Petmate Softbite Cat Toy, 4-Pack, Foam Mice

Initially I thought this was going to be a great toy for my two cats. My female, Calypso, decided she was not interested in this toy at all. My male, Devereaux, was definitely interested in this toy. Like a previous reviewer, I pulled off some of the glued-on pieces in addition to cutting most of the tail off so my cat wouldn't pull them off himself and eat them.

For the first three days I was impressed with how this toy was holding up. I did see bite marks in the foam from Dev's teeth, but it wasn't falling apart. The last I saw of this toy was when I saw Dev swat it under a sofa, and I didn't see him playing with it for the next couple weeks.

Then I noticed Dev's activity level had slowed down, and I would see him paw at the side of his face from time to time. Thinking he must have a sore tooth I made an appointment with our vet. The appointment was two days away, and in that amount of time Dev stopped eating or drinking water. Just hours before his appointment I got the first hint of what was wrong with him--he threw up a small chunk of something pink. It was then that I realized that he had eaten this foam toy mouse! Because it is made of a hard, dense foam, it compacted with his chewing, but then expanded again in his stomach. The foam acted much like foam ear plugs that people use--you roll them into a tight roll and put them in your ears, and then they expand in your ears to shut out noise. After the foam expanded in Dev's stomach, he couldn't readily throw up the pieces of foam, and they couldn't pass into his intestinal tract to be expelled that direction, either. Dev ended up at the local ER clinic having his stomach scoped, and they pulled the "huge chunks of pink, rubbery material" (their words) back out through his mouth. Believe me, it was one very large vet bill.

If your cat is the type to play gently with toys and not chew on things, this toy might be appropriate for your cat. But if you have young cats who still investigate everything with their mouth, or if you have cats that are a bit more aggressive with their toys, you might want to find sturdier toys.

Our cat loves these foam mice because they bounce around on our tiled floor and she can pick them up with her teeth. If your kitty loves bouncy balls then this could be a winner. However, I gave 4 stars because they're not great quality. The eyes, nose etc. are glued on when really you want something stiched (like Kong brand). I usually pick off the eyes (eek!) before I give them to our kitty, just in case she bites them off and eats them.

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My boyfriend's cat loves playing fetch, usually with balled up pieces of paper. The only problem with this is after she's done playing, there are little pieces of paper all over the floor. I bought these mice with the hope that she would play with these. It worked great! She LOVES these mice, and will run back and forth fetching one all day. They seem to be holding up well also--there are definitely teeth marks in the foam from her picking them up and bringing them back, but they haven't shown any signs of falling apart.

I will definitely buy these again when she's worn the 4 in the package out, but I don't think that will be anytime soon!

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My cats go wild for the small fur mice, and I assumed it would be much the same with these foam ones. But cats are particular creatures and the cat engineering specialist that designed these did not do enough research into the likes and dislikes of kittens. The mice's hard texture turns my kitties off, they don not like to bite them. The shape is probably also not realistic enough, and although the these toys tumble well across a hardwood floor, my Misha and Kabanos have both decidedly said NO to the soft bite mice.

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Our cat has had many hours of fun chasing these around the house. She bats them across our wood floor it is fun to watch her! They have last quiet a while.