D.Y. TOY - The Original Weasel Ball, Interactive Motion Toy

Bought this for our 3-month old adopted kitten. She'll attack anything that moves, or doesn't move. I have the marks on my hands, arms, and ankles to prove that. Figured it would be something different for her to play with as the "fishing" toys and laser pointer are getting somewhat "boring" for her. The first few days she just watched it from a distance, and she'd run away a few feet when it came towards her. Slowly she got used to it as I would run it a while, then shut it off and leave it there for her to inspect. She'd wrestle with it a while then look at her conquered prey and walk off. Today, Day 6, was the first day SHE attacked IT while the Weasel Ball was running. She'd come from behind the tail, pounce and grab the tail, then hold it while she wrestled with it. It was a hoot to watch, 'cause if it got loose and turned towards her she'd run a few feet away and plot a new attack plan. This has been going on for the better part of an hour so she should take a good nap this afternoon. The Weasel Ball isn't that noisy, and travels all over the den; under sofas, between table & chairs, etc. If it fits it'll find it. We have tile floors so it moves very well. It hasn't gotten stuck in any tight space yet. It did push out two "lost" cat toys (a small mouse and a ball of crumpled aluminum foil) that were in a narrow spot by a subwoofer we have under an end table. I think the kitten was as surprised as I was when the two toys came out in front of the Weasel Ball. Based on this short experience, I give it 5-Stars and would recommend it for an active, and somewhat brave, cat or kitten. *** UPDATE *** Our kitten has now proclaimed this as her favorite, go-to toy. The wrestling gets pretty intense, and she'll attack it even if it's off. Funny to watch her pick it up by the tail and carry it across the room. The round ball is still wiggling while she carries it, so I guess it simulates some "prey" that's fighting to get away. I did find that it will turn off sometimes and I guess the kitten hits the on-off button accidentally. But, she'll lay by the weasel's tail until either my wife or I turn it back on. Then the wrestling begins again.

I just ordered one, and that will be #5 in total. My Yorkie just loves this ball, he chases it all around the house and gets a great work out from it. The only issue is that the mechanics inside that make the ball roll on its own, are cheaply made. The pin inside detaches itself from the other parts and it no longer works. I soon will have a grave yard of all these balls. I would hope they would fix this issue..... I love to see by Yorkie happy when the ball works, but it is starting to become a waste of money in one sense, and a great disappointment for him when it no longer works.

Well, first I bought one years ago for my cat. It paid no attention, oh well. Then it broke somehow, and weazel off it - and then it was just a ball. I now have a 3-4 lb chihuahua. I pulled it out, hoping I could get it to work. No luck, it was very old and broken. But, he loves to run that old ball around and around, chasing it, rolling on it, trying to stand on it, growling as he goes. So I purchased another one - weazel & working action, brand new. The dog is beside himself! He loves this toy SO much (both, the old non-working, and the new - but especially the new working one). We have a raised porch where I keep him most of the time and all his toys, so I have a tub where I keep this, and only bring it out when I'm out there and/or playing with him, since it would eventually roll off the porch, and he's too tiny to jump down to get it. Great thing is, I can turn it on then sit on the porch and watch, get out my tablet and do my email, while this keeps him busy. Tail-wagging the whole time, he tosses it, and runs around with it. Then when he lays down to chew all on it, if he stops for a moment or looks away - it rolls off and when he turns around - he's all charged up again - LOVE THIS. I'm sure the weazel will be gone in short order, but he will still love it as he does the ball that no longer even works! And it's nice to have interactive toys so that it gives me a break from playing tug with him. To be honest, my dog will play with ANYTHING. I give him a piece of rope, and he's in heaven. I tied a string of jingle bells from Christmas onto a couple of weird little cat toys, and he's in heaven. I give him an "approved" sock, and he's happy as a clam. So, some animals may not like interactive toys, but for mine - it gives me a much needed break, and it's hilarious to watch!

I have no idea why the manufacturers of this product chose to make THE most unnecessarily complicated and poorly-crafted battery and power mechanism I have ever seen, but it rendered the item useless right out of the box. In order to make the weasel work, you unscrew the two halves of the ball (easy enough), and then (this is where it gets stupid), you go find a tiny screwdriver to unscrew the supposed on/off switch from the top of the battery compartment. Once removing the tiny screw and the plastic on/off switch and putting the battery into the compartment, you quickly realize that you need about four hands for the process. The battery must be pushed into the compartment and held there, or it will pop up out of the compartment. It is supposed to be held in place by the screw which, after putting in the battery, must be replaced where it was. So you have to push down on the battery as you place the small, plastic on/off level over the tiny hole for the tiny screw, and then you must hold the tiny screw into the tiny hole, hold all of this still, and screw in the screw. Then you discover that the screw doesn't QUITE fit the hole. Twenty minutes later, I had removed the screw three or four different times, trying to get it to seat properly in the hole so it could be screwed in. Each time the screw was re-adjusted, the plastic on/off switch would fall off, and the battery would pop up. The screw took forever to reach its destination, and it came in crooked. Being that, for some ridiculous reason, the bottom of the screw must touch the top bulging part of the battery in order to make the connection and allow the item to work, if the screw won't go in straight, the screw will not connect with the exact right place on the battery in order to form the connection. Furthermore, since the screw won't go in all the way, the on/off switch would not sit securely on top of the battery compartment, so as I was holding it with all the fingers I could spare and trying to figure out how I could rig it to work, I saw that the switch was going to flail around turning itself off and on. I tried using tape to tape down the entire thing, but given that nothing was tight, the screw would slip off the battery, and the stupid thing would stop working. It's a double A battery and a very simple creature attached to a ball. This should not be rocket science. Why they needed to make the connection so incredibly complicated and requiring so many hands is beyond me. The item should have a simple interior on/off switch and a simple way to place one battery in the toy and make it work. Terrible design. If I could give it zero stars, I would. Waste of money. I will be returning it.

I am so torn about how to rate this toy. On one hand it is VERY cheaply made. The weasel is attached to the ball with those plastic tags they use to attach tags to clothes. There is also no on/off switch. You have to open the ball and remove the battery to turn on and off. Also, I have already had to replace the battery once, which I would not expect b/c it doesn't seem like it should go through a battery so quickly. I have had the toy for around 2 weeks and my 9 lbs pug mix puppy has already broken the weasel away from the ball. He loved the toy while it was attached and it was only $7, so I didn't expect much. Here is where I start to have a problem with how to rate the toy. Now that the weasel and moving ball are apart, he LOVES them both. He acutally likes them apart more than together, they are now his favorite toys! That is why I gave 4 stars. This toy is not for crazy players or chewers or probly even a dog over 40 lbs, but I got it to keep my puppy busy while I work from home and it has done that for sure! I will likely buy another one if this one craps out totally in the future.

Cats were scared at first, but then loved it.

My dog loves these things. Chasing them around... and the fact that they are self-propelled is a bonus since I'm tired at the end of the day when he wants to play. As much as I love this toy, though, it has a lot of big weaknesses. First, expect that the weazel tail attached on the end of it will last less than 5 minutes. This is not an exaggeration; my dog decapitated that very easily, and how could he not? It's held on with just a single piece of plastic. Think about the width of a few of those plastic clothes shopping tags pressed together. So that is gone and now you just have a spinning ball. Well, you have to unscrew it in order to open the battery, and then it goes on and you have to close it while it is rotating in your hand. Honestly he gets bored of it. If the attachment were still on it or if there were a way to reattach it, he might not.

Great entertainment for dog and for humans. Watching out puppy interact with the weasel, chasing, carrying and running with the weasel in her mouth is hilarious!!