Homemade Cat
Toys
Cats are easy to amuse. I think
that many commercial cat toys are made to attract humans more than
cats. Multi-colored mice, balls, rubber banded features, etc are
attractive to us so we figure they will be to our cats too.
But cats really don't care about
how many colors, how expensive, or what a toy looks like that we
buy. Homemade cat toys work just as well to amuse and entertain
most cat for
hours. The price it right too.
And it's good to get your cat to
play since they need the exercise to stay healthy and work off all
those treats. Good nutritious food and frequent exercise will save
you on vet trips and medicine.
One of the simplest toys my cats
love is noting more than a tightly wadded up piece of paper. I
work in a home office and my cats love to come in and watch me.
Usually sitting on my keyboard, which makes it difficult to work.
So to distract them from my
keyboard, I just wad up a piece of paper and toss it on the floor.
Usually as soon as they hear and see me wad the paper they get in
a crouch, ready to pounce on the paper as soon as I throw it. It
works best if you have tile or wood floors but carpets will be ok
as long as they can bat it around and it rolls. The tighter you
wad up the paper, the better it rolls.
Another favorite toy I make is
using some fishing lures. These work best when you have the time
to participate. I'll take an old lure or one that never worked (I
have plenty of those) and take all the hooks off. One's with some
type of action that move around or rattle when you jerk on them
are best.
I just tie a piece of string onto
the end and pitch it out. I slowly retrieve it and none of our
cats can resist. They ambush with glee and often try to take it
and run away. This can go on for hours. We have multiple cats and
they will actually take turns ambushing the lure.
Probably the funniest one I use
is a plastic worm (the eatable kind just in case they bit off a
chunk). To further enhance the experience I keep the plastic worms
in a bag of catnip. I shake off the access when I get it out and
they go crazy over it.
Catnip is a good thing to use on
any toy for most cats. They will go crazy with it, rubbing on it,
throwing it up into the air, whatever. The worms drive them nuts
since they have such a life like feel and movement. If it gets on
their back or paw they think it's alive.
Any kind of shipping box provides
hours of fun too. Whenever I get a book or something that was
shipped I leave the box on the floor. Within minutes one or all of
our cats are over checking it out, jumping in and out, or crawling
inside for a nap.
One thing to always be careful of
when you make any homemade cat toys is to not use anything that
they can eat or choke on when they play. Lead paint, small items
that will come off in their mouth, or strings they can swallow are
dangerous and should be avoided.
Anything that is round and will
roll, or something they can bat around will usually amuse them and
provides plenty of exercise. Sometimes the simplest
of toys will be the best liked. And paying $6 for a toy that your
cat doesn't even like is not a good thing.
All Things
Pondered
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