Flamingo Flounder Moving Electronic Cat Toy

The Flamingo Flounder Moving Electronic Cat Toy is a soft fabric fish with a motor inside that makes it flip and flap when a cat touches it, recharged over USB and filled with catnip.

Key Features

• Moves on its own when touched, which is the difference between a toy a cat plays with once and a toy it comes back to
• The tail flips and the body arches, mimicking a fish out of water — the erratic movement is what triggers the pounce
• USB rechargeable with a 0.5 m cable, so there are no batteries to keep replacing
• Catnip inside the fabric body
• Fabric outer, roughly the size and shape of a real fish, so a cat can wrap around it and bunny-kick it
• Available in grey or orange
• Made by Flamingo Pet Products, a Belgian pet supplier based in Olen with more than 45 years in the trade

Using It

• Charge it fully before the first use and switch it off between sessions. The motor runs down faster than people expect
• Take it away after ten or fifteen minutes. A motorised toy left out all day stops being interesting and gets chewed instead
• Play with it as well as leaving it to move. Cats need the chase to end in a catch, and a toy that never gets caught frustrates them
• Wipe the fabric over rather than washing it. There is a motor and a battery inside
• Never let it get wet or leave it charging unattended

Good To Know

• There is a lithium battery and a motor inside a fabric toy that cats chew. Supervise play, and retire it immediately if the seam opens
• Do not leave it plugged in overnight or charge it unattended
• Roughly a third of cats do not respond to catnip at all, and it does not usually work on kittens under six months. The movement matters more than the catnip here
• Not washable, so it will get grubby. That is the trade-off with any motorised plush toy
• Flamingo calls it a flounder; the toy is shaped like a round-bodied fish rather than a flatfish