A few decades ago, the concept of a cat toy industry seemed far fetched. Look at us now - I'm reviewing a popular motorized and computerized toy... for cats!

One reason for this change is the growing number of cat lovers keeping their precious furbabies indoors-only. These cats are safer indoors, but they lack the natural stimulation of the great outdoors: the birds, the trees, the insects, the mice and more. Modern day cat furniture and cat toys have been developed to meet these very needs.

When it comes to cat toys, the general idea is to stimulate the cat's natural hunting instincts. When cats play with objects, they almost always mimic some aspect of the hunting process, be it stalking or chasing. You can achieve that with passive toys, such as your ordinary fake toy mice. However, even when made more enticing with real fur or a sprinkle of catnip, these toys can never simulate a live prey - after all, they are as passive and as exciting, well, as a dead mouse.

This is where interactive cat toys come in. The concept is simple: tie that furry mouse toy, or a bunch of feathers, to a fishing rod type toy and you can manipulate it around as if it were live prey. This is a great way to keep your Kitty entertained and to spend quality time together.

In fact, interactive play sessions are therapeutical. When counselling owners about cat behavior issues, I used to almost always prescribe a daily session of interactive playtime with the cat. Nothing like a daily dose of ten to fifteen minutes of intensive hunting routine, encouraged with a fish rod like toy, to let an indoors-only cat blow off steam and relax.

But what happens when some owners tire of dangling a rod everyday? Well, next thing you know, someone invents a robot for that!

Well, what do you know. The wonders of modern technology have brought us a motorized cat toy, with its own computer board, that actually dangles a fake mouse for our cats!

The Panic Mouse does just that. It lets you set up the speed and constructs a training session for your cat where no movement is repeated twice. I suggest starting slow, giving Kitty time to adjust to the new toy, and carefully inspecting her or his reactions. Active and agile cats may enjoy the speed boost later on, but for some you may want to keep it slow.

This toy is extremely well constructed, with an extra solid base that prevents it from getting toppled over in the ensuing mayhem of the "hunt". It's extremely popular with both owners and cats and will provide your Kitty with hours upon hours of quality entertainment.

By the way, when I first saw this toy, my first thought was, "Whatever next? Can't people no longer wave a toy for their cat?" If you share the sentiment, keep in mind that the Panic Mouse's rod is detachable, so you can vary between playing with the base, and waving the mouse yourself. I highly recommend keeping at least some of the sessions human-operated - the human-cat bonding is certainly a huge benefit of the interactive game.

If you need a demo, here are some cute videos of cats playing with the Panic Mouse:

If that's not enough, the makers of the Panic Mouse have moved on and created several variations: