cat toys

Ever notice when you bring home a cat toy that you purchased from a store that your cat usually prefers the bag?  I’ve also noticed an inverse relationship between how much I spend on a cat toy, and how much my cat enjoys the cat toy.  In fact, usually the homemade cat toys that cost nothing are the ones the cat loves.  He seems to derive great fun from homemade cat toys made from stuff that I would deem to be “garbage”.

Here’s Furball enjoying the heck out of this homemade cat toy.  The hum sound in the background is actually him purring as he plays with the cat toy.

While I’m not against buying cat toys, I feel that the green thing to do is to be much more conscious of the toys we buy.  Is the cat toy made overseas and shipped here?  Can I find a cat toy made locally from natural and organic materials instead?  However, I believe the most eco-friendly thing to do is to make your own homemade cat toys.  Homemade cat toys can inspire the creative use of packaging, recyclables, old clothing, and other everyday items that would normally end up in the landfill.  When you make your own cat toys, you also reduce the carbon footprint required to ship a store-bought toy from China.  Yes, I’ve looked.  With the exception of small local companies, most cat toys have the ubiquitous “Made in China” sticker.

The benefits of homemade cat toys don’t just stop at being green.  Making your own homemade cat toys also saves you some green, especially when store bought cat toys can run upwards of $5 to $15.  Hence today, I’d like to encourage everyone to try making their own cat toys.  You’ve probably already come up with some great homemade cat toys already.  If your cat loves to play with toys, I’m sure you’re well versed in the cardboard box, the paper bag and the crunched up paper ball.

Furball loves to play and was a hyperactive kitten.  He’s approaching 8 years of age now, but he still runs around the house at top speed cholesterol lowering with a wild-eyed expression.  Hence, I’ve invented dozens of homemade cat toys.  Friends have tried making many of my homemade cat toy ideas and their cats love them too.  Because Furball got bored easily and went through so many toys, I found that most of my cat toy ideas simply repurposed “junk” from around the house.  I also didn’t have time to spend hours making cat toys, so the homemade cat toys had to be made in minutes if not seconds.

As a result of this experience making my own cat toys, I have compiled 52 homemade cat toy ideas into a delightful and fun book.  I recently published “Make Your Own Cat Toys: Saving the Planet One Cat Toy at a Time“.  The book contains instructions for making your own cat toys from everyday items such as toilet paper rolls, CDs, shopping bags, business cards, old T-shirts, cereal boxes and more.  It’s like a cookbook of homemade cat toy ideas.  The book also makes a great gift for cat lovers of all ages.  The witty writing is geared to adults, but the instructions for making most of the cat toys are so simple, that most kids can easily follow along (supervised by an adult, of course).  It’s like how Toy Story, the movie is enjoyed by adults and kids.

If you’re interested in being more eco-friendly and thinking about making your own homemade cat toys or looking for a great gift for a cat lover, I invite you to please check out the book, Make Your Own Cat Toys to learn more.  In the spirit of eco-friendliness and giving back, I also donate a portion of book sale proceeds to animal shelters and environmental charities.  The book is only $11.95, which is less than the cost of a couple of fancy cat toys.  It’s also printed in the U.S. to be more eco-friendly, using a print-on-demand service so that books are made only when someone orders one.

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Make Your Own Cat Toys: Saving The Planet One Cat Toy At A Time