Wooden Handle Cat Wand

A wooden handled wand with a line and a feather or insect head on the end. The classic cat toy, and still the one that gets the most reliable reaction — a wand puts distance between your hand and the claws, which means your cat can play properly rather than gently.

Key features

• Wooden handle
• Feather and insect heads
• Buy the wand alone, or with up to four interchangeable heads
• Heads swap over so you can change what your cat is chasing

How to play so your cat actually engages

Most people wave a wand at a cat, the cat watches for ten seconds and walks off. Cats hunt, they do not chase — so move the toy like prey rather than like a toy.

• Drag it along the floor and around corners, away from your cat rather than towards it.
• Let it go still. Prey freezes, and the pause is what makes a cat pounce.
• Let them catch it every so often. A hunt that never ends in a catch stops being interesting.
• Finish with a catch, then a meal if you can. That sequence is what settles a cat afterwards.

Important — put it away after play

A wand toy is for playing with together, never for leaving out. Cats swallow string, wire and feathers, and any of the three can cause a blockage or damage that needs surgery. This is the most common way cat toys cause serious harm.

• Stay with your cat the whole time the wand is out.
• Put it away somewhere your cat cannot reach the moment you stop — in a drawer, not on a shelf.
• Check the head and the line before each session and bin anything fraying or coming loose.
• Replace heads when they are chewed rather than letting a cat pull the last of one apart.