Cat Purchase Fails

[AbbysMom]

Once again, I have failed. I bought Abby an elevated food bowl. When I ordered it I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to get one. It would be perfect for her because she's getting older now and is creaky, takes Dasuquin, etc.

It just came in. I was so excited and put some treats in it right away. What does my cat do? She takes each treat out one by one, puts them on the floor and eats them.

Another big fail was the catnip crazy pants. In hindsight, I should have known these were not going to be a big hit -

The best one though was 21 years ago. We had just moved into our first house and were bringing our first cat as adults home. My husband picked out a basket with a nice blanket, etc for a bed and set everything up. A little while later he went to check to see how Molly was settling in and she was laying in her litter box instead.


I can't be the only one that hasn't impressed my cat. Let's hear about some of your failed purchases.

 

[mokapi]

THE CATNIP CRAZY PANTS...

Ahem. I've gotten myself under control.

I haven't had a cat toy fail yet because I barely buy anything for my cats, out of fear of wasting money. I'm going to buy a crinkle tube this week, though, and goodness knows that might be a total miss.

Currently, the best toy in the house is a little dried up black olive that Keegan has been batting around the kitchen floor. For five days. Yes, I should pick up the desiccated piece of food like a normal and clean human, but then what would I watch my fat, doofy kitten play with?

 

[MeganLLB]

My cat likes to get inside my grocery bags, so I found a toy that is just a bag with that crinkly material. I thought she would like it. No animal has touched it or even acknowledged it. My cat also chews on my coffee table and chews sticks outside, so I bought "cat twigs" that claim to be the new catnip. Only the dog likes them and makes a mess with them.

Bought my dog a bed and only the cat sleeps in it, so that's kinda a half fail- at least someone uses it.

 

[Yanira]

My aunt has failed so many times with her cat...I know what it feels.
She has spent lots of money in things the cat would only look at and just pass away ( like 3 beds, a lot of toys...). Just...cats.

 

[amysuen]

Just like a cat! Our fail is any cat toy we buy. Our cats prefer milk rings, crumpled up paper, laser pointer, big pom pons (stolen from the daycare kids' art projects), etc. Toothless's favorite toy is a pompon with feathers stuck in it, tied to a paper towel roll with yarn.

 

[Gizmobius]

I had bought one of those cute tent enclosures for my previous cat because she had been an outdoor/indoor cat that I then transitioned to strictly indoor but I still wanted her to enjoy outside time. After she passed, I was excited to introduce it to my new kitten. To get him used to it, I threw all his ball toys into it and called it the ball pit. Instead, he thought it was a great place to pee.

Luckily, he's loved all the toys I've bought for him since then. However he didn't understand the freeze dried minnow treats I got him recently and would instead just chew them and spit them back out. Also there was a cute little cat bed that he used for about a month but now refuses to even touch it.

 

[denice]

I have so many failed toys. I will bring one out every once in awhile and try to get them interested but no go. No matter what I buy for them the box or the bag is the bigger hit.

 

[Kieka]

Once again, I have failed. I bought Abby an elevated food bowl. When I ordered it I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to get one. It would be perfect for her because she's getting older now and is creaky, takes Dasuquin, etc.

It just came in. I was so excited and put some treats in it right away. What does my cat do? She takes each treat out one by one, puts them on the floor and eats them.

Rocket did that too the first few times with the elevated bowl. After a week or two she started eating out of the bowl. So maybe not a total fail... yet.

 

[Ardina]

I bought this super soft, comfy, fuzzy cat bed, and not once has Saipha ever slept in it. Next to it on the hard floor, yes, but never in it. She won't even sit in it. So for a full year, it just stayed under the bed. Then I got a kitten, and finally that bed is getting some use!

 

[abyeb]

Charlie is usually very excited about any new toys, so I don't have too many fail stories there. A few months ago, I bought Charlie a "cat sack", thinking he would love it since he loves going into paper shopping bags (I always take the handles off first), and so I thought this might seem like an upgrade for him (plus it's fleece-lined!). Nope. Now he just sits on top of it. And sometimes attacks it. But most of the time he ignores it. If I put a paper shopping bag next to the cat sack, Charlie would go straight into the paper bag. Just like the cardboard box vs. bed conundrum. Put a designer cat bed next to a cardboard box? The kitty curls up in the box.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Does two years of trying various brands and flavors of cat food count? Fail, and fail again, and still only a handful of foods pass muster. It's like seeking the Holy Grail trying to expand Milly's diet choices.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

But how can you NOT love crazy pants!?!

I haven't had TOO many fails. One was a crinkle tunnel. If they were kittens it probably would have been a big hit.

I'm not sure if this counts; but last year I got Noodles a heated bed. She adored it. Barely left it! But then she had an accident in it and I could never get the smell out. So I managed to get another on a sale. Mooch claimed it immediately. Noodles got a box with a blanket. So a few weeks ago I found the heated beds on sale again yay! Mooch decided that bed is also hers. Not only that but she wont lay in the other bed now either. She wants the new squishy one shes almost too fat for. I put the new one on it's side. We'll try again when the weather cools off.

 

[DreamerRose]

I got one of those rotating butterfly things, and Mingo went bonkers over it. He catches the butterfly right away and knocks it over, so I had to keep turning it back upright. I put it up in a bookcase, then he starts climbing the bookcase to get to it. Three sessions with the flying bug, and he has chewed off the wings. It's now in the bookcase permanently. Guess this is a case of success turning into a fail.

 

[Columbine]

I've not had many fails either - any previous fails I had with Asha and Shad are now being eagerly and enthusiastically played with/slept in/destroyed by the boys! Those two kittens think EVERYTHING is wonderful This goes for any food fails I had too

The only real 'fail' is a kitty treat ball - but that's partly because it's impossible for anyone to use it without Leah (labrador) getting in on the action That dog is a walking stomach.... I've had a couple of cat litter fails in the search of a litter we're all happy with (both kitties and humans). Does that count? One was a wood based clumping litter - Greenwoods Naturals, and the other was our original clay litter, Sanicat Professional clumping (the boys hated it, and we couldn't believe how bad it was compared to some of the other ones we've tried recently).

I do, however, have an ever-increasing number of confiscated toys because of the two furry wrecking balls

(they even managed to pull my bedroom curtain rail down the other day ). Those go into Asha's special toy basket, and only come out when the boys are in their room.

 

[jcat]

With the exception of one cheap cat igloo from the supermarket, every cat bed I've bought or been given. Cat beds just aren't "done" around here, though window perches are extremely popular.

 

[AbbysMom]

So maybe not a total fail... yet.

 

[mightyboosh]

They're like little kids. You buy a three year old an all singing, all dancing tech toy and what do they do? They play with the box it came in. Maybe that's the answer. Buy your cat a fancy toy, chuck it away and let them have the box!

 

[mokapi]

I have something like a fail to share...

I went stress shopping yesterday, and spent 65$ I REALLY shouldn't have spent on beds for each of my animals. I justify these purchases with the whole "you can return them" logic...anyway. I bought two reasonably sized cat beds, and a pretty big dog bed for my chihuahua mix (on clearance for 30$...).

The cat beds are being totally ignored, but the giant dog bed is apparently the perfect size for fat-boy Keegan, who has claimed it, and swats the dog whenever he tries to climb on too.

 

[mazie]

Once again, I have failed. I bought Abby an elevated food bowl. When I ordered it I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to get one. It would be perfect for her because she's getting older now and is creaky, takes Dasuquin, etc.

It just came in. I was so excited and put some treats in it right away. What does my cat do? She takes each treat out one by one, puts them on the floor and eats them.

View attachment 189661
Another big fail was the catnip crazy pants. In hindsight, I should have known these were not going to be a big hit -

View attachment 189663

The best one though was 21 years ago. We had just moved into our first house and were bringing our first cat as adults home. My husband picked out a basket with a nice blanket, etc for a bed and set everything up. A little while later he went to check to see how Molly was settling in and she was laying in her litter box instead.


I can't be the only one that hasn't impressed my cat. Let's hear about some of your failed purchases.

I bet those CRAZY pants would be a hit with kittens though. They would love to scamper through the waist and come out through the legs. Did you get the chance to try them out with kittens rather than adult cats??

 

[cheeser]

With the exception of Yeowww! catnip toys and this PetFusion cat scratcher lounge, our cats haven't been impressed with anything we've bought for them. They prefer to play with odds and ends they find lying around the house, or things that get 'rescued' on their way to the trashcan, such as paper grocery bags, boxes, empty toilet paper rolls, wadded up balls of paper, the twisted paper handles we cut off from shopping bags, shredded paper, etc.

But they have no qualms about taking over things we buy for ourselves and claiming it as their own. I got a really nice, thick terry bathrobe as a Christmas gift awhile back, and the cats use it as a bed.