Kitty Kaster

This is a casting toy: there's a small plastic part with some feathers at the end of a nylon line, which you can cast like you would a fishing pole.

The difference is that you can also reel it back in with the touch of a button. It takes two AAA batteries.

I bought mine at The Cat House on South Padre Island. I asked the owner to recommend the best toys; this was one of her picks, and it was a winner! I've recently noticed that PetSmart carries it here in Austin, TX.

A-Door-Able Toy

Better known as bungee mouse.

This is a mouse toy attached to a nylon string, with a hanger that goes onto a door frame.

Your cat can pounce on the mouse, knock it around, pick it up in their mouth and try to walk away with it (of course it bounces back eventually).

This was another recommendation from The Cat House.

Just make sure that you supervise your cats when they play with bungee mouse — it's possible for them to wrap the cord around themselves and choke.

Update: this week they managed to snap the cord that attaches bungee mouse.

Laser Pointer

You can really exercise your cats by having them chase a laser pointer. Just make sure that you don't shine it in their eyes.

Double trouble: we found if we shined it on our bathtub, we got two beams — and could play with both Simba & Gizmo at once.

Feather Toys

I bought some relatively inexpensive feather toys at Target. They're just a plastic wand with feathers on one end.

Don't get between Gizmo and his feather toy, which he tends to run around the house with it in his mouth.

These have lasted longer than I expected, but we do get little feather bits all over the house.

Turbo Scratcher

Turbo scratcher has a ball in a track — drives em nuts, they want to get that ball out of there!

There's also a cardboard scratching area in the middle, which is replaceable. Gizmo & Simba only occasionally use the scratching area.

Foam Balls

Another pretty inexpensive toy: small foam balls. Gizmo & Simba absolutely love to chase these balls around, although they get bored with them if you don't keep throwing them.

We also have a small ball that has a bell inside it, and they do enjoy batting that one around by themselves.

Toyshoppe Playables

This company makes a variety of mice with rattles inside them; they come in a variety of sizes (I bought mine at PetSmart). Gizmo & Simba are very fond of the small ones, and the medium ones get raves, too. They weren't too interested in the large one; I think they have to grown into the larger one.

Mouse tails have a tendency to disappear in our house. We actually don't know what happens to them, but we're assuming they get eaten.

Luckily, there have been no ill effects, but things like string, yarn — and mouse tails — can actually cause intestinal problems. So we make sure the mice in the house are tailless now.

Kittens are a lot like toddlers: they have short attention spans. They're also wired to like just about any toy you throw out there, including rolled up tinfoil balls. So don't be disappointed if they play with something one day, but not another.

Keep rotating between toys, if possible. Only seeing bungee mouse every few days made her exciting.

Toys that make noise seem to be real winners with Gizmo and Simba: balls that rattle, a mouse that squeaks or rattles. Kitty Kaster is definitely one of their favorite toys — they come running the minute it makes an appearance.