It's a dragonfly! It's a mouse! No, wait ... It's Neko Flies!

Shiny and winged, it fliesthrough the air at the speed of light and lands in an obscure location,somewhere near a window or the baseboards. It then promptly creeps across thefloor and levitates onto furniture, no sooner landing before taking off in flightagain. It twists and turns with haphazard movements, bouncing and spinning,going like a boomerang from one side of the room to the next.

Then it magicallytransforms into a small and furry creature, zipping across the floor in rapidzigzagging motions before bounding into the air in a desperate fury to escape.It leaps from floor to table to sofa, making few stops in between. It runs fromone side of the room to the next, dragging its furry body up backs of furnitureand skipping along the walls.

The captive audience dances,spins, twirls and leaps, almost mimicking the motions of these intruders.Gracefully leaping over furniture, they spin in the air, swatting, chasing, pullingand tugging in a desperate attempt to catch the critter. Backs arch, tails puffup, hair stands on end, pupils dilate, and ears point up in high alert. Thesounds in the room are abundant, ranging from high pitched cries to deeprumbles, growls, and everything in between. No hunting tactic is left behind! Thestakes are high as the predators are on the prowl!

The one sound that’smissing is the sound of terrified humans. No one is ducking or screaming toget away from the dragonfly. No one is cringing or jumping on a chair to escapethe path of the mouse. Instead the room is filled with joy and laughter becausethese intruders, these creepy critters, are actually attached to a wand!

You may be having the samethoughts that I did initially. Great. Another cat wand toy that will pique theirinterest for a few minutes and quickly become nothing more than an annoyingcontraption I’m dangling in front of my cats’ bored faces. Boy, was I wrong!

Neko Flies are very differentcat toys. My cats were and remaincompletely captivated. It grabs their attention at a moment’s notice,so much so that I actually have to hide it from them when not in use for fearthat they’ll destroy it! This is a smartidea anyway. These toys are designed ascat teasers and shouldn’t be left out as chew toys for your kitties. The fact that this safety information is onthe packaging stepped up my opinion of the company more than one notch!

My cats can be quite pickyabout what tickles their fancy where cat toys are concerned. You probably knowthe feeling! For years, in fact, thebest cat toys have been empty boxes or balled-up pieces of paper. Rarely do I find an interactive cat toy that isexciting to them when they first play with it AND withstands the test oftime. But Neko Flies does both.

Neko Flies interactive cat toysseem to truly mimic the critters they are designed to represent, at least in mycats' eyes, which was exactly what creator Ellen and her kitties Nekochan,Chiquita, Timmy and Bubba were trying to accomplish. From the shiny, tin wingson the Kragonfly to the furry body and tail of the Kittenator, these critterswere clearly designed with nearly flawless representation of the actual preythe cats would chase in the wild. Because the toys both look like the real dealand are designed to have realistic movements, the cats treat them as though it theyare pursuing real live prey.

I tried out the Neko Flies wandand two of the 7 attachments the company offers on a total of 13 cats. What a fun weekend! Mio, my cat that has real killer instincts inhis blood, growled and snorted as we had a very intense game of tug-of-war,refusing to give up and finally leading me off into another room as if I wereon a leash! You can see this in the kitties'video review. No matter what I do, I cannot convince him that theseare not live prey!

Tiger also likes to grab itwith his teeth, growl, shake it, and try to walk off with it. Snowball enjoys leaping into the air inpursuit of the flying creatures while Zero, Calvin, and Miloenjoy just batting it around. They arevery senior citizens so that's understandable. Peggy was so mesmerized with itthat he jumped onto a climbing tree that he has always been afraid to put evena toe on and then stayed there playing with it. I will continue using it to help him with his fear so that he will stopjumping from the floor to a high window and will, instead, use the climbing treeto get to his favorite hangout.

Coco and Peggy both cry for it when another cat is playingwith it because they want it so desperately. Regardless of how long I let my cats play with the Neko Flies, they don'twant to stop. That has not been thereaction by my cats to any other cat toys I have ever brought home. They either completely ignore most cat toysor play with them once then quickly grow tired of them.

My cats have been fortunate enough to get to play with the Kragonfly, Kiticatterfly, Kattipede, Foxifur or Original Kittenator attachments, and each attachment has kept my cats engaged, helped them get great exercise, andhelped us all bond with fun play time. They even enjoy playing together,forming circles around the toy and “taking turns” swatting, biting, and leapingat their prey! And, after seeing the enjoyment level from the five attachments I do have, I am certain that they would love the Kittycada and Katarantula attachments as well!

The safety features of cat toysare very important to me. As a felinevet for over 20 years, I have seen the worst that can happen when a cat ingestsa foreign body or is otherwise injured. Tiger, in particular, works hard at tryingto detach the furry tip of the Kittenator, but is unsuccessful because of thesturdy construction. I was delighted tofind that all body parts are attached securely, an important feature for themany cats that engage in very rough play. Wings and tails, even though they look realistically fragile, will nottear easily due to the PVC material from which they are constructed. The different parts of the toys are fashionedin such a way as to protect cats when flicking the toy, too. It is also extremely important to keep toxinsaway from cats as they are very sensitive to so many things. Neko Flies are constructed from synthetic andnatural materials, using a very minimal amount of non-toxic glue.

These cat and kitten toyshave safety features for humans, also! Thelong, durable rod handle made it easy to play with my kitties safely as theirclaws came out in an incredibly cute effort to capture their "prey". Instead of worrying about my hands beingcaught in the crossfire, I could focus on watching their tails puff up and backsideswiggle as each cat tried feverishly to attack the toy.

I would recommend theseinteractive cat toys to everyone who has a cat of any age. I have cats of all ages and from the youngest(about 5 years old) to the oldest (15-18 years of age), they all are crazyabout the Neko toys. I jokingly havesaid many times that the Kittenator must be so named because it turns even theoldest cats into kittens again! If youlook at the orange cat in the video that is running crazily in circles tryingto catch the Kittenator, you will see what I mean. Bobby is 15 years old! His two 15-year-old brothers prefer to justbat at it while lying down or follow its path with bobbing heads (which you will also see in thevideos), but with an interest that I have never seen them display for any other cattoys.

Despite all my favorablecomments about Neko Flies, there are a couple of problems with this line oftoys. The first is that I now feelguilty every minute that I am sitting and working on my computer instead ofplaying with my cats and their Neko Flies interactive cat toys. The second is that they dramatically add to that guilt by sitting andstaring at me while I'm working, making it clear that they are impatientlywaiting for the next time I let the furry mouse and the soaring dragonfly outof the cabinet where they live.

I'm not the only one, and my cats certainly aren't the only ones, who are crazy for Neko Flies, either! Check out what author and radio show host Tracie Hotchner has to say about these great toys!

Return to Reviews of Pet Food and Supplies

Leave Neko Flies and return to the Ask The Cat Doctor Home Page