Product Review: Petstages Easy Life Scratch, Snuggle & Rest

Last Friday, we received the Petstages Easy Life Snuggle, Scratch and Rest that we'd won from Goma's blog.  I wasn't sure how the cats would take to a cardboard scratching area, because I have two box-eaters and haven't had a cardboard scratcher for anyone before.  I needn't have worried, as you can see from the picture of Missy above!  She was the first one to investigate and use it, then the others tried it out after they saw that she wasn't getting into trouble scratching on it.

Missy really went to town on it, while Heimdall watched and snuggled with the new Petstages Blinking Buddy Cat Toy that we also won.  After a while, he got brave enough to try it, too.  Then everyone else had a turn.

Even our 18-pounder, Tabby, fits in it!

Warning:  This scratcher comes with a little bag of catnip.  Carbon found and ate the nip before I found it!

Our recommendation:  Five paws way up for the Snuggle, Scratch & Rest!  Thanks, Goma!  The Blinking Buddy also gets five paws up.

Toy Review: Catcessities on Etsy

Recently, one of my online friends sent us some lovely crocheted toys from her sister's Etsy shop:  Catcessities.  Pictures speak louder than anything I could write, so I'll let the kitties tell you how they enjoyed them!  Half the toys are now waiting under furniture to be rediscovered and played with again, and the ones that are still out get pawed around, carried, and play-fought over at least four or five times a day!

 Heimdall's favorite is the pink kitty ball with a jingle bell inside.  Just the right size for a 6-month-old kitten to carry around!

 Tabby likes anything with catnip, so of course the nip flower is her choice!

 Tabby defending the flower from Freya while Heimdall plays with the box.

 Uh-oh!  Heimdall's got crazy nip eyes!  This yarn ball gets thrown and pawed down the hallway, but is especially fun to play with at night under the bed.

 If you look closely, Carbon's blissed out with a catnip toy in the shape of a lemon!  That and the tassel ball are his favorites.

 Heimdall and Little Bit with yarn balls.

 Freya:  "No, brother, that's MINE!"

Heimdall:  "Well, I'll play with the string on the tassel ball, then."

Freya:  "No you won't; I'm hiding it in Daddy's shoe!"

Thanks, Debbie & quality-control officer Smudge!  Definitely a 5-paws-up for Catcessities!

Favorite Household Toys

Your cat doesn't always need fancy store-bought toys.  A lot of times, simple household objects work just fine and sometimes are even preferred over "real" toys!  Carbon loves bottle caps, for example.  After we adopted him and Tabby as kittens, my husband couldn't figure out where the bottle caps he was saving on the counter (ones that had prize codes for free pop) were going.  They were disappearing, but there was no trace of them at all!  Then, one day, we caught baby kitten Carbon, six weeks old at the time, on top of the kitchen counter with a green cap in his mouth!  He looked at us, then hopped down with the cap, set it on the floor, and started batting it all around the kitchen happily.  Of course, we let him keep it!

Rori just brought me five of her "babies" that she dug out of the bathroom garbage can, chirping at me and at them.  Her choice for "babies" are q-tips!  She carries them around, decorates the house with them, then bites one of the ends off and swallows it.  Not the best idea, so we pick them up when we can, and usually put used ones in the fireplace rather than in the garbage so she can't get to them in the first place.

Tabby's choice is the cardboard tube left over from a toilet paper roll.  Once she sees one of those, she asks you to throw it for her, then goes absolutely nuts batting it all around the whole house.  She pounces on it, chases it up and down the hallway, carries it into a room then bats it out to the hallway again, and growls at it in a mock battle.

What are your cat's favorite household "toys"?