Pack of 3 catnip-filled plush mice that rattle and crinkle. Made with pure, potent catnip.
Very affordable
Cats go crazy for them
Crinkle and rattle
Pure catnip filling
Destroyed quickly
Catnip fades
Small pieces can come off
Engagement: 10/10 · Durability: 4/10 · Value for Money: 10/10 · Safety: 7/10
These are our own scores for the things that can be judged from the specification, the materials and how the product is built. They are not Amazon's customer rating.
Catnip contains nepetalactone, which binds to receptors in a cat's nasal tissue and triggers a response that typically lasts about ten minutes, followed by a refractory period of an hour or more during which the cat will not respond again.
Two things owners regularly get wrong:
Roughly a third of cats do not respond at all. The response is inherited, and a cat without the trait is not being difficult or unwell.
Kittens under about six months usually do not respond, even if they will as adults. A kitten ignoring catnip is normal.
Catnip is not a drug in any harmful sense. Cats do not become addicted to it, it is not toxic, and a cat that over-indulges simply stops responding for a while.
Two alternatives work on many cats that ignore catnip, and they are the reason not to conclude your cat "doesn't play":
Silvervine. Widely used in Japan and effective on a large share of cats, including many catnip non-responders. It is the single best thing to try next.
Valerian root. A different response again, and effective on some cats that ignore both of the above.
Tatarian honeysuckle wood works for a smaller group.
Between catnip, silvervine and valerian, the great majority of cats respond to at least one.
Nepetalactone is volatile. A catnip toy left out on the floor for a month has lost most of its punch, and the cat's indifference is about the toy rather than the cat.
Store catnip toys in a sealed jar or bag between sessions. This alone restores most of the effect.
Rotate. A toy that has been in a sealed container for a week is genuinely new again.
Refresh with loose catnip rubbed into the fabric, or buy toys with a refillable pocket.
Keep loose catnip sealed, cool and dark. It degrades like any dried herb.
The shape is not incidental. A mouse-sized, lightweight, slightly irregular object is something a cat can carry in its mouth, bat across a floor, bunny-kick with the back legs, and throw.
That bunny-kick — grabbing with the front paws and raking with the back — is the killing-bite part of the hunting sequence, and a toy the cat can hold and rake is one of the few things that lets a cat complete it alone. A hard ball does not. That is why a cheap plush mouse often gets more use than an expensive toy.
The rattle and crinkle add a prey-like sound cue, which matters for cats that hunt by ear.
Small plush toys are generally safe, with three things to check:
Small parts. Plastic eyes, noses and bells can be chewed off and swallowed. Cut them off before giving a toy to a determined chewer, or choose toys without them.
Stuffing. A toy chewed open and the filling eaten is an obstruction risk. Bin a gutted toy rather than leaving it.
String and ribbon tails. These are linear foreign bodies if swallowed, and a linear foreign body in a cat's intestine is a serious surgical emergency because the string saws through the bowel wall as the gut tries to move it. Cut off any string tail, and never leave string-based toys out unsupervised.
Inspect toys periodically and replace rather than repair.
Put most of them away. Three mice on the floor permanently become furniture. Two out, the rest in a sealed jar, swapped every few days.
Throw one for the cat rather than only leaving it down. Many cats will chase and some will retrieve.
Hide them. Tucking a mouse behind a chair leg or under a rug turns the toy into a search, and searching is closer to real hunting than batting.
Combine with food. Scattering a few pieces of kibble around a play area completes the hunt-then-eat sequence and settles a cat afterwards.
Roughly a third of cats do not respond at all — the trait is inherited — and kittens under about six months usually do not respond even if they will as adults. Try silvervine, which works on many catnip non-responders, or valerian root. Between the three, the great majority of cats respond to something.
The catnip has faded. Nepetalactone is volatile, and a toy left on the floor for a month has lost most of its potency. Store catnip toys in a sealed jar between sessions and rotate them — a toy sealed away for a week is genuinely new again.
Yes. It is not toxic and cats do not become addicted. The response lasts about ten minutes and is followed by a refractory period of an hour or more, during which a cat simply will not respond again however much you offer.
Mostly, with three checks. Cut off plastic eyes, noses and bells for a determined chewer, bin any toy chewed open so the filling cannot be eaten, and remove string or ribbon tails — swallowed string is a linear foreign body and a serious surgical emergency in cats.
Because they can hold one in the front paws and rake it with the back legs — the bunny-kick — which is the killing-bite part of the hunting sequence. A toy a cat can grab and rake lets it complete the hunt alone in a way a hard ball cannot.