Why did we buy this again?
Written: Sep 17 '07
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Pros: Cute toy, fun premise
Cons: Really limited play value for the money.
The Bottom Line: A total waste of money! Buy a Littest Pet Shop playset instead and get more play value for your dollar.
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| pitfaltina's Full Review: Littlest Pet Shop Feed Me Cat |
My daughter saw this toy on the shelf at Walmart every time we strolled through the toy department and always howled to try it every time we passed it. So Mommy thought, hmmmm, why don't we just get one for her for her birthday?
A year later, I'm asking myself, why DID we get this for her for her birthday?
The set consists of a pet bed, a kitty, and a feeding bottle. The premise is that you place the kitty in her bed and hold the bottle up to her mouth, and then the kitty will "magically" drink from the bottle. Wow! Except...it's only fun in the store.
The pet bed is made of sturdy plastic painted in pastel colors and has two magnets and a post on top of the painted blanket. The purpose of the magnets and post is to hold the kitty in place and to activate the "magic" feeding feature.
The kitty is made of hollow plastic and has corresponding magnets on her paws, plus a hole into which the bed's peg will fit. The kitty's head moves up and down, and when this happens, her tongue flicks in and out.
The bottle is hollow plastic with a magnet embedded in the top to complete the electromagnetic circuit and activate the "magic" feeding feature. The bottle features a plastic clip that is theoretically supposed to hold the bottle firmly onto the side of the bed when not in use. I say theoretically, because every time the bed is jostled, the bottle falls off and we find it two months later in the back of the closet under a pile of dirty socks. The clip isn't terribly sturdy, either, as it broke off eventually. If the clip were thicker or made of a higher-grade plastic, that wouldn't have happened.
The toy takes 2 AA batteries, but don't worry about that, because you won't be needing to buy another set, ever. Trust me on this. Hasbro smartly made the battery compartment a screw-shut variety, for which they receive an A-plus from this paranoid mother.
So this is what you do with the toy...you align the kitty's paw magnets with the magnets on the bed and stick the post in the hole in the kitty's bottom. You then hold the bottle to the kitty's mouth, and the magnets cause the kitty's head to move up and down, which causes the kitty's tongue to flick in and out. Pretty basic, yes? Well, it's also as noisy as all get out. My daughter is terrified of loud noises, and this toy actually scares her! The toy makes a loud, highly annoying grinding sound when the "magic" feeding feature is activated. The noise stops as soon as the bottle is moved away from the kitty's mouth. (For some odd reason, the toys never make that sound in the store!)
The play value on this toy is very limited, because feeding the kitty is interesting for perhaps only ten minutes out of every month. The quality of the toy is also much less than we are used to from the Littlest Pet Shop line. Most Littlest Pet Shop toys are made from vinyl and other flexible plastic. This toy is made from a very brittle plastic that is not proving to hold up well over time. Aside from the bottle clip breaking off, kitty has developed a crack in her hollow head.
The set is very easy to keep clean. A simple swipe with a damp cloth will remove the sticky jam fingerprints from all parts of the toy.
For those who are paranoid about the recent magnets-in-toys scare and subsequent flood of recalls, rest easy. The magnets are FIRMLY embedded in the pet bed and pet, and the magnet in the bottle isn't even visible. No worries about swallowing these magnets!
I paid $9.99 for this toy, and I'm thinking I got robbed. I would have done much better to buy an entire Little Pets playset with that money. We would have gotten more play value for the money. Besides, we could always visit the Feed Me Cat in Walmart once a week and feed her for two minutes, since that's about how often we use this toy anyway. Worth it? Not for us! It feels like I took a ten dollar bill, wadded it up into a little ball, and flushed it down the potty. Please don't do the same!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 9.99
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
pitfaltina
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Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
I'm a mommy first, a working woman second, and a craft fiend all the time!
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