The Polydactyl Cats Asian Sauce Packet Cat Toy set come with four sauces (inside the condiments packet), but you have to supply the tea cup and chopsticks.
FTC disclaimer: Neither the Rainbolt Test Kitties nor Dusty Rainbolt received any compensation for this review, however the manufacturer comped test samples of the Polydactyl Cats Asian Sauce Packet Cat Toy Set and are providing a complimentary set for the winner of the contest below.
The pros and Cons of polydactyl Cats Asian Sauce Packet Cat Toy Set
Pros:
Made with very potent organic catnip grown in the U.S.
Handmade in the U.S.
Super whimsical
Textile design uses nontoxic dyes
Cats love it
Downsides:
A little pricey.
They’re easily lost under furniture.
The Polydactyl Cats Asian Sauce Packet Toy Set . The new style looks like sauce flowing from the packets.
Every time I visit my favorite sushi bar or Chinese restaurant, the Rainbolt Test Kitties feel compelled to give me the did-you-bring-me-a kitty-bag sniff. I can’t help but feel a little guilty when I fill their dishes with shrimp and tuna canned food. But I’ve found a way to compromise. In lieu of a paper-thin bite of hamachi, my Test Kitties get Asian delights catnip toys by Polydactyl Cats. The Chinese Takeout Cat Toy Line offers feline friendly versions of your favorite Asian sauces and appetizers without the sodium, MSG or mess.
The super fun toy four-pack combo is the perfect gift for any lover of Asian cuisine. The Asian Sauce Packets Cat Toy Set, handmade by artist Randi Warhol (no relation to Andy), contains four clever 4” X 2” catnip toys appearing as soy sauce, duck sauce, hot sauce and hot mustard. Warhol’s realistic yet whimsical textile artwork really looks like takeout sauce packages right down to the air bubble on the back. The catnip packets come in transparent condiment bags. There’s even a handwritten thank you note from the designer written on a green receipt page.
The tea cup, chopsticks and foster kitten named Fabio not included.
The Rainbolt Test Kitties absolutely LOVED these potent catnip toys. The moment I opened the box the strong fragrance of catnip wafted out, and I suddenly I found myself surrounded by cats.
Once I handed the toys to the Test Kitties the spit hit the fan in absolutely the most complimentary way. I found the toys in different parts of the house saturated with cat slobber and enthusiastically swatted with Pawprint of Approval. About the size of real sauce packets, it was perfect for the cats to carry around.
Each linen/cotton canvas toy contains polyester polyfill and two tablespoons of From the Field organic catnip. The sprightly designs are printed in nontoxic water-based dyes.
Bette is really enjoying the organically-grown From the Field catnip.
The Test Kitties have arranged for one of our readers to share in the fun. Just leave a comment at the end of this blog before 11:59 p.m. CST on February 15. You can earn extra entries to win by sharing this review on Facebook or other social media. To get credit for your social media posts, leave a separate comment for each share below telling the Rainbolt Test Kitties where you shared.
Cats avoid the litter box for any number of reasons not their fault, from an illness to a box that in some way doesn’t meet their standards. Their fault or not, cats who miss the box are at risk of being surrendered to an animal shelter. And since families aren’t standing in line to adopt inappropriate eliminators, litter box avoidance can be a death sentence.
Now that I’ve got you totally depressed, here’s the good news: Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™ actually encourages kitties, even those with wandering bladders (and bowels), to return to the box. I’ve been a fan of Cat Attract™ for over a decade. (Keep reading to learn how you can win a bag of Cat Attract™.)
There are aisles of litters on store shelves with a variety of characteristics. Unfortunately felines and humans don’t always agree on which qualities are important.
People want a low-tracking, low-dust, yet affordable, litter that controls odors, has a pleasant fragrance, and produces hard clumps. Cats, true to their nature, are more comfort-oriented. They want a fine-textured litter that feels good against their paws, but with without an overpowering fragrance. Cats don’t give a rat’s rear about perfumes and tracking.
Enter Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™ Cat Litter. I discovered this litter when the product was first introduced to north Texas. In 2003 I was the product editor for the Tufts University publication, Catnip. I was in the midst of a cystitis-inspired outbreak of inappropriate elimination that I called The Great Litter Box Rebellion. There are few things more frustrating than my cats not using the litter box.
I conducted the side-by-side preference test of popular cat litters including the newly-introduced Cat Attract™. During that week-long evaluation, the little product testers showed a (pardon the pun) marked preference for Dr. Elsey’s. The Rainbolt Test Kitties love, love, love this litter. Since that review, my cats have had at least one litter box filled with Cat Attract™. Today, five out of seven litter boxes in my house contain a Precious Cat® litter.
Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™ is a therapeutic clay clumping litter with a moderately fine, sandy texture that contains a proprietary herbal cat attractant undetectable to the human nose. It has all of the attributes cats find desirable in addition to my wish list.
As soon as I poured out the Cat Attract™ the cats jump into the box and begin to dig and use the litter. They actually appeared to be having fun. Cat Attract™ even coaxed my Siamese-mix Cosmo, who suffered from two urinary tract blockages, back to the pan. It’s ideal for multicat homes, where litter box issues are more likely.
Cats are very sensitive to texture and scent.
Now for the human perspective. Cat Attract™ is a low-dust litter. It forms very firm clumps that don’t break when you scoop. Neatness aside, broken clumps leave behind little crumbs that cause the litter to smell. It clumps so hard and so quickly, it works in electronic litter boxes. It even comes with a booklet filled with suggestions to help your cat make friends with his box again.
The downside is that it has a moderate level of tracking, and well, that’s all I can find. Hmm. Sweeping up tracked litter versus soiled carpets. You do the math.
Yes, it’s more expensive than bargain brands, but it’s worth it; it’s certainly cheaper than a carpet cleaning service or buying new flooring. Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract Cat Litter can be purchased online and at most pet retailers. It comes in 20 and 40-pound bags.
Do You Feel Lucky?
Enter the Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™ Cat Litter Giveaway. For a chance to win a 20-pound bag of Cat Attract™ simply leave a comment on this blog before 11:59 CST April 10, 2014. Don’t forget to include your email address. The Cat Attract™ Giveaway, across all participating blogs, is limited to one winner per household. For additional chances to win, share this post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest using the hashtag #PreciousCat. Don’t forget to tell me in a separate comment where you share it. Sorry kiddos, you have to be 18 years old and live in the U.S. to enter. Winners will receive an email with instructions. Prize delivery can take up to eight weeks.
It’s time for full disclosure: Precious Cat®, who makes Cat Attract™, sponsored this review on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network. Yes, Dusty Rainbolt’s Universe is being compensated for spreading the word about Precious Cat’s Cat Attract formula, but as I’ve said before, I only write about products my cats love and I use regularly. Precious Cat isn’t responsible for the content of this article.
A couple of times a month I get a call from someone who’s “moving” in a few days and wants me to take her 10-year-old cat. Where, pray tell, did they get my number? From a cousin’s friend’s yoga teacher? I suspect it’s actually written inside bathroom stalls at nearby Petcos.
Since I only foster cats who are on animal shelter Death Row, I try to help with advice and resource recommendations. After some quizzing, I frequently learn the future homeless cat is peeing outside the box, the most common behavioral excuse given for surrendering a cat.
First of all, if a well-mannered cat suddenly stops using his box, go to the vet. Often litter box avoidance is the first symptom that your cat is sick. How else can he say, “I feel like dog poop”? He’s literally writing his distress in the sand, or rather outside the sand. Even if Fluffy has been anointing the carpet for a while, it could still be a symptom of cystitis, arthritis or even life-threatening conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease or kidney disease. Never assume he’s doing it to spite you.
I always take the owner through a checklist when discussing litter box issues:
How old is the cat?
How many cats do you have?
How many litter boxes are there?
How big is the box?
Where is the box located?
How often do you scoop?
What kind of litter do you use?
It never ceases to amaze me that people with spotless bathrooms expect their cats to use a small, unscooped covered box saturated with enough ammonia to curdle coffee.
On many occasions I’ve fostered shelter cats labeled “Inappropriate Eliminators”. Two of them had terminal illnesses. (If only their people had taken them to the vet when the problem first began.) Most of my feline guests appropriately deposit eliminations in the quarantine room litter box. (Please note: the kitty gets a large open litter box that’s scooped twice a day and filled with Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™.) These cats aren’t habitual offenders; their compliance confirms that they were the one who had been offended. Often the responsibility for litter box transgressions lands firmly at human feet.
Dr. Bruce Elsey, DVM, owner of the first cats-only practice in the Denver Metro area, frequently heard clients complain about their cats missing the litter box.
“If you can’t work with the cats and get them over these litter issues, many of them end up at shelters or are abandoned,” Dr. Elsey says.
This tragic and all-too-frequent outcome inspired him to develop a litter that would encourage kitties to use the box. He tested various versions on cats at his clinic and local shelters and came up with Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™.
I discovered the litter in 2003 during my 14 years as the product editor/reviewer for the Tufts University newsletter, Catnip. Using the techniques recommended by Dr. Peter Borchelt who (as far as I know) conducted the first cat litter preference studies in the early 1990s, I set up what I called the Poopsy Challenge. I offered the Rainbolt
Test Kitties all of the most popular cat box fillers (including the brand new Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™) in identical new side-by-side litter boxes.
During these preference tests, I scooped several times a day and recorded the number of pee clumps and poops. At the time of this evaluation, my household was experiencing the Great Litter Box Rebellion of 2003, occurring after the Great Duck Food Raid. Whether the sampling of duck pellets contributed to the epidemic of feline cystitis, we never determined. Whatever the cause, the Test Kitties were peeing everywhere; and I mean everywhere.
According to my original review, my culinarily curious kitties were watering the most unusual places—the couch, the stove, my desk; to these little bladders, nothing was sacred.
Once my vet and I got the corporate bladder health under control, we had hoped the kitties would return to their former sanitary habits. That didn’t happen.
But the product review must go on, and I laid out my traditional litter box testing configuration. I couldn’t believe my nose. MY little offenders started using the Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract™ in significant numbers, displaying an obvious preference over all the other litters. OMG! The proprietary herbal blend really did act as a cat attractant.
From that day on my kitties have always had boxes filled with Cat Attract. And whenever I get those calls from frustrated families, I immediately recommend a vet visit and switching to Dr. Elsey’s litter.
Dr. Elsey offered some excellent advice for frustrated cat owners that I have paraphrased.
Dr. Elsey’s Rules to Keep Kitty Using His Litter Box
Scoop daily. Twice is better. (Hey, you expect the person ahead of you to flush. Your cat wants the same courtesy.)
Size Matters. The litter box should measure one-and-one-half-times the cat’s length so he can easily turn around in it. Most commercially available litter boxes aren’t nearly large enough.
In a multiple cat home, the rule is “a box for every cat, plus one”. If you live with three cats, you need at least four boxes.
Diamonds are forever, but plastic litter boxes aren’t. Polypropylene litter pans develop microscopic scratches that trap bacteria and odor. Eventually the plastic capture odors that can’t be washed away so dump the old box in the recycle bin and buy a new one.
Location, location, location. Placing the box next to a washing machine, dryer or furnace that can scare the pee out of a kitty answering nature’s call. Also make sure there is a box on every floor of the home. Your 10-year-old kitty might not be able to make it upstairs or down to the basement in time.
Provide an open box. Enclosed boxes are too small and hold in odors.
Most cats don’t like scents. Switch to an unscented litter with a fine, sandy texture.
After scooping the box take a quick sniff. If the scooped litter still smells musty or you detect ammonia, it’s time to wash the box and refill with fresh filler.
Offer a box with lower side to older kitties. Arthritis makes getting into and out of boxes a painful event for senior kitties.
Privacy please! Make sure kids and other pets aren’t harassing kitties while they are using the box.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Precious Cat on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network. Dusty Rainbolt’s Universe is being compensated for spreading the word about Precious Cat’s Cat Attract formula, but rest assured, I only write about products my cats love and use regularly. Paying me to write about inappropriate elimination and Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract is like paying me to eat chocolate. I’m going to do it anyway, but kitty needs a new pair of shoes (or rather a new collar.) Precious Cat is not responsible for the content of this article.
