Feline Friday - Guest Post

First: Congrats to everyone for knowing that humping Baggy was the untrue story. I caught her chasing him last week, but she wasn't successful.

 Now to our special guest post!

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For those of you who don't know, I am Aunt C and I have two cats, no dogs.  My cats are Panda, a 2.5 yr old black and white darling girl and Lupul, a 1.5 yr old fawn tabby boy.  We got them almost 7 months ago through the Humane Society, and they are the perfect cats for us.  They are energetic and playful, and Panda is the cuddliest girl!  They have a lot of fun chasing each other, and their favourite toys include a tunnel, a laser pointer, various cat nip mice and each other!

I had read on a blog about someone using treat puzzles made for dogs for their cats.  As a matter of fact the exact one i saw is one I got for Lee a few years ago!  Anyway.... I decided my cats needed a puzzle toy to work their brains.

I ended up finding the RawHide toy at a very good price.  The idea is that you put the treats under the cups and the cats have to get the cups off to reap the rewards.   They were very interested in the process of preparing the puzzle, as they are very interested in treats:)
Almost right away, Loopy figured it out.  He would open his mouth super wide to get around the cup, and take it off and set it down away from the toy.  Then he went back for the treat.  Panda watched carefully, but she had a different approach.  After a few times of watching Loopy, Panda realized that in the time it took him to set down the cup, she could easily swoop in and grab the treat without having to do any actual work!!

We've tried the puzzle a few more times and have determined that the treats need to be something special, not the usual Greenies, or Lupul isn't very motivated to remove the cups.  We have also determined that Panda sees absolutely no need to do any work herself, and she still gets treats. Fortunately Loopy's getting faster, so she's not stealing too many:)

Here's my pros and cons from a

cat perspective (keep in mind the toy is designed for dogs)

Pros
- easy to clean, dishwasher safe
- easy to fill, light weight and transportable, although works best for our cats on carpet
- easy to do.  Lupul figured it out super fast!
- multiple ways to get the cups out.  While Loopy uses his mouth, they could move the cups with their paws

Cons
- the cups are a bit big for cats, Loopy has to work a bit to get his mouth around them
- lots of pieces, there's 7 cups plus the base laying around my floor
- maybe a bit too easy, since he caught on so quick, despite it being the first treat puzzle we tried.

Overall, we do really enjoy it, and give it 3.5 paws out of 4.