Review by K. Barnes:

The turbo scratcher is simply a plastic circular base with a ball that rolls around the track on the outer edge. It has cardboard corrugating medium as a clawing area on the inner part of the circle. It is very simple, yet highly effective.
I don’t know why, but this has been a success with every cat — young and old — that I have seen around it (15 different cats). Once they get the ball moving, it really flies around the track! The younger cats manage to pull the ball out of it within 10 minutes, but they have a blast in those ten minutes. The smartest cats realize that it is more fun when it does stay in the track, though. A word of advice: don’t put this in or near your bedroom. If your cat feigns disinterest when you first bring it home, watch out if you are a light sleeper — a couple of hours into sleep you will wake with a start to the sound of the ball whipping around the track over and over and over again.
The two 14-year old cats that I currently reside with love this thing. They aren’t usually interested in toys (in our presence), but did manage a very disinterested tapping of the turbo ball if they were sitting on the mat anyway. These senior cats’ main interests in the Turbo Scratcher are 1) using it as a meditation/sleeping spot — it is so much more sophisticated than sitting ON the floor, and 2) actually scratching it (and these two are declawed!).
The fact that the ball comes out of the track so easily is a small disappointment (granted the cats do have to grab it with both paws to pull it out). You can easily pop the ball back into place, but some of us have too many places that the cats can hide such a small item.
Besides that, after 4 years, all our cats still use it daily. As a toy, well, its success may depend on the age and personality of the cat. As a scratching post, however, it is the only one I have ever bought that all the cats consistently used as such (though they do still get use out of the couch, too). I have been a “cat caretaker” for many many years so I do have some experience with several different types of scratching posts and this is by far the best.

Review by MattthewsMom:

I’ve been using the TurboScratcher since it came out in the early 80s as a toy and scratching item for my cats. I have NEVER paid for than about -13 for it, and the inserts used to be available from WalMart for 3/. The catnip helps get the attention for the scratching part, and once the see how much fun it is to scratch, they rarely go back to carpet or furniture. I’ve had more than one cat that never ONCE went for furniture because I made sure he/she had her own turbo-scratcher from the moment they arrived in my house. I have one that is a light blue from back in the 80s when everything was light blue and mauve. If left in the sun a bit too long, they do tend to get a little brittle, but while they feel a little flimsy, they are perfect for the cats. For those without carpet — use the rubber shelf or drawer liner cut in a square or circle a couple of inches bigger than the whole toy and it doesn’t move at all. I have never had any problem on any surface until I recently moved into a house with handscraped hardwood floors that are uneven. This trick worked wonders there and I suspect it would have been more stable on the tile floor in our last house as well, but our cat like to sleep on it in the window in the sun just as much as playing or scratching it. I recommend one to any cat that I adopt out at rescue, and for my foster babies, I give one to the family that adopts them because that’s what I teach them to scratch on and I don’t want them developing bad habits of scratching furniture or carpet in their new home — where they are often trying to cope with the unfamiliar. I’ve been told by my adoptive families that this was a really great thing to send esp since it was familiar and they were surprised at how much it was used. Before replacing the cardboard circle, make sure you turn it over and use both sides! if they seem a little bored and you are out of catnip, just pic up a little bag of it and it will totally get their attention again.

Review by C. Thomas:

We own two cats. Two wonderful cats who ache for stimulating play. My husband and I found out recently that the best toy and I mean the best toy is any toy that has string and a toy or lure attached to it. This one – purchased here – definitely gets the job done – with multiple lures – the cats never get board. This is now one of three fishing rods that we use regularly to keep them interested and appropriately stimulated. We also rigged a real fishing pole with a heavier gauge line and the lures from a cat toy fishing pole that broke after about 20 minutes of play. If I ever get my stuff together I will post a video here of my cats having the time of their lives with this toy as well as our homemade version. I have to say – no other cat toy really excites our cats for any length of time. Yes – the cat fishing toys require our involvement and yes it would be nice if someone could invent a fishing pole based cat toy that casts itself but short of this – 15 minutes of playtime with the cats seems a small investment for the pay off. Besides that both my husband and myself have never laughed so hard. Watching them play is great amusement, so its all good for all of us.

Review by Igor Faleev:

The best game to my stubborn cat,only requires to spend some time playing.

Reliable & holding cat’s grasp and weight of 14 pounds.

Review by H. Humphries:

Oh my gosh, my daughter absolutely loves this cat. She has named the cat and each kitten, and plays with them together or separately with equal fun. They are velvety soft and the magnets that hold the kittens on are quite strong so your child can lug this toy around without losing the babies! Worth every penny!

Review by T. Petersen:

This has been one of my daughters favorite toys for the past two years. She is four now, and the toy was played with just this morning! The mama cat is silky, slightly understuffed for good hug-ability, and the three kittens attach to her easily with magnetic mouths. This is just one of the sweetest toys and I find it educational too. She has asked why the baby kittens attach to their mama, and it’s been a sweet experience to explain to her about nursing, etc. in a way she can understand. This toy comes highly recommended!

Review by R. Conklin:

My kitty has gone through multiple Wubbas, he enthusiastically starts gnawing on and destroying them as soon as he gets his paws on one. These toys are fairly tough, and he gets a lot of use out of it before he has it ripped into tatters.

He prefers this toy to all others i have ever provided for him. His rating- A+!

Review by A. Ortega:

I bought one of these at first just because I wanted to get free shipping and just needed to spend a few more dollars. I am glad I did though! Quickly after buying my cats were fighting over who was able to play with the wubba so I bought a couple more. I have three cats – two of which are ten years old and one is five, this toy makes them play like kittens!