Do it yourself- homemade cat toys

The days are getting shorter again, it's getting colder and we appreciate the cosy time in the warm house. When it's drizzling and grey outside, even the most active cat would rather stay in front of the warming stove and have a nap than venture outside. In this article, we'll show you how to make your own toys for your tiger from simple materials so that it doesn't lack exercise or even get bored and start playing around.

Let's go

Toys ensure that your cat can fulfil its natural hunting instinct and is not underchallenged. It is important to always provide variety. In the wild, cats will hunt anything they can get their paws on. Be it rodents, amphibians or birds: they find anything that moves exciting. They are therefore happy to have a variety of toys to express their urge to move. Cats are not exactly careful with their prey. They bite or chew on it, whirl it around and throw it high into the air. As a result, they destroy most toys after a short time. The durability is correspondingly low, but allows you to constantly make new things and be creative. If you have children, you can involve them in the crafting activity, as it's much more fun together.

An initial collection of ideas

Sock show: If you have old socks at home, you can make them into a mouse with patches, for example. To avoid scratching your hand, pad it with a flannel and pull the sock mouse over it. Now you can sneak up on your cat and ask it to play. She will love it.

Light games: Cats will chase pretty much anything that moves. You can use a torch to create a spot of light that your four-legged friend will chase enthusiastically through the darkened room. To ensure the hunt is not unsuccessful, you can give your animal friend a treat as a reward.

Prey: You can connect several toilet rolls with a string and pull them around. Your cat will have great fun chasing this monstrous worm around the flat. Try it out right away.

Scent experience: It usually smells pretty much the same in the home. If you prepare fabric bags with interesting herbs, valerian or catnip, your tiger won't be able to tear itself away from this new, exciting stimulus any time soon.

Crafting fun: If you are someone who likes folding, you can create boxes out of paper and hide an appetisingly scented treat inside. The box certainly won't last long, but your cat is guaranteed to have fun and the reward will be all the tastier.

Suitable craft materials

Here is a list of materials that you are sure to have at home and that you can use to get started right away.

Paper: Old newspaper can be used to make balls that you can shoot around the room to amuse your cat.

Cardboard boxes: The good old cardboard box, an absolute evergreen in crafting circles. You can cut holes in it as entrances and exits or join several boxes together to make a long tunnel.

Feathers: You can use feathers to make creative lures for your velvet paw. They make any toy interesting and are a real eye-catcher for cats.

Tins: made of metal or plastic and filled with rattling grains of rice or dry peas are exciting noisemakers for your feline friend.

Natural materials: In autumn, your cat will have great fun playing with chestnuts, walnuts or pine cones. You can collect these on your next autumn walk. But make sure your cat can't swallow them.

Sticks: These are suitable as a base for exciting distance toys.

Bells: The ringing creates an acoustic stimulus and makes the toy doubly interesting. It is important that your cat cannot swallow the bells. They should therefore be well secured and not too small.

Exercise caution

Do not use any materials that could pose a risk of injury to your cat. This includes sharp, pointed objects such as needles or poorly attached staples. Also dangerous are objects that are too small for a cat to swallow, such as plastic beads, marbles, small stones, rubber bands, modelling clay or metallic or synthetic materials such as tinsel, foil, polyester thread and tinsel.

Toys with long ribbons or cords should only be given to cats to play with under supervision due to the risk of strangulation. The classic ball of wool can quickly become a death trap without supervision.

Never let your cat play with plastic bags. Pieces can be swallowed and there is an acute risk of choking.

After the game comes the well-deserved reward

Such a strenuous hunt must be rewarded. After all, anyone who romps around so much needs enough energy. In keeping with autumn, we recommend our hearty organic cat food with sheep, coconut flakes and pumpkin. The meat content of the organic menu comes from one protein source (single protein). Sheep is a lean type of meat that is also well tolerated by allergy sufferers. Sheep meat is also rich in iron, zinc and B vitamins. Pumpkin provides many valuable minerals such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. The coconut flakes used have a high fat content of valuable medium-chain and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Coconut fat ensures very good flavour acceptance by senior cats. The eggshells are used to regulate the calcium/phosphorus ratio (1.3/1) and are important for bone and tooth formation as well as for the cellular system. The BIO sheep with coconut flakes variety is particularly suitable for cats with sensitive diets and allergies. As a small reward between meals, we have tasty treats in the best organic quality in our range. They provide energy so that nothing stands in the way of the next play session. Our products are free from flavour enhancers, antibiotics, colourings and preservatives. Our only additive is a large portion of love, because love is good for you.

Our recommendations for your four-legged friend:

Tasting packs for cats

BIO cat food