What do you do with old, ignored cat toys?

I have a whole basket (large) full of cat toys that my cats don't play with.  I don't know what to do with them.

The kits received lots of new toys for Christmas.  Aside from Da Bird which they all love;  Spencer pretty much only plays with noisy toys with feathers.  Katie likes her plastic springs and a few red  furry mice;  yes, only the red ones. She won't play with any of the other colours. Abby loves anything with nip inside, but would prefer to spend her time cuddling with me than running around chasing toys.

Does anyone know if shelters take second hand cat toys if they have been vacuumed and steam cleaned to kill any bacteria etc? It would be a shame to throw out perfectly good toys, but there is no sense keeping them around if they aren't being played with and just spilled over onto the floor from time-to-time for me to keep picking up.

Hello there,

I'm purry and I hope I can answer your question today!

You could give them into a local charity shop or local cat shelter, but I am not sure if they would want them or not. I would think they would but I haven't been in this situation before.
If you wanted to make some money out of it then I can suggest you sell some on a website like eBay since you said you have a big collection of unused toys you could sell them cheap individually or sell them for a more expensive price as a bundle or bundles.

I hope I answered your question today.
If I did please take time to give me a thumbs up for this.

Yours thankfully,

Purry

We have that problem, too, and I've wondered about that. I go through the cats' toy box (it's shaped like a large mouse) from time to time, looking for the old toys and toys that are not in great shape anymore. I throw them away. Some of them are still really nice and I hate to get rid of them, but the kids don't play with them anymore.

BooBoo likes to poke around inside the toy box, looking for certain toys. He likes anything with catnip inside. It's so funny to see him nosing around, moving the toys around, trying to find what he's looking for. He usually manages to find what he wants.

Our shelter takes clean, old toys if that's any help. I would think it's not uncommon for shelters to take toy donations.

Or you can send them to me. *cough*

Bella & Thunder got new cat toys this year so I gave the old ones to our daughters new kitten.

Winchester said:

 
BooBoo likes to poke around inside the toy box, looking for certain toys. He likes anything with catnip inside. It's so funny to see him nosing around, moving the toys around, trying to find what he's looking for. He usually manages to find what he wants.

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LOL. My Boo and Sebastian do the same thing! I'll see their whole head inside their toy basket looking for something. I need to get a picture of this.

Much like human children, I do rotate their toys. They get enthusiastic about the ones they haven't seen in awhile, or that got buried at the bottom of the basket. If they ignore certain toys (even after having them stored away for a time), then I know it's time to toss or donate.

l rotate their toys and keep the ones not in use on a high shelf in the walk-in. Bretten will occasionally meow up there so l'll lift him up to select something else.

Also, l work with another crazy cat lady and occasionally we'll exchange toys that each of our cats are tired of.

A toy that the cat really enjoyed at some time but then has grown bored of, there are a couple of solutions on what to do with them.

The reason for this is they do get bored of the same ol stuff. If you took the most played with in the past toys and divide them into 3 groups, stashing 2 groups away, and leaving one out for play.

This might take new toys at first to get some interest.

Rotating them every month will keep them interested.

Especially if your cats love catnip,, sprinkle a bit or give a couple squirts into the bags to be stashed, and when rotated to the next bag of toys, it will seem like they were given a new interest in them.

The toys (and we all have those) that never were a hit in your home can be thrown into the washer and dryer, including feather toys, (which usually are NOT neglected toys though) and taken to a local shelter and handed out.

I get a bag of crunchy balls and mice, and a few other various types from petco every so often, and in abundance, so all of my fosters have loads of these already, so now and then I go to the humane society nearby, head to the cat adoptions room/area and hand them out.

Those sad, bored, lost-eyed kitties are just in there moping, waiting, sleeping, day in and day out.

I can't tell you how it makes me feel after going to each cage and popping a couple of clean (no cat smells on them) toys through each cage, and by the time all of the cages have a few new toys in them, I can stand back and that room is ALIVE!!  Even the saddest cats there have their ears forward into the curious/play-mode

What a huge pleasure to know I helped brighten alot of depressed cats, at least for a day. A great big spirit lifter. Theirs, and mine

Bless you for visiting the "inmates" at the shelter.  Although it is heartbreaking to leave them, for them, it is better to see a loving face than no visit at all. For those who are on the "Row", they will have a memory of at least one human who cared enough and loved enough, even if just for a moment - after all, for them, that moment will be lasting for Eternity!

....as for the subject of Old,Ignored Cat Toys:  even ferals get immense pleasure from toys. I have a couple of colonies whose locations allow for toys, so that's where some of my kitties' old toys go - even the tailless "panic mice" are appreciated!

Luckily .. I don't know yet.   

Even though our oldest boy only cared for his 'da Bird and multiple attachments .. after bringing a new kitten into our home, the toys are all brand new to him and seeing Monty wiggin out over the old toys even re-sparked Si's interest in them as well.

I'm sure if they get ratty looking I would just toss them.