Jackson Galaxy Gotcha! Cat Wand Toy - Interactive Cat Toy, Feather Wand

My cats LOVE this thing. They know what drawer it is stored in and as soon as I walk anywhere near that direction they're begging for me to get it out and play. Great for wearing out my most active cat to keep him out of trouble (for a little while anyway.)

have a 20yr old male who moves for eating & sleeping along with a 5yr old female who can be the life of the party. well i got this for her ha ha ha on me HE loves it!! 3rd day in row that he's actually enjoying a little exercise, yup highly recommend it, worth the money - worth seeing some life back in the old boy. thank jackson galaxy!!

The first one we received was broken, the round string holder had snapped loose from the rod. The company replaced it, no extra charge. Thank you very much. The second one we received has a few defects. One is a rough metal burr on one of the telescoping rod sections. It is rough enough to make hubby gasp/wince when he pulled his hand across it when pulling out the rod. The second defect is the string: it does not freely spin (like a fishing lure) but eventually turns so much that play stops because the string has curled back on itself and must be "relaxed" from its kinking. The third problem is the sound the reel makes retracting the string: it scares the pudding out of the cats. Just like a metal tape measure, it cannot be retracted "gently" or "slowly", but push that nose button and VROOM! no cats to be seen. As a final note, hubby (the ring master =) thought the telescoping rod was a great idea but it seemed short to him. We still have Da Bird rods, which are not as convenient as telescoping rods and retractable strings, but spin freely and do not bite the hand that wields it (or traumatize the cats whilst stowing it).

This feather wand is everything it is advertised to be. It is light weight and the feathers, because of the way they are attached to the wand move like a real bird. While the cord is very light, the wand does extend to the full 2.5' advertised and this helps with the balance. There are 3 stages the wand extends to, which helps with a variety of skill levels. My kitten, of course, loves to play with this. She even, when it's closed, drags it around the house and will bring it to my feet, when she's ready to play. My 4.5-year-old also loves this feather wand. She'll chase it around as if she were the kitten! The reason I don't give it 5 stars is it wears out very quickly (or maybe that's just because I have large cats). Also, the refills come singly and at half the price of the original wand. Other than those two things, I highly recommend this feather wand.

Update: Company issued full refund same day as requested so customer service is 5 stars. With all the thoughtful videos from Jackson Galaxy about what’s wrong with lots of cat toys I really expected this to be a lot better. I recently adopted two kittens and got this toy for them because they didn’t like their other wand toy that much. As far as quality I’d give it subpar at best. First off the swivel was extremely hard to get open, I almost had to get a pair of needle nose pliers but maybe that was just a fluke with the one I got. God forbid you’re older with less hand strength or have arthritis, not very thoughtful on the design. Next the dyed feathers immediately started pulling off just by loosely tugging at them. I plucked the loose stuff so my cats wouldn’t eat it since it’s dyed neon green feathers and they’re so young. The whole idea behind this toy and what was done in one of the videos about playing with your cat is to let them “kill” their prey but I noticed they’d pull off pieces of the neon green feathers rather easily so if you do get this toy I would replace the feathers on the end with something of a little higher quality. The next problem is the telescoping aspect of it. While it’s nice being able to adjust it, this was ultimately its fatal flaw. As you can see from the pictures after only 3 play sessions it bent completely in half on the last part at full extension. My one 10 week old kitten wanted to go in the other direction with the feathers and was able to bend it in half. I bent it back into place hoping it’d be salvageable but the wand wouldn’t close. It broke completely after trying to adjust it a second time in attempt to get it to close. While I did appreciate the retractable string and how compact it could become for storage I’d look elsewhere for a wand. The design doesn’t seem thought out very well for cats at all which surprised me the most and I can’t imagine it would hold up well to a larger cat. Keep in mind mine are both a little over 3 pounds.

Honestly disappointed with this wand. We owned several of the earlier iteration, the one with the purple handle, and find the blue on inferior. Pros: The blue handled version uses a different connector for the toy, which avoids a problem the purple one had where eventually the plastic of the connector would get worn and the end would come off. The build quality is high, what we've come to expect from Jackson Galaxy toys. Cons: Something about the changes made has made the quality of the cord on the blue version specifically much worse. It twists and tangles constantly, we have to stop frequently to set it right. I would genuinely rather have the purple version, which played easily but needed to be replaced every year or so, than this blue version, which will probably last forever simply because it's too frustrating to use for more than a few minutes at a time. Also nitpicky, but: the handle on the blue is slightly thinner, which for me makes it more uncomfortable to grip. I'm not rating it lower because it's still one of the sturdiest wands on the market. But the purple one would have had 4 stars. Bring back our beloved purple design, the flow of play was a million times better.

Cats like it