The Phenomenon of Kitty Boinks, Super Boinks and Bamboozler
In May 2012 I discovered a tin filled with brightly coloured plastic tubes at the largest pet trade fair, Interzoo. If I hadn’t read about Kitty Boinks from the USA in cat forums, I probably wouldn’t have given them a second look.
American cat lovers were huge fans of the Boinks – but I didn’t know if they’d be successful in Germany as well. As a test, I started with an order of 300. A few days later I realised: FAR TOO FEW – because no sooner had we displayed the Kitty Boinks in our shop with photos, a description and a German translation of “How to Boink”, we were flooded with demand. Our clients – or more accurately, our clients’ cats – loved them, and the Kitty Boinks phenomenon spread across Germany thanks to Facebook, cat forums and cat blogs.
Description of the Kitty Boinks:
The Kitty Boink is made of a flexible woven tube cut into lengths approximately 13 cm long.
Like the name “tube” suggests, the Boink is hollow in the middle – diameter is approx. 1.5 cm.
Your cats can chew and bite the Boink, and play with it – but active play is much better: hunting down the flying Boink! Press the Boink together, let go – and it’ll fly off!
It takes a little practice, but even practising becomes fun! Cats go crazy for the Kitty Boink – so we’ve added the Super Boink, a bigger version of the Kitty Boink, to our range. The Super Boink is longer, at 18 cm, and has an average diameter of approx. 1.8 cm.
Because of its size, I think the Super Boink is easier to use – possible better suited for beginners and children.
At this point I’d like to ask you to send in photos of your cats with their Boinks (please include permission to publish them on our blog)
It would be great if we could have lots of photos – it’s always interesting to see what cats get up to with their Boinks.
Last year other manufacturers picked up on the Kitty Boinks phenomenon, of course, and combined the idea of the Boinks with catnip. A tube full of catnip – the Nip Nibblers from Pioneer Pet. They are completely filled with aromatic catnip – the ends of the nylon tube are
heat-sealed. The material and finish of the tube is identical to a Kitty Boink. When a cat chews or sucks on the tube, catnip can come out.
Since 2014, another new nylon tube filled with catnip has been on the market. Catnip Rolls from Petstages. These are the most different from the Kitty Boinks we know.
The quality of the nylon is very soft – partly with fluorescent patches woven in – they are filled with catnip. You can’t compress + release these rolls because of the soft material.
The Boinks Bamboozler – a totally different cat teaser
A long, flexible tube is attached to a stabile bamboo rod – the tube is made of the same material as the Kitty Boinks.
The long tube moves like a snake – which makes your cat want to hunt down the snake, catch it, and chew on it.
And if you don’t feel like playing with your cat, attach the rod to the scratching post or your sofa, and your cat can play with it by itself. The bamboo rod is approx. 90 cm, the tube approx. 100 cm.
In my mind, the Bamboozler is a must-have cat teaser. Perfect for calmer and older cats too (like my British) that no longer want to chase after a feather duster but prefer to play with the ribbon when lying down.
In May 2014 I was lucky enough to get to know Joyce Murphy (the inventor of Kitty Boinks) in person.
Joyce surprised us with a new idea – combining Kitty Boinks, Super Boinks and the Bamboozler to make a new super cat toy!
- Thread a Super Boinks onto the Bamboozler’s string
- Fold both ends of a Super Boinks into the middle
- Push a Kitty Boink through the middle of the folded-up Super Boink
- Fold in the ends of the Kitty Boink too
- Tie the Super Boink that is threaded onto the string onto the folded up Boinks – this makes the “new” toy even more interesting for your cat.
I hope you have a lot of fun with the Boinks – and I’d love to see pictures of your cats having fun with them too. Just send them straight to me, with your permission for them to appear in this blog – please don’t forget your cat’s name. ulrike.kurz@profeline.de
Kitty Boinks: http://www.profeline-shop.com/cat-toys/activity-toys/kitty-boinks-made-in-usa.html
Super Boinks: http://www.profeline-shop.com/cat-toys/activity-toys/super-kitty-boinks-made-in-usa.html
Boinks Bamboozler: http://www.profeline-shop.com/cat-toys/dangler-pole-toys-wagglers/cat-rod-boinks-bamboozler.html
