I have four cats, all of them male and they range in age with Dude being 9 years old, Geezer is 8, Asbo is almost 4 and Dexter is just a year old. They all get along fairly well with one another and on odd occasions one will try and become the dominent cat and it will decend into chaos for a few minutes and then life becomes all quiet as they all relax and lie down, knackered from running about and chasing each other.

The younger two cats need a lot more attention than the older two and I am always looking out for ways in which I can keep them entertained and we have no end of things around the house from climbing frames, scratching posts, balls with flashing lights on them and so on.

On a recent trip to the vets I noticed they had a selection of toys on offer, usually they are quite expensive to purchase but this particular toy called the Kong Catnip Hedgehog was rather cute and priced at £2.18 and having shown it to Dexter he seemed rather taken with it and I bought it. I am always keen to buy toys that keep my cats amused, allow them to explore their instincts and are not harmful to them or could cause an injury.

Most of the toys I buy for my cats come from well known companies like Hagen who mass produce a lot of the toys and equiptment we have, everything from the fresh water fountain to the cat sensory toys and even some of the small laser pens that we have. I have never heard of Kong though, but given it was on sale in the vets, I assumed it would be alright. The hedghog itself, which is machine washable, is a soft toy which as you imagine is a hedgehog and it s quite fury and has a nose big enough for my cats to grab hold of and shake about as they do rats and mice when they catch them to kill! Along with the toy you also get a vial of catnip and the vial itself is a see through reseable tube. This allows you to replace the catnip once it has lost it smell and is no longer of interest to cats.

I have always wondered why catnip was so popular with my cats and when I asked the vets why most toys contained catnip he told me that it contains various essential oils, one of which attacts the cats attention most and is a mild hallucinogen which I had to look up to find it was called nepetalactone and whilst some cats don't react at all to catnip, those that do however react in different ways. All four of my cats roll around on whichever toy they happen to be playing with which contains the cat nip and they lick it, nip it and throw it around. In other cats it is known to have the complete opposite effects and turn cats agreesive and want to fight, both sets of behaviour similar to those of a drunk and that is how it was described to me especially with the latter as something to watch out for. Its worth noting that if your cat does love catnip and behaves in a positive manner, that it can be bought and grown in your garden or you can also buy it as a spray in most pet stores. Its also worth noting that kittens under the age of 8 weeks have no reaction to catnip also.

So this hedgehog toy has become something of a favourite toy with the younger two cats and whilst we have only had it for a few weeks I don't yet feel the need to change the catnip inside because it's the first toy they go too when they want too play, as soon as they begin to ignore it then I will change the catnip. The catnip is best kept stored in your freezer in the tube within which you receive it, this ensures it stays fresh. When the time does come to change the catnip you simply need to unfasten the velcro which keeps the catnip in place, empty the old stuff out and then this is one of the best times to shove it in the washing machine because you shouldn't wash it with the catnip inside, then once dried simply add more catnip.

I really like this toy, it keeps Dexter and Asbo amused for long periods of time and until he becomes bored of it and stops playing with it I am more than happy to keep on washing it and re-filling it with catnip and whats more it cost me £2.18 and is a complete bargain at that price. There are also other 'animals' within this range such as a beaver, a rat and a mouse that I have seen though the rat looks nothing like the vermin I have seen Asbo catch and kill, its far cuter.

If you are looking for this hedgehog toy, it can be found online from quite a few pet stores and places like Amazon but it does range in price and the most expensive I have seen it advertised for is around £3 without shipping. A definite toy to try if you have a cat that needs something to do to keep them amused or just because you like to see them play.