# Creative cat toys you've made?



## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

My kitten plays all day and breaks all the toys I buy him, which are expensive and I have to import them from the US, pay a lot in shipping and wait 2 months for them to sail to the Middle East and sleep a couple weeks in Customs. He adores Neko Flies, but one refill lasts him a couple weeks till it's total loss.

So tonight I attached a hair clip to the loop at the end of the string, added some feathers from broken Da Bird refills and from other toys and he absolutely adored the "new toy". The teeth of the hair clip make it look like a cockroach, a bug 
which I'd been wanting for my cats for a long time.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

The hair clip I mean is a tiny version of this one: Amazon.com: Large Claw Hair Clips Jumbo Hair Clips (Black) with Bonus Flexible Headband: Beauty


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I do have a necklace that I started. It's made out of old Tshirts torn into strips and knotted together. I got it half done and all the dangly T shirts ends appealed to Shep. Book so.. now it's a cat toy.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

I just do simple things, like some tin foil squeezed together and tied on the end of a string. Or a boot lace, by itself or with something tied to the end of it. Also milk caps that they can bat around on the slippery kitchen floor have been a big favorite in the past with my cats.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

One of the huge perks of owning a cat or several is that even humans with the weakest of creative minds can supply things that kitty will love! Like cardboard boxes, milk caps, twisted crinkly cellophane wrappers, pens, clothes pins, plastic bags, boot lace, random leaves, coiled pipe cleaners, chicken legs, paper bag, etc., etc., etc.

The list is endless. Cats have fantastic imaginations so anything that they can toss or make scoot across the floor or make rustling noises with, VOILA! it's a cat toy


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

One of the most fun cat toys I ever made was quite by accident when granddaughter was living with us. We were brushing Zipper and had balled up the fur. It was about a 2" wide ball by the time we finished. We showed it to Zipper and she went nuts pawing it around so I took a piece of fishing line and a wrapped it around it and made a bouncy ball on a string. Zip LOVED it! It was soft and bouncy and she chased it all over (that was in her chasing days!).


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

I tie random junky toys (99c mice, plastic springs, etc) to the end of the Da Bird string when he destroys it. Doesn't fly well and gets tangled all the time but he loves it. Basically the same you did. That's my only DIY toy


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Simon's favorite toy (and one of Nala's) is an old leather belt that had worn through in places. I just drag it around as I'm walking around the apartment and up and down the stairs and great fun is had by all. (I'm not very capable of DIY anything.)


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

I am not very creative, but so far two pipe cleaners tied together in the middle and the ends wrapped around my finger is a favorite of Nyska and she is the toughest client when it comes to toys!


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Wow, many good ideas here!


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## Cat'sHouse (Apr 5, 2012)

Once (or twice) when Kermit was very young, and I was..ah sitting sort of, I would take a piece of bathroom tissue and dangle it above him and he would grab at it...jump up to get it, and I would let it flutter to the floor and he would pounce on it...seemed like an innocent game till the wife found the roll mounted on the wall shredded in pieces. Even now 12 yrs later we might find a paper towel roll or bath tissue that got left out within his reach....Yep. now she just stands there holding the remains of a shredded roll and stares at me and walks away saying..."You clean up the mess in the hall, dummy."

But Annie has played with the empty tubes, and I have found colored golf balls get some attention. Someone always throws away a fishing rod that might be broken or the tip gone. Works well to tie string to it and attach anything one might find around the house. I even set them in a dresser drawer or something and the springyness of the rod makes the toy jump when they let go.

Terry cloth animals are good too. Open a seam and put in catnip and sew them back up. I've mentioned ratty bunny before...he isn't around now but he will show up one day...a bit worn and tattered but still is a favorite of kermit.

Some people like laser lights but I don't. Seems cruel to have them chase something they can never get their teeth into or claws on but they sure do get exercise. I think smart cats 'give up' the chase before they get too stressed out.

Jingle bells or toys with a bell inside were good but I found they disappear real fast. Tho wife claims "I didn't hide them" I suspect they get kidnapped as her hearing is acute...even when she is napping.

I think cats are very curious so anything new in their environment should bring out a play instinct in them....experiment and look for discarded items that can be cleaned up and reused.


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