The Good: Easy to assemble, Inexpensive, Easy to clean, Gollum loves playing in his
The Bad: Not really supportive enough for vertical building, Requires several units to get the most out of them.
The Basics: Gollum has his own little apartment away from Myah’s influence with his interconnected Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cubes!
Last year for the winter holiday, my wife and I were at a loss as to what to get our cat, Gollum. Gollum had been living in fear for months since we brought home our new Siberian Husky, Myah. Hartz had helped us quite a bit by providing us with an Angry Birds toy that brought Gollum out of his shell (that is reviewed here!) and he had plenty of treats around the house. My wife has long wanted to get Gollum some furniture, places he could play and climb that would be his own. While we were initially looking at solid cat homes with the rug exteriors that allow cats to scratch the sides, my wife was bowled over by the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube. So, for the holiday, we picked up three of the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cubes.
The Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube is essentially a nylon box with two holes in it. It acts like a little cube-shaped tent that allows cats to enter and exit from different sides (the openings are at a right angle to one another). They come in purple, green and red and we opted for green, though I cannot recall the logic behind that now. In their package, the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube comes flat and when one removes the outer wrap and twists, the box unfolds. Unfolded, it is self-supporting and fairly solid.
Despite what the packaging says, when opened up, the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube is 13.5" by 14" by 15.5", which makes it not a true cube. We connected our three Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cubes to essentially make a corner tunnel. This means that one of the three cubes is attached to each of the other two and creates a secure apartment for Gollum. I have noticed that no matter how we orient the cubes, he tends to stay longest in the one that is not directly adjacent to the outside. This seems to imply that Gollum actually feels safe and secure within his Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube and that makes him (and us) happy.
The Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cubes are connected to one another via Velcro tabs. At each opening, there are four patches of the soft Velcro strips. The Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube comes with eight of the harder (hook-style) tabs that fold over the attached Velcro pieces. The result is that the four tabs make a surprisingly solid connection that holds the cubes to one another, no matter how many you have strung together, in whatever configuration you want. Our experience, however, found that the cubes could not be turned in such a way that allowed us to make a double-decker (z-axis) apartment for Gollum. While he could get up into the upper cubes, they did not support him well and he scampered back down, terrified, to where he was familiar (ground level).
Assembling the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube is easy as it comes assembled, but just needs to be unfolded. That there are no additional parts makes the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube solid and fun; we don’t spend all our time worrying about poles that might pop out and poke Gollum. The top of each cube is easy to differentiate from the bottom as there are hanging loops that cats may play with or from which you may hang cat toys. We have not and Gollum has never shown any interest in the loops on their own.
Because it is made of nylon, the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube is exceptionally easy to keep clean. We blow it out when there it too much hair in it and it resists stains from spills near it.
Ultimately, the Sport Pet Designs Pop Open Kitty Play Cube is comparatively inexpensive, gives Gollum his freedom from Myah and is durable enough when he plays in or near it. What more could a cat owner ask for?!
For other cat care products, please visit my reviews of:
Cat litter scoop
Vroom Around The Room Cat Laser
Lipiderm Liquid Catnip
6.5/10
For other pet product reviews, be sure to check out my Pet Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the pet products I have reviewed!
© 2102 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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