly the same as the original Turbo Scratcher with one major difference: the ball lights up. LED lights inside the transparent ball flash red as it moves. When the ball stops rolling, the LEDs go dark.

Before the scratcher arrived, the light-up ball seemed like a gimmick. I wondered if it would really be an improvement on the original Turbo Scratcher. But it turns out the light-up element made all the difference for Phoebe. She, like most cats, is intrigued by lights but because reflections and lasers can't be physically caught, chasing them can be frustrating. The Star Chaser's LED ball, though, can be caught — it's meant to be caught — and that makes for a satisfying conclusion to instinctual play.

By the evening, Osito, the toy king, had found the Star Chaser too. His antics, including flipping over and rabbit kicking the ball and laying on top of the toy to scratch and roll at the same time, confirmed that he, too, was a fan of the Star Chaser.

The parts are also interchangeable with Bergan's Turbo Scratcher and Hurricane toys

Over the following days, Phoebe continued to return to the Star Chaser. Sometimes all she did was sit on top of it. Other times, she batted the ball or watched intently as I rolled it for her. She still hasn't attempted to use the scratcher in the middle (even after I sprinkled it with the small baggie of catnip that came with the toy) but that's okay. Osito's got the scratching thing under control.

Should that cardboard scratch pad ever wear out, Bergan sells a two-pack of replacement pads for under six bucks. Our ball hasn't jumped its track yet, but should it ever get lost or the battery powering the LED lights die, it can be replaced too. The $5.99 replacement "twinkle ball" is interchangeable with the solid ball sold with Bergan's original Turbo Scratcher so if you've already got one, there's no need to purchase a whole new track setup. Just change out the ball. The twinkle ball can also be used with Bergan's Catnip Hurricane Cat Toy, which is similar to the scratcher but has two ball-rolling tracks and no interior scratch pad.

The only con

Really, the only thing I can find about the Star Chaser that might irk some buyers is that you can't choose your color preference. The company will send either aqua or mulberry (we received the aqua). Both are made from recycled materials, measure 16 inches in diameter, and come with little rubber "feet" to protect floors and keep the toy from slipping around too much as your cat plays.

The bottom line

Both of my cats were delighted by the Bergan Star Chaser Turbo Scratcher, but it was a real winner for anxiety-prone Phoebe. Phoebe rarely plays, but within minutes, the Star Chaser got her to come out of her shell and she has continued to return to it day after day.

With its interior cardboard scratch pad and motion-activated light-up LED ball, the Star Chaser satisfies several kitty instincts, and if either part should ever falter, Bergan sells replacements that universally fit into several of their toys.

Pros: Motion-activated LED "twinkle ball" rolls securely in its track, track wraps around a replaceable cardboard scratcher, made of recyclable materials, comes with nonskid feet and small bag of catnip, twinkle ball is replaceable

Cons: No choice for color preference