Kitty Kong Cat Toy - turned my 5 lb. cat into King Kong!

Author's Rating:

Pros: sturdy, washable (except the inserts), strong catnip smell once insert is activated.

Cons: appeal may vary widely cat to cat, insert too easily pulled out by cats, expensive.

The Bottom Line: 
This is a "your mileage may vary" kind of cat toy. It will have strong appeal to some cats who love catnip especially if they love to bat toys around.

Author's Review
I love cat toys, because I love watching the antics of my cats when a toy really is a hit with them. The delight they express, the silly antics they get into as they forget their usual decorum and cavort, brings me laughter and joy. A great cat toy is worth any price. Did the Kitty Kong bring delight or was it a dud? Read on to find out!

~Who is Kong?
The Kong Company is located outside of Denver, in Golden, Colorado. Established in 1976, they are known for their tough toys for dogs. This is one of what was just a few cat items they produced before they purchased the line of refillable catnip toys by Cats with an Attitude - now marketed as Dr. Noys Cats with An Attitude cat toys. Other products by them for cats include the Zoom Groom and catnip-scented paper.

~What is the Kitty Kong - Do I fill it with Peanut Butter?
Nope, this is not a typical fill'er up treat toy that Kong is known for. The Kitty Kong is a purple, rubber type toy that is approximately 2 1/2 inches tall and looks a bit like a snowman with a head and two sections on the body. Meant to be viewed on it's side, as it faces you, you will see vibrant yellow rubber ears and whiskers, located on a rubber ring placed over the neck of the smallest section of the toy & fitting into a groove between this "head" section and the first body section.

The body of this toy is imprinted with the name of the toy and with butterflies, cat faces, fish, stars and paw prints. The end of the toy is open, and large enough in diameter to fit your finger inside. So....why is the bottom of the toy open you ask? Ah...that is for the paper mice, two per toy, which are heavily saturated with catnip scent (per the package, each "mouse" has the concentration of 1/4 cup worth of catnip). Each mouse is approximately 5 1/2 inches long, and vibrantly colored. If you simply pick up one mouse and sniff, there is no scent, but don't feel foolish! If you scratch the back of the mouse (carefully, it's tough paper, but paper nonetheless) with a scissors edge or coin, you will be surprised at the intense catnip smell that wafts from the mouse. I know I was very pleasantly surprised, it was much more than I expected. Per the instructions, you slightly crumple the mouse to make it narrow enough to insert into the open bottom of the toy, the tail will remain protruding. Once the toy is inserted, I did give a gentle tug, it stayed inside. How long did it last with my cats? Did they think it smelled as good as their favorite catnip toys? Their report, in their own words, is just below.

~DeeDee, Lyra and Rachel - the report
DeeDee:As the top dog, er cat, I of course, was the first to check out this new toy. It bounces nicely, hmm...smells good..but I can't really lick it, I can't rabbit kick it, hmmph..I'll give it to my sister. Here Lyra-boo!
Lyra:Don't call me that! Ooh...catnip! I LOVE catnip.... She quit talking after this and began rubbing her cheek against the catnip scented mouse tail. But this did not last long, and once she was done, that was it.
Rachel:Give me that! I don't care if I am the smallest cat in this house, MINE...it's MINE...I love that mouse, I love the catnip, I LOVE THIS TOY! MINE!

~Final Thoughts
The Kitty Kong is not an inexpensive toy at $5.99 at my local Petco. It looks as if it would be indestructible by any cat, but there is a caution on the package that the toy is for supervised play. If chewing of the whiskers is observed, they instruct you to remove the toy. If the whiskers/ears come loose, the ring they are attached to (it is one big unit, a rubber ring with ears that pop up and whiskers that attach on the side of the ring), should be moved to down to a lower body segment, where it will fit even more snugly.
The body of the toy is washable, a nice feature because you never know where a cat toy will end up - in their food, their water bowl, under the fridge, behind the trash can!

The mice are too easily pulled from the body, in my opinion. Rachel absolutely adores this toy, and she did not stop until she achieved her mission of pulling the catnip scented paper mouse from the body, and then chewed it a bit. The same mouse could have been scratched again to reactivate the catnip scent, and then reinserted, but I was not happy with how soon it had been pulled out of the toy. I did try an experiment of tossing the toy (minus the insert) towards Rachel, and she did bestir her self quite a bit in batting it around. Quite the sight to see a tiny black smoke and white American Curl with teeny tiny paws smacking the heck out of this toy. She really loves it.

So...this is a toy that few of my cats stuck with, but all had some initial interest in. You will simply have to try it, to see if your cat will respond as favorably as Rachel. I give the toy 2.5 stars, marking it off for not having universal appeal, and for how easily the insert can be removed by any catnip-crazed cat. Please note that it is easy to miss where they have tucked the paper mice inserts on this package. The purple body with attached ring of ears and whiskers is held by a cardboard ring on the front of a cardboard card..it is not enclosed in any way. The paper inserts are tucked between the front and back layers of cardboard packaging - look for the cardboard mouse face and nose peeking up, and separate that section of the package, to find the two paper mice, and a mini-brochure with a list/description of many Kong products, in English, French and Spanish. The package itself, including directions for use, is printed in both English and French.

Thanks for reading!