Cat toys tested: Is analogue really better than automated?
10/4/2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Darina Schweizer
There are thousands of cat toys on Galaxus - my cats put seven of them through a tough cat test. After the first round, here is the final round with the favourites.
They tore and bit, caught and got stuck in: Jasper and Joy tested their way through the Galaxus range of cat toys over the past few weeks. In the first round with three gadgets, the intermediate winner was a motorised butterfly. In the final round, he now takes on four other automated and manual toys. This much in advance: Jasper and Joy show that the best gadgets are not always just the simple ones.
Three-storey ball tower
Simpel is a good keyword to start with. The wooden play tower «Mia» from Designed by Lotte has a rudimentary structure. It consists of three levels on which coloured balls roll all around. A little paw nudge is all it takes for the fun to begin ... Well, yes. They do nudge, the cats. Jasper was really energetic at first. But as soon as he realises that the balls only go round in circles, he loses interest. Joy also avoids the play tower altogether.
In the end, the pigeon testers don't even look in my direction when I bump the loudly rolling balls myself. So far, only the marble run has performed worse - due to the laborious assembly. If it were up to the cats, the ball tower would be the clear loser.
- Construction: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Stability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Longevity: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Sound: 🐾
- Motion animation: 🐾
- Change: 🐾
- Total: 18 pairs of paws
Motorised spring catcher
Are Jasper and Joy tech geeks after all? The «2 In 1 Interactive Cat Toys» from Rojeco will show. Visually, it looks like a UFO from which a small, coloured feather pops out at random intervals. In addition, a ball rolls in a circle at the top. The two cats of my team colleague Lorenz are big fans of a very similar toy:
And lo and behold, Jasper and Joy are also immediately on the spot when I switch on the device. The feathers awaken their hunting instinct and they keep circling the UFO. When Jasper grabs a feather, he immediately tears it apart. After just a few passes, it looks worn out. The movement noises are also a little loud. Apart from that, the toy is a hit with Jasper and Joy, even weeks later. If waiting for the feather takes too long, they distract themselves with the spinning ball.
- Build-up: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Stability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Longevity: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Sound: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Motion animation: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Change: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Total: 26 pairs of paws
Door frame mouse
After this high-tech gadget, the next toy will probably fail miserably, I think to myself as I hang the Trixie play mouse on a rubber cord in the door frame. Its inventor doesn't seem to me to have been really creative.
How can you be wrong? Joy immediately shoots at the mouse. First she tries to grab the rodent with her claws, then with her teeth. But, oops! The mouse spits away again. Joy jumps after it with huge leaps. I've never seen her this active before!
And Jasper? He also plays with the mouse from time to time at first. Until I realise that he's much more interested in the rubber cord on its own. So I build my own creation for him: I buy a tear-proof rubber cord, attach a small wooden bead as a weight to the end of the cord and hang the new version in the door frame. Now the cat goes completely crazy. After ten minutes, I have to take the toy down so that they don't collapse from exhaustion.
- Build-up: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Stability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Longevity: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Sound: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Motion animation: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Change: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Total: 29 pairs of paws
Play string machine
Since cords pull so well (haha), I'm also looking for a motorised toy of this kind. There's only one that meets my expectations: the «Catmaster» from Swisspet. Another UFO, but instead of a spring, a string flies out.
And what speed it has! Jasper and Joy dash after the string, jumping, pulling, flailing. When they put their paws into the side opening, my heart skips a beat. I hope they don't get caught and hurt themselves! Without further ado, I put my own «paws» in and realise that the mechanism stops immediately and is surprisingly quiet. Everything is great! Even the tensile strength of the cord. It holds and holds and holds. Even after weeks of daily play, it's obvious: the «Catmaster» is the master of toys.
- Assembly: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Stability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Longevity: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Sound: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Motion animation: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Change: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
- Total: 29 pairs of paws
These are the two test winners
The conclusion of the paw test: First place was taken twice by the «Catmaster» and the door frame play mouse. Together with the «2 In 1 Interactive Cat Toys», they even beat the test winner from the first round: the motorised butterfly. Both manual and automated toys impressed Jasper and Joy.
And the losers? The three-storey ball tower and the marble run can pack up. Or rather, I can pack them up again. And while I'm fiddling with the box, I get the idea that I could actually make more cat toys myself ...
Have you tried any of the tested toys? What do your cats think? Let us know in a comment.
Header image: Darina Schweizer
Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI like anything that has four legs or roots. The books I enjoy let me peer into the abyss of the human psyche. Unlike those wretched mountains that are forever blocking the view – especially of the sea. Lighthouses are a great place for getting some fresh air too, you know?
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