We love our beautiful and adorable fluffy feline friend, and we love playing with them. However, it is not really possible to accompany them at all times.
Getting cat toys does not really help every time and if you happen to have an extremely active cat with imagination, then probably those toys met their end sooner than you thought.
So, what can you do?
Here is a really cost effective way to make sure that your cat do not get bored and you are not kept away from work. A few simple DIY cat toys that you can make at home from everyday household items will not just keep your cat busy, but will also be a better cost effective alternative to getting the toys from store every time.
Now, let us check out how to make 5 DIY cat toys in less than 3 minutes.
Rolling Treat Rattle DIY Cat Toys
This one is fairly simple to make and you can keep making one after another, or simply use the one you made over and over again till it is unusable. It is perfect for those cats who love to play with something noisy.
What you need:
- Empty toilet paper roll cardboard
- Some treats
- Marker (for decoration)
How to make Rolling Treat Rattle
- Take an empty toilet paper roll cardboard and push one side of the roll inwards to close the mouth as shown in the picture below.
Take some of your cat’s favorite treats and place them within the roll from the other open end.
- Close the open end such that the protruding edges are shifted by 90 degrees on the opposite side (check the image below). This will make the toy roll over more easily.
- Make some funny cat faces on the body of the roll and your toy is ready.
You cats will love playing with it and since the ends are not really closed, they will try to get the treat out of it and won’t leave until they have succeeded. It’s a wonderful way to keep them occupied for long.
Soft Catnip Ball DIY Cat Toys
You can use your discarded socks for this purpose and it will make your cat go crazy. It is the perfect soft ball that your cat will find quite hard to tear off and will love playing with it.
What you need:
- Old ankle sock or kid’s sock
- Some catnip
- Cotton ball
How to make Soft Catnip Ball DIY Cat Toys
- Take the sock and turn it right side out.
- Now insert the cotton ball into the sock.
- Fill it with some amount of catnip.
- Now twist the sock and then turn the elastic side inside out. Repeat this till you have a ball. See the pictures below for better idea.
- Your catnip soft ball is ready. Your cat will love playing with it and rolling it all about the house.
Pompom DIY Cat Toys
Cats love pompom toys. Now you can make one at your home with ease. It I a fairly simply process and you need not even be an expert in stitching to do it.
What you need:
- Cotton wool ball
- Fork
- Pair of scissors
How to make Pompom
- You need to take the cotton wool ball and wound the string around the prongs of the fork. Check out the picture below to know how to do it.
- Now, take some more cotton wool string and pass it through the center of the fork’s prongs to tie the wound strings together from the middle, as shown.
- Cut the strings from the edge of the fork’s prong and take it out.
- Trim the outward protruding ends to make it even and round shaped altogether.
You have your pompom toy ready. You can make different colored pompoms and even hang them from above.
Crunchy Soft ball
This one will be really light weight and will also have a crunchy feel to it and your cat will love playing with it for long.
What you need:
- Paper sheet
- Sock
How to make Crunchy Soft ball
- Take the paper and crumple it into a ball. Do not use very old paper as it loses the crispness.
- Take the sock and turn it inside out.
- Put the paper ball into the sock.
- Twist and turn the rest of the sock over to make it a ball as shown.
Now you have your crunchy soft ball ready.
Ring Ball
Again, a fairly simple toy, but really exciting for your cat, nonetheless. This one can have anything within it. I have used some colored paper to keep it interesting. You can have treats too.
What you need
- Empty toilet paper roll cardboard
- Colored paper
- A pair of scissors
How to make Ring Ball
- Take the empty cardboard roll of toilet paper and cut out about ¾” rings. Make three such rings.
- Put first ring in the second and then insert them in the third ring such that you get a ball shape out of it. Check the picture to understand.
- Now crunch the colored paper and put it in the ring ball.
The ring ball is ready for your cat to play with. You can even put a treat within the ball, as I mentioned earlier.
Making a cat toy isn’t too difficult. The best part is that cats are so curious and loves anything that moves that all you need is something to roll about and the cat will find a way to play with it. These cat toys are not at all costly and you can make as many as you want without worrying about your cat mauling it completely.
Let’s check our lesson in our project for DIY cat product series
