I could've sold more than they did on The Apprentice! (Suck UK Cat Playhouse)

Member Name: steedandpeel

Product:	Suck UK Cat Playhouse
Date:	28/07/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The cuteness, the quality of the detailing, hours of fun if your cats like it!

Disadvantages: A bit fiddly, quite expensive, and cats fickle behaviour

You may have seen these on The Apprentice, where the hapless candidates attempted to sell as many of them as possible. When I watched that episode, I was really surprised how poorly they did, as I had already bought two of them - the tank and the fire engine!

My boyfriend spotted these on I Want One of Those just before Christmas and we both loved them at once. We decided to buy them for our two cats - the tank and the fire engine. We thought that since our cats love sitting in cardboard boxes, how could they fail to love these toys? And how cute would it be - our cats driving a tank and fire engine? We bought two of them to avoid the fights that break out when there is only one box to sit in!

I ordered them and they were delivered to my office - they come flat packed in large envelopes which have a picture of the product with a cat posing on the front. All my colleagues loved them and those who had cats asked me where I had got them from. I even had a comment from a stranger on the street when I carried them to my car!

We decided not to open them until Christmas day. So when we got home after visiting family, I was excited to put them together. Both the tank and fire engine come in a number of different cardboard parts. There are instructions on the packaging showing you how to put them together. The main part of both playhouses were relatively easy to put together, although some of the slots were slightly fiddly. I did resort to selotape to ensure they stayed in place. Both playhouses had some extra bits and pieces that you had to fold together to slot in, such as the tank gun and fireman's ladder. These were very fiddly to do, although they do add to the overall aesthetic of the product. It took about 20-30 mins to put up each cat house, which was reasonable.

The artwork of the playhouses is extremely well detailed, with little details and touches that you notice when you put them together, such as the steering wheel on the engine and artwork on the tank. They are also decorated inside, which is a nice, although slightly unnecessary touch.

Once I had put up the playhouses, I waited for the reaction of the cats! Well, they were both interested whilst I was putting them together, standing in the way and sniffing around. As soon as I had finished, they tried them out. They both found they could easily get into the fire engine, although the fireman's ladder only lasted a few minutes before it was knocked off! The tank was a bit more problematic. The turret is designed so it swivels. However, this isn't very secure and it makes the hole the cats are supposed to dive through very high. I had to remove the turret so the could get it, but once I had, they loved it!

My profile picture shows my cat Steed enjoying sitting in the fire engine, looking very cute. She and her sister absolutely loved the playhouses....for about an hour! After that, the novelty wore off and they went back to attacking the Christmas tree! We left the playhouses in the living room over Christmas, where they showed some interest, but none of their initial euphoria. After Christmas, they were relegated to the spare room, where I tripped over them everytime I went in there. The cats used them about 3 times. Then, when we cat guests to stay recently, we took them apart and stored them. Despite the limited use, the playhouses did start to look a bit tatty and chewed before we took them apart, but I expected this really with two playful cats.

Well, all in all, I must say I loved these playhouses, despite a bit of faff putting them together and the fact my cats went off them almost straight away. It's not the playhouses fault that they weren't used often, just my fickle cats! I would say that these were more fun for me and my boyfriend - we were really excited putting them together and we loved how cute the cats looked in them. We were totally captured by the products, as it is very unusual for us to spend £30 on such frivolous items. Since they appeared on The Apprentice, they are much more widely available, and I've seen them for sale much cheaper then we paid.

So as this is a consumer review, I decided to ask the actual consumers what they thought of the playhouses. One purred a bit in the direction of her food bowl and the other meowed and then ran under the bed. Make of that what you will! In my opinion, I felt they were mildly diverting for the cats, but then they moved on to the next interesting bit of cardboard. Well you can't please some cats can you?

Summary: A great toy for (some) cats and a greater toy for their owners!