WhenI was in the US, in October my freind bought one of these for her two cats. Same thing happened. We taped the arm on with duct tape and it worked fine.

The female cat would watch it , close up, for ages just touching it and then the male cate who had been watching it from afar, would jump in and turn the whole thing over and roll himself up in it and we would have to repair it again.

Cats loved it!