The folks at Blaster Hub, who regularly put Nerf’s latest and greatest offerings to the test, recently tried out the Nerf Catnip Disc Blaster (which is available exclusively at Petco) and found it was about what you’d expect from a $15 toy blaster. A manually primed spring-loaded mechanism launches one of three included flying catnip discs about 10 feet, which is probably why Nerf promotes the toy as being ideal for kittens, and not full-grown felines. If you’re hoping for more range, Nerf makes more powerful blasters that can fire foam discs at distances up to 50 feet, so maybe invest in some catnip spray and give the discs a squirt or two before loading the hopper.
If you’ve got a pair of AAA batteries lying around, the catnip blaster also boasts a built-in laser projector which it turns out is actually just a bright red LED shining through a plastic lens that creates a glowing bullseye image on the floor. At distances farther than a foot that bullseye simply becomes a blurry dot but with the lights dimmed it could be enough to entice a cat into a frantic chase once they tire of the flying discs. If you’re too busy to engage with your cats but want them to feel engaged, this could be a cheap and easy solution, but you might actually be better off just buying the catnip discs refills and throwing them around your home by hand like little frisbees.