Premier FUNkitty Twist 'N Treat Catnip Toy

I am a veterinary technician, and was able to purchase 2 of these for less than half the price at a veterinary conference's Premier Pet products booth. I have 2 veeery food-motivated cats that will eat until they vomit if allowed. I just can't free-feed them: they will sit at their bowls ALL DAY. They inhale their food. They get fed a healthy amount of food 3 times a day, and will clean their bowls each time.

I purchased this product to help keep them from eating so fast and to stimulate their hunting instincts. This toy is nice in the fact that it is 2 lids that screw to one another: you choose how tightly you screw them together, and that will determine how easily the food/treats slides out of the toy-you can tighten them all the way so that the food only slides out through the 2 holes on each side of the toy, or leave a gap so that it can slide out between the lids as well. The first time, I set them up so that the two lids had a fairly wide opening between them, to allow the dry kibble to slide out easily. My husband and myself sat with our 2 hungry kitties to show them how to use the toys. It took them about 5 minutes to figure out that if they batted the toys around, they would get a treat. I am now able to screw the toys together so that the kibble only falls out of the holes. It still only takes my 2 felines about 15 minutes to get all the kibble out, but they really enjoy these toys. They come running whenever they hear me pick them up!

However, I would only recommend this for extremely food-motivated cats that will do anything to eat (mine have been known to learn how to open cabinets for food!). Our 3rd cat is very laid back about her meals, prefering to nibble over extended periods of time, and was not at all interested in this toy, even when offered when hungry. She preferred watching us bat the toy around for her and eating the kibble as it dropped-we couldn't get her to play with it herself. *lol*

The toys fit about a 1/4 cup of dry food. Not enough to keep little monsters like mine busy all day, but enough so that I can re-fill them more than once throughout the day without having to worry about my cats gaining weight. A very good product-it is well made, and the plastic is solid: it can take a beating.

My cats are highly food motivated and boisterous, so I'm always looking for interactive toys to give them a source of exercise and a small serving of treats.

The idea behind this toy was terrific--treat dispensing toys that allow you to control the size of the apertures are exactly what I need--but it just doesn't work. The size of the holes are determined by a screw in the middle of the toy, but the plastic is really slippery, so it never stays at the size I select. As my little beasts try to extract the treat, they invariably and quickly end up tightening the screw so that no treats can emerge at all. Not satisfactory at all from a feline perspective.

If there were a locking mechanism or if some sort of non-slip rubber were used, this would be a great toy for my cats. As it is, I'm afraid, you should probably give it a pass.

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We adopted a new kitty who gained weight really quickly when free feeding. Got this, and solved the problem.

We followed the directions and for about a week we put food in each of the two halves (in the place of her bowl). This allowed her to associate the toy with food. This alone slowed her down because the toy is wobbly and it moved around when she was trying to get the food out.

As a previous reviewer noted, keeping the two halves partially open doesn't work very well. But, by the time we screwed the two halves together, she already understood what to do. We only used the intermediate opening for a few days.

Small pellet food is a must. I wouldn't go with any odd shaped or large food.

Also, this only works (probably also only necessary for) on cats who are food oriented. Our other cat who free feeds and never gains weight won't even look at this thing, he just doesn't care about food that much.

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My cat is obese ("big boned") and I have been trying to get him to diet and exercise for some time. However, I do have to work and he has not taken at all to seeing the bottom of his food bowl. If he isn't fed/entertained sufficiently, I get howled at and get no peace until he gets some kibble.

So I purchased this toy on a whim. I've tried other treat toys unsuccessfully years ago, but there was something encouraging about this one. It's a small, simple lopsided toy with side openings and open "scent holes" along the top and bottom. You place the food in one half of the gadget and then screw the two sides together. (You can adjust the difficulty by tightening the screw.) The cat releases the food as he bats it around.

And it has worked wonders with my cat! I took away his bowl of food to ensure his interest in this toy and it didn't take him long at all to figure out how to release his food. (I was so proud of him, too!) This is how he gets his daily ration of dry food now. He now has something to play with while I'm at work and he's overall a much better, more patient cat (for which I am extremely grateful).

My only complaint is that the toy is somewhat difficult to refill to capacity, especially when I'm in a hurry. I'd like to fill the toy to hold as much food as possible, but I can only seem to manage this by adding food to the side openings by hand. It's something of a pain, but I haven't found a better way yet.

If you are looking for a quick and easy treat toy for your cat, I'd highly recommend this one as a starting place. It's inexpensive and provides lots of opportunity for your cat to earn his own food.

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As other reviewers have noted, the opening size does not lock; as it gets pushed around on carpet the opening either gets smaller or larger.

It also requires a good bit of effort on the part of the cat to play with on carpet, so they tend to give up quickly (especially when the opening gets smaller and they get no reward for their efforts). Neither of my cats will even try playing with it anymore, even with kibble inside.

Both cats much prefer the "PetSafe Premier Pet Products FUNKitty Egg-cersizer Cat Toy" -it's egg-shaped, so it rolls. They love it and I'll be buying a second one so they each have their own "egg."