Friskies Pull 'n Play
The claim: Friskies Pull ‘n Play is the whole new way to treat and play for your cat. It includes “Wobbert,” a fun wobble toy, edible string treats and Friskies Party Mix treats.
Cost: $5.75
Where: Pet and discount stores, such as Target and Walmart
It's not uncommon to hear things go thump in the night — specifically my keys and mail off the table — when Grace, my, ahem, big-boned feline friend wants treats and wants me to wake up to give them to her. (You can tell who's in charge at my place.)
Friskies Pull ‘n Play was the win-win I'd been hoping for: Grace gets her cat crack (what I've taken to calling her treats because she's such an addict) whenever she wants it, and I get glorious, uninterrupted slumber.
I loaded up the plastic mouse with the Party Mix treats, and I threaded the Tender Strings (think of that pull-apart licorice) through the top. Immediately, Grace downed its “ears,” but she didn't seem too interested in trying to bat the mouse around to shake the Party Mix loose. (Of course, she ate the ones that popped out when I was showing her how it works.)
I think she'd have gone for it more if it released more treats at a time. I vigorously rolled it around on the carpet a handful of times, yet just two goodies popped out.
Still, the Pull ‘n Play will be great for when I go away for the weekend. Grace will be able to get a few treats, and perhaps my house won't be destroyed.
The cat wasn't interested. The dog was. But the cat and dog are best friends, so the cat got involved the moment she noted the dog's intrigue.
Beebs the black cat — who my wife and I fostered for, then adopted from, the Western PA Humane Society — is not much for treats, so her reaction to the Friskies Wobbert (a cat toy in which treats are inserted) was predictable: She sniffed it a bit, then rubbed her head against it as if begging for pets.
Mila the shepherd mix — another Humane Society rescue — loves toys and goes wild for treats, and she was understandably fascinated. She watched intently as I loaded the device and placed it down for the cat. Once Beebs lost interest, Mila moved in … then the cat did the same because she saw it as an opportunity to play with her buddy.
In the end, a toy for a cat works just as well as a toy for a dog — or as a toy for a cat and dog who groom each other, play regularly and often sleep pressed against one another.
Weebles wobble. So do some nesting dolls. I would have played with such toys a lot more when I was a kid if they had occasionally dispensed candies. So, I think Friskies Pull 'n Play's Wobbert is a great idea. It should keep my tabby busy for swaths of time. It should free me from my current role of harried treat-vendor. It should afford me quieter evenings, with me no longer the sole focus of my little cat-treat addict's demands: me-oww! me-OWW!
The idea of Wobbert, a roly-poly plastic mouse, is that kitty can obtain those treats she craves — but not too many — and get in some exercise, too. I filled Wobbert's tummy with treats and threaded a snack string through his ears. After a while, my tabby chewed one of the strings. But that was it. I patted the mouse to make it wobble and rolled it to get treats to fall out. Kitty ate the treats and walked away.
Oh, Wobb! I replaced the Friskies Play Pack's treats with my tabby's favorites. Nothing. Cats dislike an audience, so I left kitty alone with Wobbert the next day. No change. That night, I raided a secret cache for a small baggie of the good stuff — catnip — and slipped a pinch into Wobbert's belly. Kitty took a sniff but wasn't buying what Wobbie was selling.
And so I continue to be kitty's direct supplier, sans middlemouse.
