Customer Reviews

Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy, Colors May Vary

5 star:		(314)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(43)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

The turbo scratcher is simply a plastic circular base with a ball that rolls around the track on the outer edge. It has cardboard corrugating medium as a clawing area on the inner part of the circle. It is very simple, yet highly effective.
I don't know why, but this has been a success with every cat -- young and old -- that I have seen around it (15 different cats). Once they get the ball moving, it really flies around the track! The younger cats manage to pull the ball out of it within 10 minutes, but they have a blast in those ten minutes. The smartest cats realize that it is more fun when it does stay in the track, though. A word of advice: don't put this in or near your bedroom. If your cat feigns disinterest when you first bring it home, watch out if you are a light sleeper -- a couple of hours into sleep you will wake with a start to the sound of the ball whipping around the track over and over and over again.
The two 14-year old cats that I currently reside with love this thing. They aren't usually interested in toys (in our presence), but did manage a very disinterested tapping of the turbo ball if they were sitting on the mat anyway. These senior cats' main interests in the Turbo Scratcher are 1) using it as a meditation/sleeping spot --- it is so much more sophisticated than sitting ON the floor, and 2) actually scratching it (and these two are declawed!).
The fact that the ball comes out of the track so easily is a small disappointment (granted the cats do have to grab it with both paws to pull it out). You can easily pop the ball back into place, but some of us have too many places that the cats can hide such a small item.
Besides that, after 4 years, all our cats still use it daily. As a toy, well, its success may depend on the age and personality of the cat. As a scratching post, however, it is the only one I have ever bought that all the cats consistently used as such (though they do still get use out of the couch, too). I have been a "cat caretaker" for many many years so I do have some experience with several different types of scratching posts and this is by far the best.

I've been using the TurboScratcher since it came out in the early 80s as a toy and scratching item for my cats. I have NEVER paid for than about $12-13 for it, and the inserts used to be available from WalMart for 3/$9. The catnip helps get the attention for the scratching part, and once the see how much fun it is to scratch, they rarely go back to carpet or furniture. I've had more than one cat that never ONCE went for furniture because I made sure he/she had her own turbo-scratcher from the moment they arrived in my house. I have one that is a light blue from back in the 80s when everything was light blue and mauve. If left in the sun a bit too long, they do tend to get a little brittle, but while they feel a little flimsy, they are perfect for the cats. For those without carpet -- use the rubber shelf or drawer liner cut in a square or circle a couple of inches bigger than the whole toy and it doesn't move at all. I have never had any problem on any surface until I recently moved into a house with handscraped hardwood floors that are uneven. This trick worked wonders there and I suspect it would have been more stable on the tile floor in our last house as well, but our cat like to sleep on it in the window in the sun just as much as playing or scratching it. I recommend one to any cat that I adopt out at rescue, and for my foster babies, I give one to the family that adopts them because that's what I teach them to scratch on and I don't want them developing bad habits of scratching furniture or carpet in their new home -- where they are often trying to cope with the unfamiliar. I've been told by my adoptive families that this was a really great thing to send esp since it was familiar and they were surprised at how much it was used. Before replacing the cardboard circle, make sure you turn it over and use both sides! if they seem a little bored and you are out of catnip, just pic up a little bag of it and it will totally get their attention again.

I had seen this toy many times, but finally got one and my 4 cats all love it. I never would have thought that a simple toy like this would interest them. It has a very smooth and fast movement on the rolling ball and the scratcher is used by my cats too. You can get the replacement scratcher boards easily.

Length:: 1:27 Mins

It's taken our 9-week old male kitten quite a few days to learn how to fully enjoy his new Turbo Scratcher, but it is well worth it! In the beginning he found it very entertaining to watch and he would come running whenever we moved the ball around. We've had to help him learn how to move the ball on his own, gently grabbing his paws and pushing the ball for him; now he's finally started to use it on his own and plays with it until he's wiped out. He still hasn't figured out that he can scratch the middle part, but we figure he'll learn soon now that he's started to play with it and using his claws on the ball.

Plus, it's just darn entertaining for us to watch him play with it and scoot himself along the track!

Our neighbor gave us this toy for Christmas and our younger feline has been entertained almost non-stop ever since.

We have and have had several other felines, canines and equines, (previously also have had tarantulas, turtles, parakeets, zebra finches, pigeons, chickens, pheasants, rabbits, lizards, ant farms, etc., not to mention human younglings, also one particular precocious horned toad named Bob), and in our expeience, the only two real questions for a pet toy are: Does it truly entertain? AND does it hold up to the entertainment?

This toy is awesome on both counts. Our two cats play it like tetherball or racquetball, but mostly the younger one entertains himself, even dragging some of his more mobile toys onto it (hoping they will somehow learn from it?) Then, having tired himself out he drapes himself across it in sleep... Only to start this series of events all over again at 2:00 a.m. (Hint: At night put it where he/she can't reach it if you want an uninterrrupted night's sleep.)

He can't strip it of any feathers or fuzzies, or bat it semi-permanently under the fridge. He can't run out the batteries and doesn't tire of its full potential gamut, as it just gets more challenging to him the more he learns.

And it's just as entertaining for us to watch the play!

Plus it's a great deal. The best cat toy we've ever seen/ bought/ imagined/ been given so far in a combined some 70 years of experience with cat friendship. Buy it... if you're a cat person AT ALL (and who isn't?... don't answer that!) then you won't regret it! EVER! Mike & Michele

Sigh. Cats are so picky. You never know what they're going to like. If I had a nickel for every toy I have purchased that they never gave a second glance...
One trick I have learned is not to make a huge fuss over a new toy. They seem to like to discover things on their own, so when I bring a new toy home, I just set it on the floor and walk away. Don't even act like it's for them. I find that they respond better that way.
One of my cats loves this thing and the other won't even look at it. I rate it a 5 because the cat that does like it goes crazy for it, and I don't even use catnip. He loves scratching on it, swatting the little ball around and he even falls asleep on it sometimes. Too cute!
I have bare floors, but I don't have a problem with the toy sliding around, because my cat stands on the outside of the toy and it rests against his hind paws as he scratches with his front paws. He figured it out on his own and he doesn't have any trouble with it.
Also, make sure you turn the refill over and use the other side as well.

This is a great cat toy. My kitten adores it. He's going crazy on it right now. As someone else mentioned, it amuses both cat and keeper.

For what it costs ($15+ in the past, better now at around $10), however, I was a little surprised at how insubstantial it is. The plastic is very light, and there is nothing to prevent it from skating across a hard floor. Of course, that could amuse the cat as well, but I'd rather it stay still for now so I'll probably put rubber on the bottom somewhere. To be fair, the directions do say to place it on a carpeted surface, but we don't all have those! The cardboard center (basically a lonnng strip of cardboard coiled into a disk) is held in place by 4 tiny plastic tabs, and one of them was broken already when I received my unit. This probably isn't a big deal, unless the cat really pulls up hard while scratching, although I'm not sure how I'll replace it without breaking the others.

The ball is pretty weighty, and rolls gloriously around the track. For extra fun, you can add some jingly balls in the track to mess with your cat....

Length:: 0:49 Mins

What used to be known as the dignity of cats flies out the window in the presence of the Turbo Scratcher. My cats love this and will drive us nuts for hours with the "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" sounds. Our youngest, Leetle, spends the most time with it, sitting on top and deftly swatting the ball over and over.

And over. And OVER.

Add the catnip for double the insanity!

Great product, replaceable cardboard inserts, happy kittehs (=happy mommy)!

Truly a riveting toy for my Cat! My Cat is a little impartial when it comes to every day cat toys. Her hobbies are very different from most cats. One day I found her watching the Discovery Channel. She was intensely viewing a program about Partial Accelerators. I found this very interesting. Even though she is only 4 months old, she's really taken an interest in the scientific world. Electromagnetism along with how elementary particles acquire properties are two subjects she constantly ponders whilst using her Litter Box. I'd say that the two things that puzzle her the most are: 1) Do particles have super symmetric partners? 2) What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy? I strongly felt that by purchasing the Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy for her she might find the answers to these as well as many other questions. I also strongly recommend this toy for cats that just like to see balls spin around a scratching post.

I have two of these (one is kept at Grandma's for when the "kids" go visiting.) I have had both for well over 10 years and the cats just love it and both are still in great shape. The best part is, no chasing the ball (I recently went looking for a bracelet I knew the cats had pilfered and found about 15 of the tiny fur mice under and behind furniture.) It does have a distinctive sound when they are playing with it so even just rolling the ball has my cats running for it. My poor little boy kitty is allergic to catnip so I can't use that to entice them and they still love it. One cat toy they WILL play with.