10 Easy DIY Cat Toys To Enrich All Nine of Your Cat’s Lives

It’s a tale (or should we say ‘tail’) as old as time. You, a doting cat parent, are innocently browsing the pet store when WABAM! a shiny new toy, a modern marvel, festooned in all the bells and whistles and promises of fulfilling your cat’s dreams, catches your eye. You read the reviews. The reviews are good! You envision the joy your cat will feel when you present this new jewel to their collection. It brings a tear to your eye how enriched their life will be! 

Aaaaand, you get it home, your feline overlord takes one accusatory sniff and walks away. Heartache, grief, a sense of abject failure as a pet parent. You soak up your sadness with a Dove chocolate bar and absently toss aside the shiny wrapper, all balled up along with your feelings of rejection. And your cat goes wild for it, batting that lil piece of “garbage” around for the next 15 minutes.  

Sound familiar? Cuz it sure sounds exactly like my old torti gal, Godzilla. Denier of Toys. Warden of Wrappers. 

While there are many awesome, high-tech cat toys out there these days, there’s no need to feel obligated to drop your hard-earned moolah on the latest and greatest, when you might already have the makings of your cat’s favorite new toy waiting in the recycling bin. Some of my, and my cats’, favorite toys have originated from the refuse pile (or been batted out of the sky mid transit to said pile).

DIY cat toys are low/no-cost, eco-friendly, and no engineering degree is required to construct them. Usually… These DIY options are also great if you have a particularly destructive cat who blows through toys like it’s his job, or if you are fostering kittens and need to change out toys between foster groups for sanitation. 

Convinced? Me too! Let’s check out some of my favorite DIY cat toys and how to make them.

Food-Based DIY Cat Toys

Getting the same old food from the same old dish day in and day out would get boring for anyone, even if they don’t have to wash their own dishes. Changing up a feeding or treat routine is not only a great way to add variety to your cat’s day, it can also be useful for encouraging overweight cats to be more active, or cats prone to scarf and barf to slooooow things down. 

When starting out, it’s best to add only a little of your chosen substrate to the box, so that your cat can easily see and access the treats therein. If you hide the treats too well, your cat may get frustrated and give up. I’ve got a champion quitter amongst my crew and she requires frequent parental assistance. As your kitty gets the hang of rooting out their treats, you can gradually increase the difficulty by adding in more obstacles for them to forage around.

Puzzle Feeder
Like the forage box, a puzzle feeder is designed to make your cat work a little to acquire their treat or meal. Brain games can be just as physically draining as lots of active play, so puzzle feeders are a great tool for cat parents who have a wild child at home. A puzzle feeder can be anything! As long as your cat has to paw at, sniff around, and or navigate an obstacle to get to their treat, then a puzzle feeder it is! 

Some of my favorite DIY puzzle feeders include cereal boxes with paw-sized holes cut out, egg cartons or muffin tins (can increase the difficulty by placing a ball or other obstacle over the holes), and a rolled or scrunched up towel. Just be mindful of not making your DIY puzzle feeder TOO puzzling, or you may wind up with a frustrated and hangry feline. Pro tip: Check for empty fruit boxes at your grocery store or a bulk store like Costco. These often already 90% of the way to a puzzle feeder already!

Paper Tube Treat Dispenser
Part puzzle feeder, part toy, all an imaginary prey item that your cat can hunt, catch, and disembowel! A cat’s dream! Simply take any clean paper towel or toilet paper tube, carefully cut out a few treat-sized holes, fold over one end to close, add treats, fold the other end, and you’ve done it! A paper mouse ready for consumption.

Once again, I recommend making it VERY easy for your cat to successfully knock loose their treats at first to prevent frustration. For cunning cats who figure out how to empty the tubes too quickly, you can add some difficulty by putting a small amount of crumpled paper inside the tubes, along with the treats. This will require more force and commitment from your cat to knock the treats out. 

Play-Based DIY Cat Toys

Play is an intrinsic part of being a cat. Cats are predators and even the laziest cat, somewhere deep down beneath the squishy tummy and dreams of lasagna, has a genetic need to hunt and catch prey. Toys that promote stalking, pouncing, chasing, and killing (picture adorably vicious bunny kicking) are key to a happy cat. 

Tube Sock Catnip Kicker
There are LOADS of catnip toys out there, but did you know that you can buy bulk catnip and make your own? My cats’ personal favorite brand is Yeowza, which consistently packs a wide-eyed, swishy-tailed punch. To create a cheap, fully customizable catnip kicker toy, all you’ll need is some quality nip and a sock, ideally a tube or other long sock. Stuff that baddy full of nip, tie off the end, and let kitty at it!

To create a larger kicker toy, you can use batting, additional old socks or scrap fabric, or even balled up newspaper to bulk up the sock and add the catnip around it. The addition of a crinkly, noisy interior can make the toy even more appealing for some cats! Just be mindful that cat claws and teeth will eventually put holes in the sock, so carefully consider whether your feisty felines are likely to try and ingest any of the stuffing contents. If you’re not sure, I would recommend choosing materials that can be more easily digested, such as plain paper.

Kitty not a nip-fiend? Not all cats react to regular catnip. For kitties who seem less than stoked about the usual meowajauana, try silvervine or honeysuckle alternatives. 

Scrap Fabric Wand Toy 
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Find a sturdy scrap fabric, fleece is often ideal, and cut out a desired length. Most fleece wand toys I’ve purchased are about 1 inch wide and anywhere from 3-5ft long, but you do you! Ensure you are selecting (or sewing) a piece of fabric that won’t fray or otherwise come apart and be a risk for being ingested. Some cats may be compulsive about chewing on string toys and can swallow them remarkably fast (I’ve had some close calls with my own resident dummy), and it is best to always put string toys out of reach when not in use.

Fur Balls (Stay with me here)
Yes, balls of fur, but not the regurgitated kind! Cats should be brushed regularly to prevent those kinds of hairballs and promote healthy fur, and all that fuzzy gold can be turned into free, organic, sustainably harvested cat toys! Or, if you have the book “Felting with Cat Hair” any number of crafts. To create a cat “wool” ball, simply collect loose fur as you brush your cat (try to minimize compression and leave it loose and fluffy). Once you have a good sized pile, you can roll the pile gently between your palms to form a ball.

I discovered these one day when trying to get cat fur off my hands and accidentally rolling my first fur ball. On a whim, I tossed it for the closest cat, and that day discovered that all four of my cats go bonkers for these little balls. They are lightweight, easy to carry around, and, I imagine, to a cat, smell really intriguing. My ancient old man cat frequently carries one around in his mouth, screaming about his triumphant catch.

Crinkle Balls
This is another very straightforward DIY cat toy. Like the Dove chocolate wrapper mentioned above, any piece of paper that will hold a bit of shape when crumpled can be instantly transformed into a battable, crinkle-able, source of cheap kitty thrills. This is another time to be mindful of the materials you choose, as not all paper products are safe for kitties to be biting on and potentially ingesting. My favorite and safest option is usually plain brown packing paper that comes with deliveries. 

Mental Stimulation-Based DIY Cat Toys

While all toys can be considered mentally enriching, some are more geared towards providing novelty, a little change of pace or scenery to scratch the curious itch cats are so well known for. And for those that maybe have a little excess of pent up emotions that might need an outlet (looking at my guy, Pork Belly Sandwich), #10 is specifically for you.

Sniffari Zone
Often we think of sniffing enrichment as a dog’s game. And while, sure, dogs are more olfactory-based than cats, our feline companions enjoy a novel sniff just as much as Fido. Fresh grass, a few fallen leaves, a bar of soap, a dirty sock, all of these smells can be a source of novelty to a cat, which is great mental stimulation. Be careful to select items that are safe for your cat to smell/inhale.

For any object that has a safe scent but maybe isn’t great for direct contact (the bar of soap, for instance), I recommend placing it in a small plastic container with a few holes poked into the lid. Utilizing containers to hold scented objects can be a convenient way to easily rotate through different scented items without creating a mess. Just be careful about using a container for REALLY smelly items, as they might leave a permanent odor behind.  

Box Fort/Tunnel System
Just like we all have done as kids, it’s time to build a fort! Take any number of cardboard boxes, cut an appropriately cat-sized hole in 1-3 sides of each box, and configure them together on the floor of an open area into Fort Feline–No Dogs Allowed. Toss a couple favorite toys inside, maybe sprinkle a little vroom vroom powder (cat nip) and watch your cats become instant castle conquerors. After a few days, you can simply rearrange how the boxes are configured to create a whole new fort to explore!

Many cats are what we call “ground dwellers”, preferring to keep all four feet on the ground and who find low hiding places preferable to high places (like cat trees). These cats may be especially taken with the opportunity to explore the novel spaces and nooks and crannies of a box fort. 

Designated Destruction Station
This is another behavior we often attribute more to dogs than cats, but some cats crave destruction too! It may seem like an uncommon feline attribute, aside from the proverbial knocking of items off shelves, but I’ve had multiple cats in my life now that get a lot of satisfaction (and I think, stress relief) from being able to shred things like paper and cardboard. Maybe more importantly, for our own sanity, I think we all recognize how difficult it can be to stop a cat’s bad habits, especially when it is so stimulated for them. So rather than fight them, let’s lean in!

To create a destruction zone for the shred-savoring cats in your life, all you need is a cardboard box, an enclosed cat bed, or any other vessel that you can stuff with shreddable materials that your cat can pull from at will. Placing the materials in something that requires a bit of fishing out is a great way to get more bang for your buck. Again, be mindful of the materials you offer up to the Shred Diety, in case of ingestion. 

Raise your hands if you now have the crafty itch! I bet you’re never going to look at a pile of packing paper the same again, are you? What DIY cat toy from this list are you going to try out first? Do you have others that you’ve made and your cats have adored? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.