Before we purchased our kitten, we tried to entice our older cat Bailey to life by buying him some toys to stimulate his mind, also we hoped he would stop being so boring and actually get up once in a while and do something other than sleep.

Among the toys bought was one of these delightful Cat Dangler Pole Feather Boas. One thing to know about Bailey is he is not a loving cat in any way shape or form; he really doesn't like any kind of affection, unless he initiates it. Even then just because he had decided to sit on your lap, does not mean that you can stroke him oh no no, you must just sit there and look at him. Touch him and he will swipe at you and hiss then run away, while giving you evil looks from across the room.

While looking for a toy to buy, I didn't want to spend a fortune as I was aware this feat of mine was going to end in misery. I paid £1.99 for it and it is immediately obvious that it is not the sturdiest product in the world. The stick is quite bendy and made of plastic, it has attached an elastic 'fishing rope' and attached to the free end of the rope is a bunch of feathers. The feathers on the one I bought were green and yellow. I tried the feathers along the floor in front of Bailey, I tried hiding behind the door and trailing the feathers secretively around the door so they disappeared, I tried dangling the feathers over his head.....the conclusion......I had more exercise with it than the cat did. All I got was him turning round so he didn't have to look at the feathers anymore!!

I had this labelled as a disaster and after an ordinary evening went to bed. I woke the following morning and while walking down the hall to the kitchen happened upon what looked like the downfall of some brightly coloured parrot. There were green and yellow feathers strewn down my hall leading to the kitchen. Once I arrived in the kitchen I found the remains of the Dangler pole, a bald pole and string abandoned half in and half out of the cat flat!! Either Bailey was trying to fish for something outside or another cat may well have used the cat flat, destroyed the toy then left! That is probably more like the true story as I am sure that wrecking the boa would have been far too much like hard work for Bailey.

We have now purchased another cat Alfie and he will play with anything you get for him, I have foolishly bought another one of these for him and he will happily play with it, the feathers do not last long at all but he still continues to play with the stick and elastic, we tie objects to the end like socks and he happily plays with it.

Overall it is a cheap toy, the feathers look nice but do not last when attacked by a ferocious cat, the stick, although bendy has not snapped yet and the elastic has been chewed but still remains intact. There are no doubt better toys out there for cats.