Cat Wheel FAQ

The amount of questions I get about cat wheels is truly astonishing 😅 So I thought I would write a post to delve into all the frequent questions I get asked.

What Cat Wheel do you have?

Our first cat wheel, the wheel which is in most of our videos, is the 48″ G5 Ferris Cat Wheel (pictured above).

We also later bought a 60″ Grand Ferris Cat Wheel.

Ferris Cat Wheel is a bit of an unusual company because you cannot order directly off their website. They sell via local distributors. Therefore, you will need to go on their website to find out who is the local distributor in your region. In the UK, it is Cazami Bengals. In the US and Canada, it is ZiggyDoo.

Depending on who the local distributor is and how busy they are, it can take several weeks/months to receive your order from the time you place it. This is because the local distributors have to order the wheels in shipments from Malaysia (I believe) which can take a few weeks. The UK distributor I used (Cazami) posts on her Facebook group when there are shipments coming up, you then have to put down a deposit to reserve one. It was a pretty straightforward process, although a bit unusual for someone who is used to just hitting order on Amazon for next day delivery. I think my first cat wheel took about a month and a half to arrive, whereas my second larger cat wheel took 3 months because there was no space on the soonest shipment.

To be honest, if I hadn’t done a lot of research beforehand and consistently saw the Ferris Cat Wheel recommended as being the best and safest wheel, I would have been a bit suspicious 😂

It’s also quite pricey compared to the cheaper wheels you can find online. But I do think this is a case where “you get what you pay for”.

What should I know before buying a cat wheel?

Firstly, it is very important to buy an appropriately sized wheel. The wheel’s internal diameter should be at least twice the length of your cat (measured from head to the base of the tail). There’s a chance that smaller wheels may cause spinal issues as when the cat is running it can cause their spine to become curved and compressed.

Please do your own research before purchasing a cat wheel as some wheels out there are not safe. We can only personally recommend our cat wheel (Ferris Cat Wheel) as we have not used any others. We find the Ferris Cat Wheel to be safe (detailed further below), but we do have friends who are happy with the One Fast Cat Wheel (48″ version) which is a lot cheaper (~$175 compared to ~$430 for Ferris Cat Wheel)

Ferris Cat Wheel: https://ferriscatwheelinternational.com/

One Fast Cat Wheel (Amazon affiliate link, we may earn commission on purchases made using this link): https://geni.us/TFTCatWheel

How safe is the Ferris Cat Wheel?

Evie has definitely put the G5 Ferris Cat Wheel through its paces since she started using it in October last year! And thankfully we can confirm there have been no injuries and the wheel has not fallen off its base (unlike some other cat wheels we’ve heard about 😬)

We love how sturdy this cat wheel is. It feels very solid and well-made.

Also, unlike some other wheels, I could not see any part on the Ferris Cat Wheel where the cat could get body parts (e.g. paws) trapped which could cause injury when the wheel is moving fast.

There are some things you need to bear in mind though.

You should not put the wheel too close to a wall or furniture as there is a pinching risk e.g. the cat who is on the wheel or another cat nearby could get trapped, or a part of them trapped, which could cause injury. Especially when the wheel is rotating at a high speed.

You also need to ensure there is sufficient space for your cat to hop off the wheel safely and securely. I made a mistake when I got the second wheel of not leaving enough space between the two wheels, so when Evie hopped off she didn’t have enough space on one side to land properly (Thankfully I don’t think she caused an injury)

Also, be aware that when cats first use the wheel and begin to get confident on it, they can often run too fast, then suddenly stop running and get sent flying off the wheel. I think this only happened once to each of my cats before they figured out their limits and when to hop off. However, YMMV 😅

Therefore, I’d suggest supervising them initially.

The crazy thing though about cats is their ability to seemingly be completely fine after the most insane looking accidents 🤣 I’ve seen compilation videos of cats being flung off cat wheels across the room at high speeds, yet I’ve never heard of a cat actually being injured from it.

One thing I’d say about the Ferris Cat Wheel is they’ve seemingly added a decent amount of friction which limits those kind of accidents. It’s something people often mention in my videos – often suggesting I add lubricant to the wheel to make it spin easier – but I think that would risk my cats losing control of the wheel. The videos I’ve seen with cats being flung off the wheel at high speed seem to be cheaper looking wheels with little friction that spin too fast/easily.

We’ve also had some incidents where one of my cats was walking on the wheel in one direction, whilst another cat was walking in the opposite direction. This caused one of the cats to be sent flying 😬 (in another case, one of my cats clung to the side of the wheel and rode it almost 360 degrees like an actual Ferris Wheel 🤣)

Finally, I would suggest not purchasing a wheel that is carpeted because I’ve heard of cases where the cat got their claws trapped in the carpet and injured themselves. Our wheel uses padded foam which also helps to protect the cat’s joints from impact.

How loud is it?

The Ferris Cat Wheel is known for being one of the quieter cat wheels. However, it is definitely not silent. My wheels are in the spare bedroom about 5 metres from my own bedroom (with a hallway between) and surprisingly they’ve never woken me up, even when Evie is running full cheetah mode 😂 However, I think this is more because I have air purifiers in my home which produce sound that’s a similar frequency. Kind of like a strong wind. If I am awake though and she’s really running fast on the wheel, especially the new 60″ wheel, I can definitely hear it.

So I would not recommend placing it in a room that’s above a neighbour, or next to a wall shared with another neighbour. However, if you have strong walls/ceiling and a tolerant neighbour, then perhaps it would be okay with an anti-vibration mat underneath.

How do I get my cat to use the wheel?

Firstly I will share one thing that the distributor who sold us our wheel reiterated to us multiple times: never place your cat on the wheel.

I guess this is because cats like to be in control of the situation, especially when it’s something new. Apparently placing them on the wheel can freak them out so much they might never want to use it again!

Cats can get easily stressed by new furniture, so a gradual exposure is the way to do things.

When you first unbox the wheel and put it together, my distributor suggested to leave the wheel flat on the floor off it’s base for a few days so the cats can sniff it and get used to it.

Then you can put the wheel on the base and see how they react. If they seem ok around it, I’d suggest playing with some of their toys near it.

My distributor suggested not to use treats except as a last resort, however, I admit I got impatient and lured Daisy and Dylan on the wheel using licky treats to get them walking on it for the first time 😅

I don’t think treats are necessary though. I only used them a couple of times with Daisy and Dylan, while Evie has never had treats for using the cat wheel.

Dangling a feather toy, or another toy they like, behind the wheel for them to “chase” is by far the best way to get them using the wheel in my option.

At first, they will likely be hesitant to hop on it. You might need to gradually guide them onto the wheel using the toy.

Sometimes they will still be too scared of the wheel. I actually almost sold my first wheel after I’d had it for a couple of months, as the cats seemed mostly too scared to go on it. I contacted the distributor and she gave me some great advice. She told me to stand over the wheel (with one leg each side of the wheel, like I do in some of my videos when I spin the wheel for Evie 😂) as this can give the cat confidence. I was surprised how quickly it worked, almost immediately Dylan came and stood on the wheel underneath me and chased a feather toy I was holding. From then he was really confident using the wheel!

Daisy, Dylan and Evie will all run to chase a toy on the wheel. However, some cats will remain apprehensive. To this day, I’ve never seen Bella step paw on the wheel 😂

Getting your cats to use the wheel while you play with them is generally the easy part. But I think what most people hope is for their cats to use the wheel by themselves. However, I think this is something that is individual to each cat.

Daisy barely ever uses the wheel by herself, but she will chase a toy on it. Dylan didn’t use it by himself until about 4 months after I first played with him on it, then started to enjoy walking on it throughout the night, but never running. Evie started using the wheel by herself from the first time I played with her on it, walking on it throughout the day and night, and sometimes running on it like an absolute cheetah 🐆 😂

So patience and trying different strategies can definitely pay off.

I often get comments from people saying they want to buy one, but are not sure if their cat will use it. It’s a big investment so I fully understand this concern. Quite honestly, I bought the wheel in desperation for Dylan. As a very active Siberian cat, I hoped the wheel would be an outlet for his energy and limit his pouncing on the other cats. But it didn’t quite work out that way as it ended up being Evie, my ‘docile’ Ragdoll, not Dylan, who really fell in love with the wheel 😂 Funnily I didn’t even try and get Evie to use the wheel until we’d already had it for 3 months as I just assumed she wouldn’t be interested. Then one day I was playing with her favourite toy and I moved it over to the wheel and she immediately hopped on the wheel and started walking!

It shows that having a high energy cat doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll enjoy the wheel. Sometimes it’s the cat you least expect!

If you have more than one cat, I’d suggest going for it as chances are one of them will like it and you can always sell it if they don’t. However, if you have one cat, then you could do what some people have done which is buy a cheaper but still decent wheel such as the One Fast Cat Wheel 48″ version, and if they like it then you can upgrade to the Ferris Cat Wheel.

 

I hope this has helped answer most of your questions about our cat wheel!

Please let me know if you have any more questions and I shall do my best to answer them 😊