Cats love to get inside things, boxes, bags, suitcases and of course the coveted cat tunnel. Every time they come across a new object they can climb inside they can’t seem to resist going for a peek! I guess that’s where the phrase “Curiosity killed the cat” came from.On the bright side, these days we can satisfy feline curiosity at home with purpose built toys.
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Namely, cat tunnels! Tunnels are super lightweight, easy to move around and on top of this most of them collapse into a tiny little package making them easy to pack up too.They are well known for serving multiple purposes for your feline friends. They give them a new place to explore, a place to observe from, a place to hide and of coursea place to ambush their feline pals from. All in all they are some of the best toys money can buy, so let’s take a look at 13 of the best.
Purrfect Feline was one of the first to the market with the 4 way cat tunnel. A pioneer in the space of cat tunnels if you will. While they were the first to the market with the 4 way tunnel that didn’t stop that from producing a well thought out and high quality product.
They definitely learned from other products that came before them!While there are now other four tunnel vendors on the market this still stands as one of the best available for you and your kitties, check out some of the key features. We’ve already discussed Pawz Road above, but the claim to fame on this version is obviously the amazing cheetah or leopard print coloring on the outside. Just kidding!
It is that this particular model is the longest single tunnel I’ve been able to track down.Most others are in the area of 36 or maybe 42 inches long and maybe 10 inches in diameter. This one comes in at 51 inches long and 12 inches wide. It is great for large cats!
Outside being great for large cats though let’s look at the rest of the important pieces. The Hide and Sneak is definitely the most novel of all of the tunnels out there. It is also the most environmentally friendly in that it is completely made of paper so it is 100% biodegradable.
The Hide and Sneak is a cat tunnel that is is made of 100% paper, similar to the paper you’d get from a shopping bag. Admittedly it is quite a bit tougher than that!Every step through this tunnel provides the sound that cats love and find so intriguing because it is basically a giant paper bag with two holes in the end of it. That being said, it is not nearly as durable as other tunnels on the market so you’ll have to weigh that in your decision to buy one. A few other things worth noting. Is known for all sorts of creative and unique combinations of cat toys and other cat products.
The key claim to fame on this model is it is specifically designed for your cats to scratch it up. It isn’t made to just withstand it, it is designed to encourage it.This model is basically two mini cat hideaways strung together with a tunnel in the middle and holes poked in it and in both ends. Both of the hide away rooms are covered in sisal scratching material which is perfect for your cats.
A few other things worth noting here. Auoon has come to market with a creative version of the cat tunnel that is more a cat circle than a standard straight tube. This model zips together at a couple of joints to create a donut shaped tube for your kitties to hide in, play in and run through. It is by far one of the coolest models out there and it is definitely unique.Not only do you have the tunnel itself, but it comes fully equipped with a nice sleeping spot in the middle. Your kitties will have to hop up over the tunnel into the middle to nap though, so good exercise and good rest!
A few things worth noting on this model. Cat tunnels are amazing toys because they play on numerous natural instincts that your cat already has. Tunnels are simply incredibly versatile products that help fill a lot of gaps for cats. CuriosityCats are notoriously curious creatures. They love to go exploring and while they certainly don’t like huge changes they definitely love to check out new places in the house or slight changes in the house.Enter cat tunnels.
Tunnels provide a new space in the house that can easily be moved around to always have some level of novelty. You can also easily pack them up and put them in the closet or a drawer for a few days or a week to help maintain the mystery when you bring the toy back out! HuntingCats love to hunt. It is a natural instinct.
You’ll see them do it with their toys and even with their fellow cats in the house. From the minute they are old enough to pounce they are practicing their hunting skills.Tunnels not only provide excellent places for your cat to hide and to stalk from, but they also provide an amazing place for your cat to pounce and ambush from. Exercise & General PlayWhether it’s an open paper bag or a box, your cat likes to keep herself entertained throughout the day. They’ll often make their own games up and bat their toys all over the place or jump off of the wall.Tunnels provide an excellent distraction for your cat in the sense that they are a new space and they are often equipped with built in toys. Many have built in crinkly paper to make new noise and almost all have hanging toys built into the ceiling for your cat to bat and swat at.
Last but not least, most tunnels are somewhat see through and you can drag a wand or a finger down the outside and your cat will attempt to pounce on it. SafetyIf you have a new cat that spends most of her time under the bed or in the closet then a tunnel might be a good option to help her come out of her shell. Tunnels can be placed in strategic locations that are closer to humans so your kitty will come out, but they give an added level of safety for your cat as well because it minimizes the number of ways people can approach her.The use of tunnels will allow a frightened cat to be able to feel protected enough so she can start to step out from her anchored hiding spot.
Systems & MazesDepending on the amount of room you have and the curiosity of your cat you can easily create an entire maze or a cat tunnel system. Most of the tunnels can easily be strung or clipped together even if they don’t come with the parts.
This means you can always switch them out to create new and novel shapes for your cats. I didn’t specifically note it, but many of these tunnels can be used indoors/outdoors.
Any tunnels made of polyester and metal sprung frame can definitely be used outdoors. That being said, I wouldn’t leave them outdoors if they aren’t currently in use.If the weather changes it can certainly damage them and on top of this most of these tunnels are designed to be super lightweight and can easily blow away in a strong gust of wind.On the bright side, polyester is generally very easy to hand wipe or hand wash if the tunnel does get dirty.
Just grab a wet washcloth and you can scrub most substances right off of the tunnel. Cat tunnels are generally designed to handle adult cats, but kittens can easily use them too.
I’ve not seen any kitty tunnels specifically, but every tunnel can and will accommodate small cats or even young kittens if necessary.Some of the biggest users of tunnels are cats that are older or even senior. They love the quiet and safe space tunnels can provide for sleeping or just relaxing.The only thing I’d be careful of is choosing a tunnel that will accommodate the size of your cat. Big cats definitely require bigger tunnels.
The best two tunnels above for big cats are the and the. The market is loaded with all sorts of ways to entertain your cat these days. From remote controlled toys to apps to traditional tinkling bells.
Every time I pop open Amazon or surf a pet site I see something I never would have expected. And I’m cat crazy so I normally consider myself on top of it.Every toy has its uses and some cats will certainly be drawn to one type more than another.
Cat tunnels do seem like one of those toys that are universally loved by cats. Given this they are a great option to consider whether you’re a new or an experienced cat owner.Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works for your cat! If you have any cat tunnels you love then please please leave a comment below!
Or leave a note below so we can get some pictures of your crazy cat maze at home!
There are very few products out there that I think are so great I end up buying them for my entire family. The Catit Senses Food Maze happens to be one of them.
Catit Design Senses Food Maze – Amazon / Chewy
We got our first Catit Food Maze a long time ago; something like three years ago. Since then, we’ve bought one for my parents, given an old one to my brother, then re-bought one here in the UK for ourselves (we moved continents early 2016, and a cat food maze isn’t exactly the kind of thing you take with you in a suitcase). In case you can’t tell, we’ve gotten a lot of good use out of this product over the years, and expect it would be the same for other cat owners. Does the job we wanted it to do just right.
I prefer feeding Avery kibble over wet food for a lot of reasons: according to some vets, kibble is healthier for a cat’s teeth (edit: did some research and found out this is actually not true; read up on it here), kibble is easier to store than wet food, a lot cheaper than wet, even for quality kibble, easy to involve in play-time, helpful in specific attempts I make at making Avery exercise more, and the last and most important reason – it allows me to feed Avery solely through the use of cat feeding toys. Which I feel in itself has many advantages.
If kitties eat too quickly, they can end up overeating, with indigestion, or even vomiting. Now, Avery had never vomited prior to me grabbing the Catit Senses Food Maze, but he was a quick eater, and so I didn’t want him to end up having issues later on. I wanted him to slow down. Putting food in a bowl and just handing it to him wasn’t going to cut it.
He’s an indoor cat and always has been since we took him in – so I also was searching for a way to keep him engaged with something other than nap time for part of the day. Yes, I played with him, but I couldn’t help feeling it wasn’t enough. He’s not the kind of kitty who likes to play on his own, but put food at the heart of the “game” and he’s definitely in. So food toys definitely seemed the way to go.
The Catit Food Toy caught my attention primarily because of all the positive reviews it was getting on Amazon – and let’s be real, also because of the pretty reasonable price tag (especially by comparison to timed feeders). I figured I should give the food maze a shot and hope for the best. This wouldn’t be the first cat product to disappoint me if it did, and so long as I ended up with at least a few products I really liked, I’d be happy to cut my losses. The price of this product is very fair, too, if you factor in using it every day and the fact that it can easily be taken apart and washed clean. If the Catit Food Maze worked out, it would be more than worth the price.
Remember how I told you we got this food tree a long time ago? This was way back when Catit had released the first version of the toy; Catit is now on to version 2.0, which has a much more narrow opening at the top, and a wider base. Not huge differences, but I can definitely see why they made them. I’ll touch a little more on this later.
When we first tried out the the Catit Food Maze, Avery was a bit confused and didn’t really understand how to get the food out. Fair enough, considering it was our first ever food toy for him (have tried many since, though!). I don’t recall now if I had to demonstrate with my fingers pushing the food down or if he ventured a try himself without any prodding, but he got the gist of things that first day, and while it took him a few hours to get nearly every last piece out (I flipped the food toy over and gave him the last 2-3 pieces myself), you could tell he was going to start speeding up his eating once he’d hacked the thing.
And hack it he did. See, that giant round hole in version 1 of the food maze meant that he learned a week or two in that he could put his paws up on the top of the toy, stick his head through the hole in the top and eat away. Naughty little bug. Not an issue for us, though. Had plenty of big, heavy books lying around – simply laid one on top after dropping the food in and he was easily kept outta there. Avery didn’t try knocking the book over or pushing the whole food tree to the floor, which meant this one quick fix was all it took to solve all our problems with version 1 of the Catit Food Maze.
The first version also had this odd little mat that would be placed underneath the maze to try to keep it in place. Didn’t really work, so we chucked it, but we didn’t care if the food maze moved around anyway. If the food maze wasn’t on carpet, it would start off at one end of the room and easily end up about half a room’s distance in the span of one feeding. Again, not an issue for us, didn’t really care if it moved around, so long as it wasn’t knocked over – and luckily for us, Avery never did try for us to find out. Maybe that had something to do with the heavy book on top, though I doubt it, because we eventually took that off and he didn’t try any funny business then either. In fact, didn’t even go back to eating from the top. I guess he just got used to getting food out the “regular” way which made it less work than his shenanigans.
Avery learned how to eat all his food out of the Catit Food Maze in a matter of about 20 minutes. Considering this was our first cat toy and we’d been feeding him out of a bowl prior, we were pretty happy with this considering it meant he was eating slowly enough not to be able to vomit from eating too quickly, and it meant he felt a bit fuller since it took him longer to eat every last piece.
The Catit Design Senses Food Maze technically comes on three settings – easy, medium, and hard, but I’ve only ever kept it on hard, really. It’s not that difficult, and anything easier is, in my opinion, not even worth using since cats can finish a whole meal within 20 minutes even when it’s on the hardest setting.
It took Avery a while to get used to inspecting the food maze for stragglers, but in no time he learned, too, that those tough pieces to find were pretty easy to get out once you’d sniffed them out. So I stopped having to flip the maze over at the end of feeding time to give him remaining pieces, as there never were any.
At first, Avery would actually eat his food as quickly as he possibly could. Over the years, however, I feel as though using this food maze has actually taught him it’s okay to slow things down. Around 2 years ago, he was taking around 40 minutes on average to eat his meals every night – a significant improvement from the original 20 minutes! For the past 6 months or so, he’s been taking around an hour to an hour and 20 minutes to finish his meal, in my opinion, because he no longer feels like he has to rush.
All in all, an excellent product that I feel has delivered in spades. It’s done its job of slowing down Avery’s eating far better than I could’ve imagined – taking him 20 minutes to finish food initially, and once getting him into the habit of eating much slower, helping to get eating meals slowed down to over 40 minutes, even up to an hour and 20 minutes of play in recent months. He’s really learned to take his time with his meals, and it’s certainly a big part thanks to this contraption.
Never regretted getting the Catit Senses Food Maze. Have used it with Avery for roughly 3 years, and as I’ve said, I’ve even gone so far as to buy three of these over the span of the last few years, two which I gave to family members so their cats could benefit from it, and one for Avery of course.
While I’ll happily give other cat feeding toy products a go, and I most certainly think feeding meals with feeding toys is something I’ll always be doing considering how dramatically toys have slowed down Avery’s eating, I’m always happy to have this food maze sitting around in my house – the perfect mealtime feeder to fall back on just in case nothing else works quite as well.