Indoor cats want to hunt at exactly the times you least want to play, which is dawn and about eleven at night. This hangs over a door frame and takes that shift for you, swinging a rope wand through unpredictable sweeps a cat can stalk, chase and pounce on with nobody holding the other end. It fits without tools and comes down when the game is over.

The movement is the whole point. A wand you hold moves the way you think prey moves, whereas a wand on a track retracts and swings in patterns your cat cannot learn, so the toy stays interesting for longer than the usual three days. Hanging it from a door also means the action happens above the floor, which suits pouncing and leaping rather than the flat chasing a floor toy gives them. Lift it off and the doorway is a doorway again.

• Hangs over a standard door with no tools or fixings
• 360-degree rotating sweep with a retracting track motion
• Flying rope wand attachment
• Hands-free play for indoor cats and busy households
• Lifts off and stores flat between sessions

Two things worth knowing. String and rope toys are supervised toys, because swallowed string is a genuine veterinary emergency. Run this while you are in the house and take it down when you are not. And no automatic toy replaces the ten minutes you spend playing with your cat yourself; this fills the gaps between those sessions rather than standing in for them.

Who it's for: Indoor cats with more energy than the flat can absorb, and owners who need the cat properly busy for twenty minutes at a time.