Catstages Petstagesreg; Tons of Tails

I have four cats. Three of them are 23 years old, and the youngest is 12. Two of the older cats are sisters from the same litter. They are playful with me, but they quickly lose interest in playing with toys. The other 23 year-old (Bird) is a couple of months younger than the sisters. I began feeding her as a feral cat when she was probably a couple of months old, after her mom and all but one of her siblings were killed by dogs. Her mom had had her litter in the porch of a vacant house next to one of our ambulance stations (I owned an ambulance company then). When they heard the dogs, a couple of my paramedics went out and rescued the two remaining kittens. As I had four cats at home at that time, I didn't feel like I could take in two additional feral kittens. Instead, I boarded up the porch so that dogs couldn't get in there, made them a bed of ambulance sheets, which I replaced periodically, and fed them twice a day. Once they got old enough to eat regular food, I'd leave cat food for them but they would come out to beg whenever any of our medics were barbecuing or when the neighbor on the other side of our station was cleaning fish. Her sister was killed by a car, or possibly even one of our ambulances, in front of the station, when she was about a year old, so Bird became the station cat, although she was still about half feral. Through all of this, she never lost her playfulness, though. When she found something she considered to be a toy, she would howl for other stray cats in the neighborhood to come play, and a few of them would generally respond. The funny thing is that when she finished playing, she would stash her toys away somewhere. Over the years, I got married and we decided to move from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Maine. After selling my interest in the ambulance company to my partner, we found a place in Maine and, as we were packing to go, we thought about Bird. My wife was actually the one to suggest that we could take her, and by then she had begun allowing me to pick her up, so I did. She came with us to Maine. We later learned she was pregnant, but were able to adopt three of her four kittens out to good homes, and the 12 year-old is the one we didn't adopt out. This is by way of introduction to my review of this toy. Bird is 23 years old now. One of my other four cats (the mother of the sisters) got cancer at the age of 24, so I'm back to four cats again. Bird has never lost her love for toys, but it's hard to know what she will consider to be worth playing with. I have bought countless toys for her that she has ignored, while she is always able to find a good toy in my sock drawer. When she has a toy that she particularly likes, she howls, as she did for the stray cats in the neighborhood in Texas, perhaps hoping that one of my other cats will respond. They never do, but she tries anyhow. She has a distinct howl that she uses when she's bringing in a live critter, such as a bird or a mouse, and she has also brought in snakes and even a small snapping turtle once. She generally brings them in unharmed, as if to have something to play with later, although after about the fourth or fifth trip, some of the frogs have been known to have a limp. She has another howl that she uses when she has a cat toy, and I can tell the two howls apart easily, so I generally know when she has a live one; so do the other cats, as she does have their interest when she brings a real critter in. However, for this little squiggly worm, she uses what sounds, to me, like the same howl that she uses when she had a live animal, although my other cats don't respond to it, so there must be a difference that is undetectable to flawed human ears. My point is that it is apparent, even from the howl that she makes when she has it, that her squiggly worm is a very special toy indeed. It is obvious that it is her favorite toy from the amount of time that she spends batting it around, picking it up and throwing it into the air, then taking it with her when she retires to a cat bed. She has had it for about three years now, and it's doing fine. I suppose I could rate it down a couple of stars because my other cats couldn't care less about it but, to Bird, it's definitely a five-star cat toy, and she's the resident expert on cat toys. A few months ago, I noticed that I hadn't seen her with her worm for awhile. I looked for it but couldn't find it. A few days ago, I was rearranging my office when I found it behind a bookcase. She had apparently batted it back there and then couldn't reach it. I set it on the steps for her to find it and, within a half hour, I heard the howl that let me know that she had found her squiggly worm again. I just ordered another so that the next time it disappears, I'll have a replacement.

My boyfriend’s cat is addicted to these mice. He has every toy in the world, and yet this silly orange mouse is the one he’ll hide and yowl for you to grab for him. I wish they sold these in bigger packs, because half the time we can’t find where he hides these little guys. Not sure what exactly about these does it for him in comparison to other mice catnip toys, but these are it. We think it’s maybe a mix of the colors, texture, and the quality of the catnip inside. Hope your pet loves them just as much as Jasper does!

These little shrimp are favorites with our kittens. The feathers fell off instantly but the rest of the toy has been very durable and the odd/unbalanced shape causes them to "flip" out of the kittens' grasp. The shrimp are batted, kicked, juggled, chewed, and cuddled endlessly.

Several cats like this and love playing with it. One in particular gets so much joy from this thing. He grabs it in his paw and then flings it in the air and chases after it. It's hot me a couple of times and no issues just laughing. Lol. I'll be at the computer and randomly see it flying in the air. It's hilarious. I bought a few packs more. As they tend to get lost under furniture. They love to chew on it also. Which makes me hope it helps their teeth :) but I don't know for sure about that. Would recommend for the joy. Durability wise. The tail feathers are usually the first to go. I got like 6 and one of the eyes came out of only one toy so far. The material gets tethered/shredded a bit. But still hold up decent for the use I feel. So far I have not needed to throw any away from being destroyed. Which is probably just going to happen eventually as a chew toy. So. Still recommend. Update : Oct 5 2022. I'm buying 3 more of these (not to replace any yet but they get lost and go all over the house). My one cat loves them so much. Surprisingly they have held up, no stuffing coming out but some look well used. I threw one over to my other cat who was playing with a string or something I took away. And then my other cat who loves these, was sleeping, he got up and rushed over to where I tossed it. Lol. He's amazing and he's got an issue with his back leg ever since a vet visit gone wrong. But he loves this. And as I mention it, I'll also mention that he loves this one fast cat treadmill that I bought for them all. His walk looks really good on it. Another cat likes to essentially play baseball/catball. He loves when I throw stuff towards him and he "bats it", or catches it. Sometimes I'll toss some higher ones and he jump hits it. These work nice for that.

These stars because my cat loves these shrimpies! Minus one star because she was able to get the feathers off quickly, and minus another star because the dye on the feathers came off when she got them wet, and it stained my bed. 😩

I have two very picky cats and I was not sure if they would be interested in these, but I am happy to report, they LOVE these! They have been chewing on them and rolling around with them for a few hours!

Kitties love these! May have gotten a little too violent at one time and now the toy is missing a tail. They will also fall asleep with it too.

I bought the Petstages OrkaKat Wiggle Worm dental catnip chew toy because I really wanted my cat to chew more (he is teething), but so far he mostly wants to play with it… and he’s not totally sure about it yet. 😂 The wiggly shape must look like a tiny snake, because he’ll stare at it, bat it around, pounce, then back up like he’s deciding if it’s friend or foe. The toy itself feels well-made: it’s a sturdy rubber with ridges/texture, and it has a catnip scent that definitely helps keep his interest. It’s lightweight and bouncy, so it’s easy for him to swat and chase, and it’s been holding up well to rough play. Pros: durable, fun movement, textured for chewing, catnip-infused Cons: if your cat is hesitant, they may treat it more like prey than a chew at first Overall, I’m happy with it, even if we’re still in the “play with the snake” phase. I’m hoping he warms up to actually chewing it more with time!