Guide
Cats test toys: reviewing the butterfly, spinning top and ball track
by Darina Schweizer
Cat activity boards: gimmick or genuine brain games?
14-8-2025
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Pictures: Darina Schweizer
Mental stimulation toys claim to be the ultimate entertainment for demanding cats. I put several to the test to find out how long they’d keep my cat Jasper busy – if at all.
My teen cat Jasper is very smart, but which cat parents don’t say that about their furry children? But unlike his roommate Joy, who isn’t the brightest cat on the windowsill, he sees through toys immediately and snubs them.
I’m always on the lookout for new, challenging ideas. I recently came across cat activity boards, which are plastic boards you hide cat treats in.
Food always works with Jasper. That’s why I decided to test three boards.
Beginner: Rainy Day
Rainy Day by Nina Ottosson is really straightforward. There are lids and buttons for your cat to move with its paws to get to the treats hidden in the recesses underneath. A large, rotating wheel also serves as a further hiding place. According to the product description, you can vary the level of difficulty. However, it does not say how this is done. I haven’t figured it out either.
I lock the wheel in place with a button, which makes it harder to open. But Jasper just pushes it aside unimpressed, turns the wheel and grabs the treat. Opening the blue lids doesn’t pose much of a challenge for him either. Even Joy figures out the fiddly board pretty quickly. Does that make it too easy? Not for all cats, it seems. In a review, user «LässigeComputa72» describes the board as «quite tricky» for cats who are new to this kind of game. Maybe I’ve been underestimating Joy?
Intermediate: Cat Activity Fun Board
The Cat Activity Fun Board from Trixie is much more versatile. It offers four hiding places. You can hide treats in glass balls or between slalom poles and corrugated walls. You can also place them in recesses under and on a bridge. Depending on where you place the snacks, the level of difficulty can vary from easy to medium.
Jasper starts with the most difficult hiding place. He crams almost half his head into the glass ball and tries to lick out the treats. Maybe he’s not as clever as I thought? Only he is. As soon as he realises his approach isn’t working, he starts using his paw.
Now that’s solved, all the other hiding places are a child’s cat play. The bridge is particularly simple, but the slalom poles and wavy walls require a little more paw finesse. Jasper soon figures it all out. Joy also tries her luck at the slalom poles, snatches a Dreamie and toddles off. Looks like that was quite enough for her appetite. She completely snubs the next sensory game and merely turns her backside to it.
Difficult: Puzzle Cat Feeder
At first glance, the Puzzle Cat Feeder from All for Paws doesn’t look all that complex. More like an athletics hall under a see-through, perforated plastic roof. However, the busy board is trickier than it seems. The challenge for the cat is to fish out the treats from one of the holes without it getting stuck on a hurdle or falling into one of the ditches.
Jasper’s interest is piqued. The concept is identical to the Cat Activity Fun Board. So he sticks his head in first and when that doesn’t work, he uses his paw. He soon understands that this game is harder than the one with the glass spheres. In that one, he was able to drag the treats up the walls, but with this one, he needs to move them around obstacles.
The first treats immediately end up in the ditches. He’s not getting anywhere with one paw, so Jasper sticks the other one in, too. The plastic roof wobbles alarmingly and I’m pretty sure it’s going to topple over and cover Jasper in treats. But it doesn’t and Jasper claws his first Dreamie out of one of the holes. He’s more than earned this reward!
Verdict: great fun for a limited time
Activity boards are a good way for your feline friend to pass the time. Jasper spent the most time on the Puzzle Cat Feeder, but for cats like Joy, it might be too challenging or even frustrating. Rainy Day, on the other hand, is probably too easy for some four-legged friends. The Cat Activity Fun Board offers several levels of difficulty and is therefore likely to be the best choice for many cats.
In the long term, however, an activity board won’t cut it as a single source of entertainment for Jasper. This cat needs variety! In any case, I’ve tested enough cat toys for the time being. My next plan is to activate my own paws and start making toys. I wonder if I’ll get two happy cats as a reward?
How do you keep your cats entertained? Have you tried out brain games yet?
Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI like anything that has four legs or roots. The books I enjoy let me peer into the abyss of the human psyche. Unlike those wretched mountains that are forever blocking the view – especially of the sea. Lighthouses are a great place for getting some fresh air too, you know?
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