Pet Zone Fly by Spinner Toy Review

Zone Fly By Spinner Toy entices your cat’s natural hunt habits by replicating the real movement and fluttering of a butterfly. Cats like to stalk and attack flying insects and you can provide your pet this excitement in the security of your house. The butterfly of the Pet Zone Fly by Spinner features beautiful colors that will attract your cat even more. This toy allows you to provide your indoor cat with physical and mental stimulation.

FEATURES

• Fluttering Butterfly. Spinning action around the base creates a fluttering movement as a real butterfly.
• Power: 1x AAA battery
• On/Off switch. The toy is simple to use, just place the battery and turn it on.
• 4 rubber feet on the bottom of the Pet Zone Fly By, keep the toy from moving around the floor.
• Dimensions: 3.2 x 3.2 x 9.8 inches
• Weight: 3.5 ounces

HOW IT WORKS

The Pet Zone Fly By Spinner toy consists of a base and a thin flexible wire with a butterfly on the end. The base of this toy has a small motor that makes the butterfly fly in circles around the base. The toy works with one AAA size battery that goes in the bottom of the base. You need to place the battery (not included) in the base and then connect the base with the thin wire. In order to put the battery, you need to twist the bottom counterclockwise to remove it, place the battery and clockwise to put it back on.

The Fly By Spinner butterfly is made from plastic and is thin but solid, my cat has chewed on it several times and swats at it as well and so far the butterfly is intact.

See a video of unpacking & setup of the Pet Zone Fly By Spinner cat toy:

HOW MY CAT REACTED TO THE SPINNING BUTTERFLY

In the beginning, she was a little reluctant and watched from a distance the butterfly flying. This is a typical behavior with her when she sees new motorized toys. I waited for her to start playing but that didn’t happen.

Then I realized she may be more attracted to a butterfly flying at a more realistic height (my cat sometimes catches moths) so I placed the toy on a chair and that was the key. She started playing like crazy and she tipped the toy over so we had to come up with an idea to attach the toy in a way that won`t happen again.

This is the video of my cat playing before we attached the toy to the chair, seconds after this video she tipped the toy over lol.

So we attached the toy`s base to the chair using double-side tape and that made it very firm. After that my cat didn’t stop playing with the toy. Watch this video of Sophie playing with it.

PROS

• The butterfly is made from a good plastic material (it’s not easy to destroy, but this will depend on your cat)
• The multi-color butterfly and its movement really attracts cats to play with it
• With the vibration of the toy the butterfly looks like the wings are really moving
• You need to use only one AAA battery to make it work
• Your cat can play with it even without batteries (mine does)
• Good price

CONS

• Some cats may destroy the butterfly
• The toy doesn’t feature different speeds, only one speed
• The base is not heavy enough for a cat to swat hard at the toy and not  tip it over (will depend on the cat)
• The toy is short which makes the butterfly fly not very high, which could discourage some cats (see tip)

TIP

As you saw on the video, you can put the toy in a higher position, using double sided tape or other system to place the base on the chair. The elevation will make the butterfly fly higher which will attract your cat more. The toy attached to the base with double sided tape will make it impossible to tip it over. This solution was a winner for me.

Try to leave the toy off and see if your cat plays with it. My cat swats at the toy and the butterfly keeps moving in circle even with the toy off.

CONCLUSION

Ive seen complaints from other reviewers saying the butterfly flew too fast around and I saw the video of that customer and in effect, that happened, however that didn’t happen with my toy, you can see in the video that the butterfly flew at a normal speed.

Another complaint is that cats destroy the butterfly, so far my cat hasn’t done it but this experience may be different, depending on if your cat is more rough when swatting and chewing. Another factor that I think it`s very important is the supervision of this game. If you watch your cat playing and you see he or she is chewing on the butterfly a lot, you can distract him/her so the butterfly can keep going and flying around. I have caught my cat chewing on the butterfly but then she releases it, maybe she likes the feeling of catching it?.

BOTTOM LINE

The success of this toy will depend on your cat. If your cat is rough when playing I don`t recommend this toy. If your cat is like my Sophie as you see in the video, this toy will entertain your pet. However, I have a feeling that the entertainment lifespan of this toy is short, since the cat gets used to the circle movement of the butterfly. Try to change the position of it and place the toy in a higher position like I did. That was the key for my cat to start playing with it. As a bottom line, I recommend this toy, Sophie gave it her paws up.