Making your own cat toys

Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

What is a "grab machine animals"? Sounds interesting.

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The "grab machine" is a glass case filled with stuffed toys. You operate the "grab arm" with a stick on the outside of the case, and try to hook one of the toys.

Originally Posted by jcat

The "grab machine" is a glass case filled with stuffed toys. You operate the "grab arm" with a stick on the outside of the case, and try to hook one of the toys.

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Oh duh!! I did know what that is!! Thanks for re-educating me.

Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

OK, here are the pom pom balls I made for my cats. The instructions said to cut the excess string, but I decided to leave it there on one of them to make it more enticing to my cats.

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I love your pom poms! Can you give me instructions on making them? I buy lots of toys for Ellie and Smokey (Smokey is the only one that really plays with them, and it is hard keeping my 80 pound golden retriever away from their toys, I have replaced so many). The other day, I gave him the little plastic lid off of my water bottle and he loved it. He also found a candy wrapper and was all over the house with it. LOL

Ok, this is the 2nd request I have received for instructions on making pom poms. Maybe I should go into business! Seriously though, I found two different websites with instructions on how to make them. I should note that I did NOT use a needle as per the instructions. I used my fingers to pull the yarn through hole in the circle. I also am circle-challenged and traced a coffee mug for the 2 1/4 inch diameter circle. The instructions also say to use cardboard. I did, but I think I'm going to cut circles from my plastic Oxi-Clean lids or bottoms and use those because the plastic may last longer than the cardboard. DANG. I am cheap!!

Pom-Pom Instructions Site 1
Pom-Pom Instructions Site 2

Thank you so much!!

Originally Posted by stampit3d

what did you do to keep the feathers intact???

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I use wing feathers, which are very sturdy. They are held together with strapping tape, layered to provide a tight friction fit in the little red thingy attached to the end of the string. If you use the right kind of feathers, they can take a lot of abuse before they're destroyed. Feathers can be found at a hobby/arts & crafts store.

If anything beats milk jug rings or soda bottle rings, i have yet to find it.
those rings and clear out the kitchen and youve got a full kitty arena.
or in the bath tub. and that is toooooo funny watching the cat in the tub chasing a ring.

I do love your pom poms too. (that felt awkward to type )

Thanks Coaster for the "feather info"...I`m not sure what trapping tape is..but I`ll find out. You don`t happen to know what the red "thingy" is called that holds it all together do you? (Somthing I can get at a craft store too...or hardware?)
Middletown...my cats like those rings too. Sure is a cheap toy...but they sure do hurt when you step barefooted on them on a hardwood floor!
Also try your cats with ping pong balls in the bathrtub....they really fly! (Both the balls and the cats!) :-) Linda

I don't know what the red thingy is called either ... it comes with the Da Bird toy and is the thing the feathers are stuck in to and has a clip to connect to the string.

I made my cat a climbing post when he was a kitten. I went to the local carpet store and asked for scrap pieces of carpet (not the loopy kind, they can get their claws caught in it) and they gave it to me for free. Anyway......its been five years and that climbing post is his favorite.....I made it just tall enough for him to lie on it to see out the window and he does.....80% of the time

I also make my own cat nip toys....very easy to make and Joey loves them.

I tied a cord to an empty large spool for thread and hung it from the brace under the table in my sewing room. The cats lay on the floor and bat the thing around while I'm sewing.

I am glad I found this thread too. I have been waiting for the local petsmart to get a certain scratch post back in stock, after reading some replies... I am going to try and make a similar one. Those pom poms are lovely!

i make lots of toys for my cats, pandy loves straws so iv'e found some pretty inventive things to do with them and she just 'kills' them over and over again

when i was babysitting my sister in law brought me a huge plastic crate of craft stuff, paddlepop sticks, straws, wool, string, fluffy balls, feathers colored cellafone paper and heaps of other stuff, i don't babysit anymore so i use it to make cat toys and i stock up whenever i'm in the city and see something that might be useful.

pandy also loves feathers, so i make some interesting toys using them, i drop one and let it flutter to the ground and she just goes mental lol

i also have a huge bag of good catnip and material so i just use the sewing machine and make catnip toys, it's heaps cheaper and they love them just the same, if not more.

not long ago i saw cat cushions selling on ebay, they had catnip in them or something but they were quiet expensive and the material didn't look very soft, plus, bonnie is a big cat and they were too small to be comfortable for her.

so i brought a heap of polar fleece off ebay very cheap, i have a huge blue and purple peice and they have giraffs on them, i made a beautiful big cushion for the kits and it's filled with down and catnip, they totally love it and it was so much cheaper.

my husband and i also made their cat tower, again because it was cheaper and i wasn't too keen on the one's they were selling in the stores, bonnie's very finicky with enclosed spaces and it had to be sturdy too, they totally love it, it's become their castle

felicia

Tommy's favorite interactive toy is a little "mousie" I made from fake fur. It's attached to a wand and string, and he just loves to chase it. Never gets tired of it, and the other two cats aren't interested in it, so it's perfect.

I came home from visiting my parents last night, and found that my boyfriend and our roommate had tied a little kitty toy to fishing line from a small (but professional) fishing pole. They were fly fishing with the cats.

Very cute of course, but I found that Tanuki, who has a habit of grabbing these toys and sprinting off with them, was getting tangled in the fishing line. And since it's a real fishing pole, the line locks, and tightens around her legs.

Of course we dismantled it. But has anyone found a fishing pole made for cats?

Originally Posted by laureen227

i don't so much as make them toys, as throw toy-like objects down for them to play with, like ice cubes & milk carton lids... i do make Pixel footballs out of paper towels, but that's pretty much it. i did open the seams of some stuffed cats & add catnip, then re-sewed them.
Rosehawke made an awsome cat tree for her cats - you can see it here.

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PHEW! that is one gorgeous cat tree... and i'm having trouble just building a scratching post! lol. thumbs up to rosehawke. say, can i get send her a mail-order for one of those?