the single chinese factory making "cat fishing rods" changed their product so it is now impossible to get the ones that existed for 30 years that were just a simple fiberglass or plastic rod with a string. the new ones are all the same retractable design and according to the amazon reviews they break within minutes. 4.5-5 stars on all listings
Also! remember The Laser Pointer, the one that was obviously made in a single factory in about three styles and then sold under 50,000 brands for the last 30 years? yeah they changed products too.
now the only ones you can buy (in 50,000 brands and 40 shades of anodized aluminum) are almost certainly too powerful to be safe as toys, and they also run off a nonreplaceable lithium pack that will self-discharge about 500 times faster than the AAA or button cell that would sit in your old laser pointer for 5 years without a problem.
it's cool how, for the last year, about every three weeks I think "oh man my laser pointer and feather toy are so busted, that's why the cats won't play with them, i just need to spend ten bucks and buy new ones" so i go to the store and the entire cat toys section is empty except for a catnip ball; they're out of stock on everything, somehow. then i go to amazon and every single option is visibly unsafe and/or fraudulent. and then i close the window and my cats don't get new toys, and three more weeks go by and i do it again.
do you ever feel like maybe we're at the end, and everything is just a reflection of that fact