treat ball

OK - got one of those balls where you put treats or kibble in it.. the cats have to roll it around for the food to fall out. You would THINK my food motivated bunch would have taken about a nanosecond to figure it out. Nope.

Weeks have gone by.. if I don't push it around, well... nothing happens.

Until yesterday... Archie gets it. He puts juuuuust enough effort into nudging and pushing the ball for the food to fall out. He is definitely my smartest cat and OF COURSE the cat who is supposed to be on a weight loss program is the ONE who figures out HOW to get the food out of there!

Actually, it was quite amusing to watch him use his brain to figure it out.

Push, push. No food. Push, push. No food. RRrrrrrrpp. (Cat frustration) ... Pushpushpush... clickety click... ah. Food. ! + =

that for them is SERIOUS business!! Hope amazes me... I had to stop filling that thing up because of her! She pushes it with her nose, veeeeerryyy slowly, just so, in the right angle, to get a strip of treats on the floor... She empties that thing in a snap! Because of her, nobody gets to play with it

Ah, Archie doesn't use his nose. He uses his paws. And as I said... he doesn't smack the ball... just enough to get it to roll around for the food to come out. Minimal effort for maximal results. That's mah boy!!!

I've always wondered about those things.

So it's not like... a steady stream of treats flying out of the ball right? Lol one at a time and it's tricky? (I hope).

I just don't want to find random rotting treats in the corners of the house lol

Originally Posted by Nolia

I've always wondered about those things.

So it's not like... a steady stream of treats flying out of the ball right? Lol one at a time and it's tricky? (I hope).

I just don't want to find random rotting treats in the corners of the house lol

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No. There is a large hole to fill the ball.. a much smaller hole for the treats or kibble...a sliding top( twist it around) and inside is like a corkscrew design.... so as they push the ball around, it takes some effort.. and concentration... for the cat to get the food to fall out. The kibble I put in there... different from their normal dry ... is a bit small.. so I don't open the hole all the way.. I use a different grain free dry than their normal daily diet. So it SEEMS like a treat.

AddieBee, what's the brand of that one? The ones I got don't have the corkscrew maze inside, just a hollow ball with a hole for the treats to come out. My sister and her boyfriend have a Kong one with the inside maze for their dog, but I've looked and haven't found a kitty Kong... I would love to get one of those!!

Originally Posted by Mystik Spiral

AddieBee, what's the brand of that one? The ones I got don't have the corkscrew maze inside, just a hollow ball with a hole for the treats to come out. My sister and her boyfriend have a Kong one with the inside maze for their dog, but I've looked and haven't found a kitty Kong... I would love to get one of those!!

Click to expand...

I will have to look... I got it at a discount pet store... some of the stuff there ... U know.. like Big Lots for pets... except the food!

OK - found it...

http://www.thepamperedpetmart.com/Me...e=Shopping.com

The other one I have seen is Slim Cat by Multivet. They are similar, but I cannot recall if Slimcat has the corkscrew in the middle.

Thanks! That is more the design I want. I'll keep my eyes open.

I have one that I think was marketed for ferrets or something and I used it with my guinea pigs (back when I had them a few years ago). My cats totally get it- they push it around and love it. I put regular food in there- I don't think they know the difference lol they think everything that they eat in single pieces is a treat. I normally fill it if they (especially Sidney) is very active at night and won't calm down therefore keeping me awake. I fill it and put it on the living room floor and normally that gives me enough time to fall asleep before it's empty and they go back to their nighttime shenanigans . I don't know what I would do without it! haha I'd probably never get any sleep

I bought something like that once, from Walmart. I can't remember Willow's opinion of it, but Molly and Buffy both got some use out of it. Molly's the food hog, so duh, and Buffy's the smart one who craves mental stimulation. They got one night out of it (maybe two) before I forgot to put it away and Jake, my dog, smelled the residue of food inside it and crunched the ball into pieces. I keep meaning to get another one.

Our treat ball is more of a snack machine; it's battery-operated. It has five little balls with holes. You simply unscrew the balls, fill them with treats, and then put them together again. It is timed so that about every two or three hours, a ball shoots out of the machine. As it rolls across the floor, the little treats will fall out. They do chase the ball to get the treats and they'll bat the ball around until it's empty. Once they realize the ball is empty, though, they're done with it.

It also comes with two replacement balls. And there's a little metal dish on top of the whole thing that we can put treats in for the lazy cats in the family.

I'll take a picture of it, so you can see what I'm talking about. It's really cute and it's a good way for the kids to get some exercise, too. I think it was called a cat deli-machine or something.