My cat can be a bit picky with toys. He has a rolling ball he really loves, and so I figured this would be a good thing for him to get.The ball runs around inside, with the tail popping up every now and then, but the openings are definitely more for your pet to put their paws in.You can also use the ball outside the mat if you want to, right now I'm keeping it in the mat but that's an option.The only small downside is there is no way to shut off the sound on it but it's still easily a 5 star product.