Smart Toys for Cat Boredom – The Homerun Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy
Cats are natural born hunters that seek out all things that go bump in the night. They remain alert at all times and will exercise a number of techniques to pursue their prey in a stealthy and cunning manner. Domesticated cats that live at home live a slightly different lifestyle in comparison to feral cats, they are sheltered and fed with lots of time to rest and play indoors. You may notice however, your cat will take regular looks out of nearby windows, scanning the vicinity. Our cats like to do this often and it’s their way of expanding their interactions with the outside world. We often muse about just what cats think when they gaze outside, observing all. Perhaps they wish to fly with the birds and have picnics with the other neighborhood cats (unlikely).
Cats are curious and can be compared to behave like energetic children. If left alone, life can become boring very quickly. This is why keeping your cat company and occupied is essential. Providing as much as possible to stimulate your cat to fuel their emotions of happiness will allow them to better adopt a healthy lifestyle that is filled exercise and joy.
The modern pet accessory market is filled with interesting cat toys that will do away with cat boredom. As responsible pet owners, we like to provide our cats with their essential needs. Entertainment and exercise is a big part of cat life and cat toys are a big part of this. However, it’s important to note that filling your home with cat toys isn’t the solution to fixing cat boredom and loneliness, it’s only part of the answer. Let’s take a closer look at how a particular smart toy is making cat life fun and enjoyable for both pets and owners.
About Homerun
Homerun Smart specialize in artificial intelligence and in the modern pet market, new and exciting smart pet toys are appearing on the market. Based in Guangzhou, China. The company was created in 2015 and have since diligently worked on multiple research and development projects, including the pet industry.
Homerun Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy
Playing with your cat on a daily basis is fun and interactive but it’s hard to commit time throughout the day to play with your precious kitty. Work, studies and other things might get in the way sometimes, leaving your cat all alone without a playmate. Cat wands have been a great way to tease and engage cats into chasing but they are reliant on human operation. For those times where you can’t be around, a smart and automated pet toy may be the solution you need to eliminate cat boredom.
Nobody wants their cat to feel lonely, the Homerun Smart Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy is an ideal solution to giving your cat some much deserved playtime when you can’t be there with them. The Doughnut shaped robotic toy is a fully automatic and smart pet toy that extends teaser feathers randomly from 6 of its holes throughout the day. It’s bound to pique your cat’s curious interest and will keep them engaged until you get back for some more fun, a worry free experience.
Design:
Homerun’s Electronic Cat Toy is both simple and elegant in design. It carries a doughnut like aesthetic, we also call it the donut cat toy because of its ring shaped appearance. Usage of the device has been one of the simplest we’ve seen among smart pet toys through its single button operation positioned in the middle. One press activates the toy, a long press switches between modes and an LED will indicate which mode is currently active. It’s equipped with multiple cat teaser toys that are made from colorful turkey feathers that dance and dazzle for your cat’s attention.
Quality:
Electronic cat toys can be hit and miss, quite literally. We have tested multiple toys that have not been able to handle paw force that our kitties are able to dish out. Durability is a big factor, especially in a household that has multiple pets or for cats that may suddenly engage in biting. These are possible events that need to be accounted for in the design by manufacturers and safety is imperative. Unattended usage also means that the toy must also account for multiple cats coming along to engage with the toy. Drop tests have been conducted and the smart donut cat toy stood up pretty well and continued to function as normal. Cosmetic damage was little to none and the batter cover remained firmly in place. Cat play can sometimes be dangerous with synthetic feathers that may cause choking or eye injury. The feather teasers are made from real turkey feathers, a safer alternative that is ready to be destroyed by your little bundle of feline fun. They’re easily replaceable and it’s best to do so every so often to keep the toy sanitary.
Cat Proof:
Perhaps the most important factor of any pet toy is usability. To be useful, a toy must be liked by your pet and want to play with it. We’ve introduced younger kittens and older adult cats to the donut cat toy and they love what the smart pet toy offers. Kittens are able to channel their abundance of energy into pouncing from all corners of the room on the teaser feathers. Adult cats who are less curious but were seen to be actively interested in the donut cat toy that used motion and color to pique the cats’ attention.
Smart and unattended testing was an important aspect of this product and we wanted to see if our cats would be entertained while we were away. Plugging in our trusty pet camera, we monitored their responses. In a place with multiple cats, the Homerun Smart Electronic Doughnut cat toy was able to periodically capture the attention of the cats. They happily played at home with the toy with great enthusiasm and gave them a great workout throughout the day without being overly tedious. Energy was saved each time that it went into rest mode and there was no visible damage to the toy, aside from the feathers that were pawed apart a little.
Some observations made that are worth mentioning include the audible operation of the toy. The mechanical function of the toy is not pin drop silent and there is some noise during operation. However, this exact noise may have contributed to attracting cats that were not directly in contact with the toy. When a play session was engaged, the cats would enthusiastically approach the toy for some rapid feather chasing fun. This is a perfect choice for curious cats that like a challenge. If your cat is a little timid, a slow introduction process is needed to help them feel at ease with the toy, you can sit with them and play together until they’re ready for a hands off trial.
For future iterations we would have liked to see WiFi functionality along with camera integration that could track activity and let owners see how things were going while away. It might even be the perfect tool for cat content creation, capturing cat play up close and personal. Mode selection via an app would be a great option too, we are big fans of seamless automation and pet toys will naturally gravitate towards integration into smart home ecosystems. Interacting with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and more. The Homerun Smart Doughnut Cat Toy is a great entry to smart pet toys and solves cat boredom in a safe and efficient way.
Click here to get the Homerun Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy today!
Meow!