What are good cat toys?

[Life_is_Simple]

Hi... My bf has an 8 month old kitty. What are good cat toys, so she doesn't get bored during the day?

[Rosemary]

Our cats like small pom-poms, especially the glitter ball type, for playing fetch. They will carry them around and leave them in various places where they know we will see them. Cheapest place to buy the glitter balls is at the craft store. Our cats prefer smaller ones, which are probably also safer for the cats if pieces come out of the balls. I think the ones we buy are about an inch in diameter.

But if the cat is alone for long working hours during the day, a playmate might be the best 'toy.'

[Selah]

Our kittens like things that roll and things they can pick up and bat around. Their favorite rolling thing is a toilet paper tube that I cut in half, and their favorite things to pick up are little "mice" wrapped in nylon cord that they can carry around in their mouths. I agree...getting another cat gives them great company and real-life stimulation, provided they are temperamentally suited to one another.

[Tweety]

A large paper bag is a favorite around here. I roll the rim over to stiffen it and keep it open. The bag lasts about a week before it is torn to shreds,so I always make sure to get a new one every week at the grocery.
Another favorite with my old and young cats is a circular plastic track with a ball inside. They hit the ball and it whirls around the track, and there is a corrugated cardboard scratch pad in the middle of the track that gets a lot of use, too.
Little fake mice are always fun, but I find that I need to swap them out every now and then. The same old toys get boring after a while.

[goldensmom]

Yup, another cat. Second to another cat is milk container rings. Of all the toys I bought over the years for my cats they still preferred milk container rings. We have a lot of catnip that grows wild around our farm and we'd rub any cat toy with catnip and they loved it.

[treehugger]

Second to another cat is milk container rings. Of all the toys I bought over the years for my cats they still preferred milk container rings.

I was just going to mention those milk rings. The absolute favorite toy of my playful Angelo. Bonus: frugal! And who cares when they get lost under the fridge; there is always another one coming along.

Not to be a downer, but I feel like I need to mention that getting a second cat isn't guaranteed peace and harmony and playtime. We got a second cat when our first, Ophelia, was 4 years old. That was 13 years ago, and they still don't get along. :( Admittedly, it probably works better with kittens.

Kara

[Florence]

Large paper bags are wonderful kitten entertainment centers.

[Life_is_Simple]

Rosemary

I was thinking about the craft store. One of her favorite "toys" is a something that looks like a pipe cleaner and is pink. It looks like something from a craft store.

I am sometimes the "playmate." Too bad there is not another kitty on the horizon for her to play with.

[puglogic]

My cats' favorite was a ball of tin foil with a makeshift "tail" sticking out. I'd tuck a length of heavy yarn into the foil so it was trapped there, then scrunch the foil up into a ball about 3/4" in diameter. When they smacked it, it would shoot across the room at great velocity. Hours of fun.

[Life_is_Simple]

A large paper bag is a favorite around here.
I will bring some paper bags up!

[Life_is_Simple]

Of all the toys I bought over the years for my cats they still preferred milk container rings.

I will look for those. I personally don't drink milk, but know others who do.

[Life_is_Simple]

My cats' favorite was a ball of tin foil with a makeshift "tail" sticking out. I'd tuck a length of heavy yarn into the foil so it was trapped there, then scrunch the foil up into a ball about 3/4" in diameter. When they smacked it, it would shoot across the room at great velocity. Hours of fun.
Mmmmmm! Tin foil and yarn! Good! Also, this kitty LOVES great velocity ;) I have her play with plastic golf balls, and she can bat them around fiercely. She demands that a human retrieve them from "the rough" and give them to her. SHe might be getting bored with them though.

[Life_is_Simple]

I should mention, I wish my bf would play with her more. He'll say, "Why does my kitty like you more than me?" Well, you have to play with her and pet her.

I can't be there all the time though, and I don't want kitty being bored during her formative youth.

[artist]

My cat loves small balls made out of tin foil. He loves the sound it makes when it's on the hardwood floors.

[rosarugosa]

I'll third the milk bottle rings! All kinds of little things: twisty ties, wine corks, a twisted bit of cellophane. You can really be totally frugal when it comes to cat toys - they totally get the simple living thing!

[Maxamillion]

Cardboard boxes. Cats love boxes! I'll cut little windows and doors in the boxes sometimes for them. And mine love plastic rings from milk jugs or other drink containers too. A very frugal cat toy that I made recently that one of mine loves is made from a cereal box, with both ends taped shut. I cut six circles on one side about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter and put several of her little toys in there--some balls, plastic drink rings, bent cardboard disks, a little mouse. And last week when I was at a thrift store, they had a cat swat track for $2. My youngest kitty has gone crazy over it. Something else my cats like is being able to sit in front of a window or the screen door and look outside.

Here's instructions for making a similar cereal box cat toy. http://shiannechang.blogspot.com/2008/02/diy-cat-toy-box.html

[puglogic]

Like I NEEDED an excuse to post some Maru....who definitely knows how to have fun with common household objects

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-iIbotFkzQ

[Jemima]

Cats are like kids - you can buy them all sorts of expensive toys and they end up playing with ordinary household objects, especially trash. My dear, late little cat, Sparkle, used to tip over wastecans looking for toys, never mind there was an easily accessible box of store-bought toys sitting on the floor. The only toy she really liked was a rabbit's foot sort of thing with feathers and a bell on a piece of elastic that attached to a doorknob. The SPCA vet recomended toys with only natural components such as fur and feathers, and that proved to be true.

My remaining cat, Rosie, loves to grab at a shoestring which I dangle slightly above her head. Boxes are a treat, and she loves to explore the closets, never mind she's been in every one 987 times. Things she can crawl under are good, too, like bathmats and roomy bedspread counterpanes.

[cdttmm]

Paper bags and cardboard boxes are among my cats favorite toys. Chasing the laser pointer light is a favorite game. We once made the mistake of buying this cat toy: http://www.fatcats.com/html_site/1_circus.shtml and did not sleep until we threw it away. I gave one to my brother and his cat similarly tortured him with late night kitty antics. Start your kitten on catnip now and she will love it for life. Sometimes cats aren't interested in catnip if they don't get exposed to it until later in life -- not sure why that is.

[daisy]

In addition to paper bags and boxes, our young cat Lily loves things like straws, empty toilet paper rolls (and she knows how to empty them herself, unfortunately), large sheets of packing paper that come in boxes, rolled up socks that she can fight and "kill", as well as any ball that rolls well and is light enough to pick up. We have small dogs and when I throw their mini tennis balls, Lily chases the balls with them.

[Life_is_Simple]

Update: I haven't tried all your suggestions yet, though gave kitty a paper bag that she was half interested in. ;)

I brought kitty a catnip carrot, which is a very tough orange burlap-cloth-like carrot filled with catnip. She went completely wild! The first day, it was like she was an addict, glazed eyes, etc. Then the 2nd day, she was able to rip it open, so that was the end of that toy. It was catnip overload:laff:

[sweetana3]

We just got a new kitten and her favorites are:
kid's small fabric snake that she carries around
wire Kitty Dancer with ends of rolled cardboard.
balls of all kinds.
furry tail on a stick that we can wave although she plays with it all on her own.

I have to pick up her toys every day and the next day they are all over the floor again.

[gmpg54]

Bella,the in-house diva,likes her fishing pole,its got a feather and a mouse and she has a ball!!! For when you're home a laser pointer

[sweetana3]

Update: Princess is now on love with pipecleaners. Middle sized ones are best. I look her in the eye and wrap it around my finger talking all the time. Then I throw it up or down the stairs. She retrieves them and asks for it to be thrown again. She also carries them all over and they get stuck under the refrigerator, stove and sofa. Right now most are lost.

[Life_is_Simple]

FunNY!!!! I was just thinking, "The Kitty needs some new toys. Oh look! A thread about cat toys. Oh, that was my original thread!" :laff:

Anyway, I may try the pipe cleaner idea, and the smackable tin foil balls next ;)

[jp1]

I would 40th (or whatever) the milk rings. Our boys LOVE them. Also the cardboard boxes. They are absolutely fascinated by all types of boxes. I always joke anytime I get a gift that someone sent from amazon that it's really a gift box for them that happens to have something in it for me as well. Even boxes too small for them are of interest. A couple of months ago there was a large (14 x 16 x 36 inch-ish) box down in our building's garbage room, in perfect shape. I brought it up for our boys and they had as much fun with it as my sister and I had with the refrigerator boxes our dad used to bring home from the appliance store across the street when we were kids. Sorry I'm such a crappy photographer, but here you can see how they like all boxes, small, medium, or large...


http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/jpatter492/small_zpsd97bd731.jpg
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/jpatter492/medium_zps6cf0f19f.jpg
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/jpatter492/photo_zps90c4827f.jpg

[sweetana3]

I just pulled 25+ milk rings from under rugs, a file cabinet and the refrigerator. (Yes, a couple of cats figured out that they could hide their toys under the area rugs.)

[Minz]

Boxes, paper bags and foil balls.:)

[iris lily]

I'd never be able to leave my house if Maru was my cat, I would constantly have to be kissing his fat cat face.

[redfox]

I'd never be able to leave my house if Maru was my cat, I would constantly have to be kissing his fat cat face.

word

[bae]

Dogs make great cat toys.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y67a0xcJa-o/UOYk6MYf7MI/AAAAAAAAHEY/oVbMw2OL_YA/s720/Awesomized.jpg

[Spartana]

Cute pup Bae. I think my little ratdog would probably make a good cat toy. She's 18 pounds of obnoxious fun and fury and knows how run from cats who outweight her :-)!

[MissMandy]

Dogs make great cat toys.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y67a0xcJa-o/UOYk6MYf7MI/AAAAAAAAHEY/oVbMw2OL_YA/s720/Awesomized.jpg

I thought the same thing! :)) Laser pointers are GREAT though. My cat can hear the chain jingle and comes running whenever I so much as pick it up.

[puglogic]

When we had cats, I'd make foil balls with catnip rolled up in the center of them, and with a long piece of yarn sticking out of them. Very popular items and cost just pennies.

[domestic goddess]

Don't know about dogs; mine never paid a bit of attention to the cats, and the cats eventually left them alone. But I second (or third, or whatever) the laser pointer. The cat we have now doesn't really care for toys, but she will really go for the laser pointer! Don't know why she finds it so much more appealing, but I suspect that it's because there is a human at the other end of it. A box is also good for hours of entertainment, as is laundry still warm from the dryer, but that usually leads to naps.