Cat Fight : Popular New Krushed Kitty Toy Ruffles Hairs at Humane Society

Tony Levine and Ed Jaeger thought success would come from the practical products they designed, and they didn’t anticipate that half a stuffed toy would get them in a fight.

They were wrong on both counts.

Levine, 27, had tried his luck with a gadget for polishing and sanding fingernails, a feeding utensil for stroke victims and a portable briefcase that holds a light table.

Jaeger, 28, had designed a car seat to help prevent back problems, and a stainless-steel anti-theft strap for BMW radios.

A couple of those designs worked out well, but their big hit is a stuffed toy called Krushed Kitty, which has angered national Humane Society officials. Krushed Kitty is the rear half of an orange-and-black stuffed toy cat that comes with an elastic band so it can be inserted in a car’s trunk or sunroof, giving the impression the cat made a last-ditch effort to go along on the family vacation, but leaped in just a second too late.

Since June, Levine and Jaeger’s Tarzana company, Krushed Kritter Kompany of Kalifornia, has sold 165,000 of the cats, about $1.3 million worth, to gift shops nationwide. “All of the sudden this thing sort of shot up sky-high,” Jaeger said.

Its popularity has concerned both Humane Society Vice President Phyllis Wright and Geri Bain of a Columbus, Ohio, Humane Society branch, who have called the toy “disgusting.” Wright said she is especially angered by a statement on the Krushed Kitty package that reads: “A portion of the profits are donated to the Humane Society.” Wright denied any connection to the toy and is urging consumers to boycott it.

“I think the onus is on the consumer,” Wright said. “Unless the public responds in a negative way and goes to a store and threatens never to buy anything else there because of this item, nothing will get done.”

But Levine and Jaeger said they have already donated to three Humane Society branches. The partners would not disclose which branches accepted the money, but they did say that some Humane Society officials refused their donations.

“We had intended to donate several thousand dollars, but with some of the hesitation and resistance we have been meeting, it’s been difficult,” Levine said.

Levine and Jaeger also would not release the amount of money donated so far, but said it’s far more than “both our salaries and bonuses combined.”

The partners said they will continue donating money to any branch that will accept it, but they said they plan to remove the donation statement from the Krushed Kitty package.

“Ed and I are both animal lovers. We’ve both loved cats for years,” said Levine, who once owned five Siamese cats.

” We intended this to be a sarcastic joke. . . . We intended no cruelty or harm to animals.”

Cruel or not, the decapitated feline is drawing buyers by the thousands.

Denise Romance, a buyer for Jay’s Luggage in Thousand Oaks, Studio City and Canoga Park, carries the toy. She called it a natural follow-up to the Garfield stuffed cats that attach to car windows with suction cups. “The Garfields have died; they’ve had their day,” Romance said. “We thought this would be the next step. Right now it’s not a fad because it’s so new.”

Spencer Gifts, a New Jersey-based company with 435 stores in 48 states, carries Krushed Kitty toys. “They’re very strong items,” spokesman Dennis Flath said.

The cats sell for about $9 each wholesale, and gift shops sell them for $18 to $25 each. The partners said they believe even negative publicity about the toy can only help business.

“I think more people will be curious to find out what it is,” Jaeger said. “And when they find out about our good intentions, they’ll still feel good about buying the product.”

Jaeger and Levine hope to break even by this month. And if all goes well, they are looking for $3 million in sales and $250,000 profit by year’s end.

Not that Krushed Kritter is about to put Mattel, Coleco, or any other toy giants out of business.

And for all of their early success, Levine said, it’s been an incredibly stressful experience. “It’s been a dream and a nightmare at the same time for us,” he said.

The two partners are working 16 hours a day, and their company’s headquarters is a spare room at Levine’s parents’ home in Tarzana.

Levine and Jaeger couldn’t find a bank to finance their idea, so they put up $15,000 of their own money and borrowed $50,000 from Levine’s parents to get started.

In the toy business, you’re only as good as your next hit. Mattel and Coleco, companies doing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales, have seen big profits swing to big losses in a hurry, as toys come and go in popularity.

“If we had known we’d have so many problems, we probably wouldn’t have done this in the first place,” Levine said.

Rocket Builders

Levine and Jaeger’s friendship began at Portola Junior High School in Encino--they built airplanes and rockets together--but lost touch until a school reunion last December.

Jaeger was making real estate loans for a mortgage company in Canoga Park. He designed things, too: his anti-theft device for BMW radios was sold through car dealerships; he said he made $25,000.

Levine, who has a degree in product design from Cal State Northridge, worked two years for Alchemy II, a Chatsworth toy company that designed the Teddy Ruxpin talking bear, which was popular for a while.

Levine was designing products on a free-lance basis and the friends started talking about working together. One morning they came up with Krushed Kitty as Levine sketched several ideas on a napkin.

The next week, they had a friend make samples of a kitty, and three weeks later they displayed the cats at a toy show in Pomona. That day they took 5,000 orders. “We were jumping around like 5-year-olds,” Levine said.

Financing Difficulty

Financing, though, wasn’t easy. Levine and Jaeger tried to get a $40,000 loan, but Security Pacific, Manufacturers Hanover and Mitsui Manufacturers Bank turned them down, they said. Not that they were surprised. Their collateral, Levine said, was limited to “my Honda and Ed’s Saab.”

After they raised $65,000 themselves, they had to find a low-cost manufacturer. So they hired a consultant. They considered American, Mexican and Taiwanese manufacturers but soon ruled out American companies, which would have charged twice as much as foreign manufacturers, Levine said. Mexican companies didn’t make the fabrics they needed and couldn’t meet their production schedules and the quality in Taiwan was too low.

Levine and the consultant flew to Seoul and looked at four Korean companies before settling on a mid-size manufacturer. “We felt like we wouldn’t get lost if we dealt with them,” Levine said. “The big companies had too many clients to worry about.”

12 Sales Companies

Levine and Jaeger then lined up 12 sales companies to represent their toy to retailers, and the idea began to take off.

As sales grew, they hired a full-time accountant. And Levine’s mother Evelyn sorts the mail and checks the credit of buyers.

Jaeger supervises the company’s rented warehouse space in Van Nuys with the help of seven employees who unload the toys from Korea and ship them all over the country.

There are still things to be wary of. The Krushed Kitty is similar to the popular Garfield toy, based on the comic strip cat created by Jim Davis, and there’s always the threat of a copycat lawsuit. Officials from United Feature Syndicate, which licenses Garfield, said they were aware of Krushed Kitty but would not comment on any legal action.

And then, of course, Levine and Jaeger can’t be caught catnapping. They figure they have a two-year run with the kitty novelty before it runs out of gas and they’ll have to have other products.

Other Toys Planned

So in October, Levine and Jaeger will begin marketing other toys, inspired by Krushed Kitty, including a Krushed Kow and a Krushed Gator. They said a Krushed Armadillo will follow, and they hope to expand sales to Germany and Japan.

Pretty heady stuff for two friends who were just thinking small-scale. “We figured if we sold 50,000 pieces by the end of the year, we’d be happy,” Levine said. “I just wanted to pay off my car.”

As to controversy about future Krushed Kritters, Levine and Jaeger said they feel confident there will be none.

“Nobody’s going to cry if you crush a gator,” Levine said. “We had them out at a display and not a crocodile tear was shed.”

Times staff writer Stephanie O’Neill contributed to this story.