The toy: Floppy Fish, a rechargeable, lithium-ion battery powered soft toy fish that flops around to simulate the behavior of real fish and trigger cats’ predatory instincts.
Price: Between $15 and $25 online and in pet stores. The toy is sold as Floppy Fish, Flippity Fish, Floppy Fishy, Fish Cat Kicker and other names. Some come with catnip and a pouch inside the fish for “infusing” the toy with the ‘nip.
The cat: Buddy
The result: After charging the fish with its included charging cable, I located the on switch and set the fish on the floor, where it started doing its flopping thing.
A cautious but curious Buddy approached. I could see the gears turning in his head: “What is this thing? Is it for me? It must be. Big Buddy placed it on the floor and called to me, and now he’s looking expectantly at me.
But…it’s scary! Look at it flipping and flopping! That’s terrifying! Oh man. I don’t like the sound it’s making. Look, it’s getting closer! Run!
Okay. Safe distance. It’s stopped flopping. Now I can approach, give it a sniff, maybe slap it with my paw and…
It’s moving again!!! RUN!!!
Is this what salmon is like? I don’t think I can ever eat fish again. Who knew they were such terrifying monsters?
I have to hide. It should be all right if I come out in an hour, right?”
Verdict: This is obviously a well-received cat toy, as it’s got positive ratings online and there are plenty of Youtube videos showing cats having fun with it. It’s lithium-ion rechargeable, so you won’t have to buy separate batteries, and it’s motion-activated with an off timer so the battery won’t drain during periods of inactivity. Overall it looks and feels pretty durable.
However, if your cat is incredibly brave and daring a big wimp, it may not be the toy for him or her. Bud’s 0 for 3 so far on attempted play sessions.
Buddy may yet come around and relax enough around the fish to play with it. If he does, I’ll update this post accordingly.
Pain In The Bud 
Aww he is just scared I guess. All I can say is:
He protecc
He attac
But in front of flippy fish
Buddy stays bacc
(I hope that made sense if not type protecc, attack meme on google)
XD
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Haha. Yeah he thinks he’s a big tough cat but he’s a scaredy cat.
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Little Buddy was just pretending to be scared! He is really brave and ferocious. However, anxiety meds might be called for!
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I have video 🙂 I was too lazy to edit it but I should probably do it anyway.
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Could you try just leaving the fish on the floor, not flopping, until he gets used to it? Then after he plays with it for a while, you could turn it on and let it flop.
Or maybe even that will be a flop😒
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I did catch him cautiously approaching it when it was off. I’ll give it a shot.
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That’s funny! My cats never seem to like toys that move on their own, not out of fear, but they’re just simply bored by them, as if they KNOW it’s phony. This includes battery-operated toys and wind up toys. They’d always just sniff the toy, then walk away, unamused.
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Or it’s because they know we spend money on those toys, and they like the boxes and bottle caps better just to spite us lol
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Thanks for this review, bigbuddy! It saved me a few bucks because I was going to get a fish for my cats. They tend to ignore toys and don’t react much to catnip. 😦
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i bought a few of these for my cat and only one worked. The company refused to accept a return without my filming recharging it, and filming trying to get it to work. What a rip off. I don’t recommend this toy at all. It’s overpriced and cheaply made.
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There are a couple different companies who make them. Do you know which one you bought? Thanks for sharing, Susan.
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