Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My Sam is an 8 year old ginger grump. He hates learning new things. He was a stray that showed up on our doorstep roughly three years ago & when we took him in, we let him be an indoor/outdoor kitty. We would leave a bowl of food out for him, all the time & the system worked. He came & went as he pleased, stayed around 13 lbs (he's a big cat. Very long, so 13 lbs was about the right weight for him) . He would, on occasion, bring in mice, birds in & eat them...once he brought in a live rabbit. Don't know what he meant to do with it, but he was proud of the catch...only he let the rabbit loose in the apartment, which now meant husband & I were running around our apartment attempting to catch said rabbit & let it back outside...all at 3am in the morning..on Easter. We moved across country last year, & Sam became a strictly indoor kitty, which, I think, depressed him a bit. He put on some weight, (& I know he needs to lose it) I've been hoping to lift his spirits & get him into a bit of hunting again. I bought these mice about a month ago & I'm still, somewhat in training mode. He's been very stubborn. Started with the trainer, but if his regular food was in it, he wouldn't touch it. I finally started putting his favorite treats in it & he now was more interested in it. Although, if I was around, or if the husband was around, he'd just sit there waiting for us to bat it around for him. About two weeks ago, I was finally able to start using the actual mice & pick up his food bowl. This didn't really go very too well, at first. Again, Sam wouldn't touch the mice with his regular food, so had to fill with some treats...again...Recently, I now can put his regular kibble in it & he'll eat it. I've seen videos where cats are searching for these, & then bat them around to get the kibble out..Sam, won't do this. He will go over to the mouse (we're really unable to hide them yet...instead we just put one in the living room & move it around the floor to different areas & two in the bedroom, moved around as well. ) At any rate, he goes over to the mouse, sniffs it. Then stares at it for quite some time, as if he's waiting for husband or myself to bat at it for him. When we don't, he sniffs it again, then rolls it gently over with his nose. Some kibble spill out. He eats them. He then rolls it over again. More kibble falls out. He eats them again. This continues over & over until he's finally full, never once touching the mouse, nor the food with his paws. I really wonder, when he was a stray, how he would hunt if he didn't like to get his paws dirty... Sam doesn't gobble his food up any more, he has to work at it, & even though it's taken about a month to get him to use the mice, he seems to be a bit perkier (even though, if he could talk, he'd probably tell you he's not perky, he will never be perky, but the mice aren't as bad as he originally thought). He hasn't lost weight, but he's been more active, so I think we're on the right track for the weight to start coming off. Overall, I'm happy with these. yes, there may be some bits of kibble here & there on the floor, but Sam usually will find those & eat them. We haven't had any trouble with bugs getting in the food, just hope it stays that way during the upcoming spring/summer...