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Smushball Fancy Box Review

Ragan Buckley
ByRagan BuckleyApr 23, 2015 | 22 comments

Smushball Fancy Box Review Box

Smushball is a Persian cat with her own Instagram account.  The folks at Fancy teamed up with Smushball to create a box of goods tailored to our feline friends!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Box: Smushball Fancy Box

The Cost: $25 plus shipping (Shipping was $8.95 for me)

The Products: Feline basics, toys, and a special partner deal.

Ships to: US and Worldwide!  (However, this was a limited edition box that is now sold out.)

Check out the Pet Subscription Box Directory for more great boxes for your cat(s)!

Smushball Fancy Box Review Look Inside

It’s not too often that I receive a subscription box with no packing material inside.  I guess Fancy has a standard size box they use for everything?  (The box didn’t come with an information card.)

Smushball Fancy Box Review contents

I’m not sure what I was expecting from a Fancy box for cats but, at first glance, this looked like a pretty normal cat subscription box.  (No wall decals!)

Smushball Fancy Box Review Catnip

Loopies Catnip Clownfish – Value $5

Loopies Catnip Hermie Worm – Value $5

Note: I’m basing all the values here on Amazon prices because I had trouble finding the items elsewhere online.

I think these are really cute.  But do the cats like them?

Smushball Fancy Box Review cat with toy

They do!  (Sorry the picture is dark.  My living room has no natural light and I’d like to see you try to get a cat to pose under the lamp!)

Smushball Fancy Box Review Multitoy

L’Chic Four-in-One Catnip Toy – Value $15

This didn’t come with catnip but that’s not a problem around here – I buy catnip by the pound.  I filled the little compartment up with catnip and my cats were interested right away.  This is a little big for them to bat around, and sadly, three of my four cats are not smart enough to figure out treat dispensers.  However, this is a win for the catnip compartment and feathers.

Smushball Fancy Box Review Dish

Rogz Bowls Fishcake Cat Dish – Value $15.47

This seems kind of pricey for a cat dish, but I am in need of a new one (one of my cats has been eating off a saucer lately).  It’s cute and it seems sturdy.

Smushball Fancy Box Review Sticker

This box also came with a couple of stickers and a coupon for 20% off a cat bed/tunnel from PetPlay.com.  (I didn’t include this when I calculated the value of the box.)  I am having trouble getting the site to load (tried several browsers) so I don’t know how much you’d pay out of pocket to redeem this offer.

Smushball Fancy Box Review Cat In Box

This isn’t a completely gratuitous cat picture.  I just wanted to let MSA reader nana (click on the link and scroll down through the comments) know that she was right: some cats really like the box.

Verdict: The Smushball Fancy Box has a value a little over $40.  The box cost $33.95 (with shipping), and that’s a pretty good value for a pet box.  (Cat boxes tend not to have the same outrageous values that a lot of beauty boxes have.)  Plus, my cats like the toys and I needed a new dish, so I’ll use everything.  It helps that I have four cats with four different personalities – pretty much every toy or treat will appeal to one of them.  So this box is a win for me.

What did you think of the Smushball Limited Edition Fancy Box?  Were you able to get one?

Ragan Buckley
Ragan Buckley
Ragan stumbled across My Subscription Addiction in late 2013 and immediately subscribed to way too many beauty boxes. She's now focused on boxes for her cats and dog, vegan/vegetarian food boxes, and craft subscriptions (and she didn't give up beauty boxes entirely).

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22 comments

Chrissy

I ordered one Fancy mystery box last summer and my cat still uses the box, lol.

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Heathery

My cats don’t like catnip (I know, right?), so this would have been a bust for me haha.

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Dean

Agree that this is a waste of $34. You could go to Target and get the same four items for $15 or so.

There is nothing wrong with gratuitous photos of cats.

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acidofoliate

your cat looks just like my ragdoll esteban! if I remember to bring a straw home from a restaurant every now and then and leave a few boxes in the office for him to jump in and out of, esteban thinks he’s the luckiest cat in the world. this sub box doesn’t look like it’s going to compete.

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Jessvii

For cats, I’ve had good luck with Paws and Play. It seems like a better value than this box if you’re just looking for toys and treats.

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Cristina

This is a total rip off in my opinion. I’ve subbed to other cat subs before and have received far more than this. I’m sure cats would enjoy it nonetheless but I want the best bang for my buck and this isn’t it.

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Sondra

I agree. I don’t subscribe but it looks like they just threw some things in a box and sent it. They didn’t bother to pack correctly or include anyletter to describe the items.

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Ragan

That is pretty standard for Fancy — not sending an information card. Also I have seen a lot of Fancy boxes with a lot of empty space in them. In fairness, nothing was breakable. However, I can definitely see where you’re coming from.

Sara

I’m sorry this box just looks super disappointing, thank god I didn’t get it. I splurged on a cat box a few months ago for my cat, he adored it for 10 mins and hasn’t played with the toys since lol. Same with the Cat Meow, loved it the first day, then grew tired of it and now doesn’t play with it at all. Your cats are so cute!

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lily

My cats seem to like my glossy box beauty boxes better then the very few cat boxes I’ve gotten. They have fun making me play hide and seek with the lip glosses that are sometimes in them. They hide them and I seek them sometimes for days – LOL

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Ragan

Monkey (the one in the first picture) likes beauty boxes as well. He sits on the table and knocks things on the floor. Anything small is fair game. Eyeliners and Birchbox samples are especially popular.

My cats like the toys from boxes, generally speaking, though. They are all into catnip to one degree or another. The only things they completely ignore are expensive electronic toys that I buy for them. So I stopped doing that.

Summer

Wow! I feel like this is a huge disappointment. For a little more, I’d recommend subscribing to petbox. If this is what Fancy boxes are like, I won’t be signing up for anything else!

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Ragan

I think Fancy discontinued their subscription services. I always did get the impression that Fancy boxes were a bunch of random stuff thrown in together (like maybe the curators got to pick from a list of items that Fancy already had available).

The values I listed are what you would actually pay for these things on Amazon. However, I agree some of them seem over-inflated (some are only available from third-party sellers, which usually equates to a price increase for small items). I also think some of them can be hit-or-miss for some cat owners. Since I have a lot of cats, I can use everything. But if one item is a miss for a person (especially someone who only has one cat), that’s definitely a drop in value.

I have definitely had good luck with PetBox for dogs in the past. And more reviews of more cat boxes are coming as soon as I receive the boxes. I know not every box is for every person, and hopefully, by providing reviews of a variety of boxes, we can help people choose the ones that are right for them.

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nana

Thanks for the photo! I’ve often thought about leaving open boxes in the front yard and seeing how many cats I can catch. It’s truly amazing, my cat will get into any box he can, no matter how small 🙂

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Ragan

Mine try to sit in the outer boxes that Glossybox comes in, too. (Most of mine are larger males and spill out over the sides, though…)

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Sara

My cat does the same, he’s a ragdoll, he’s a big cat and tries to sit in the Target Beauty boxes, it doesn’t work out lol. He seems to like shoe boxes most though.

Sarah.

I think they meant to send the large box, that its part of the fun for cats. When I first saw this box I considered buying it, but realistically one can buy toys for way cheaper. I thought it would include some fancy gourmet snacks. My cats would have enjoyed it, but they also would have enjoyed a box filled with random home items just as much, like socks, rubber bands, and straws.

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CreativelySwank

A box of straws sealed in a heavy plastic bag arriving in this box would suffice for my feline crew. Why do cats chew plastic? weirdos

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Ragan

Mine probably would’ve enjoyed anything new, too. Straws are definitely popular with several of mine.

No rubber bands, though. Monkey (the one playing with the purple toy) eats rubber bands. It is a challenge every day to keep him from chewing on my hair elastics…

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PA Anna

My cats loved playing with the box. I thought the box was OK mainly because I did not need another cat dish and there were no treats. The cats enjoyed the items.

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Ragan

I can see what you meant in the other thread about it not being what you expected. I thought there would be something quirkier in there!

I think I’m glad there weren’t treats. Most pet subs are pretty specific about avoiding treats from China, but I’m not sure whether that would be on Fancy’s radar or not, since they’re not really in the pet sub business.

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