Cheap 'n' cheerful homemade pet toys

mountaindreams

Our 3 month old kitten loves Nerf bullets

PennyForThem_2

Ordinary bird feathers from wood pigeons, geese, swans, magpies which I find on my walks provide entertainment for my cat.  She carries them around and uses them to wake me up in the morning.  When tatty they get chucked.

Cardboard box is great fun but placing in the right environment seems important - in hall it got ignored, in kitchen it has been used as I would expect.

Christmas balballs - the protusion which includes hanging mechanism (loop) to tree means they bounce aimlessly and unexpectantly - much preferred to plastic perfectly round balls.

Robust ties for freezing/organic carrots - pawed off the counter and chased round the kitchen but short attention span toy.

Katiehound

Plaited /woven dog toys made from T shirts - tuggers & bones.
Very important: must be cotton with a right & wrong side (like stocking stitch) because very fine rib doesn't stretch to make 'cords'
  Lots of different Youtube choices but this one shows basics

This video gives you an idea of what to do- all the T shirts I have found have side seams so you cannot make toys as long as demonstrated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGzFC-0Yj3o

here are a few of mine- top 3 are square knots , a round one  at the bottom. You can make the 'round' one very much chunkier with loads of cords
Left over 'cords' tied into knot ball

tealady

Practice golf balls (for cats). They can get their claws in and throw them.
However one cat I had loved to bat around knotted up crisp packets (good job my OH was happy to supply them, I'm not a crisp fan).
Her (cat that is), loved to do a running jump onto a mat onto a lino floor, thus enjoying a slide across the hall. Kept puss amused for hours.

Mnoee

I was a bit unwell recently and reminded of some more free cat entertainment - the very long YouTube videos of birds and squirrels and apps like CatAlone. Neither of my cats will actually use the apps 'properly' but both enjoy watching the butterflies and bugs dart around.

itsanne

My cats loved swish type curtain hooks when they were kittens. They'd play fetch with them and carry them around for ages. Paper bags are a big hit. One periodically likes to run on the (wooden) kitchen floor and then slide across it - no mat needed!

MSE_Laura_F

Hope you don't mind the bump, but this thread is set to become an MSE blog, so if you have any more homemade pet toy ideas or photos, please sling 'em this way! 🐈 🐕‍🦺 🐠 🐇 

TripleH

Corks, felt pads, tennis balls, plastic containers all cheap toys our cat brings to us to play fetch with.

She is a Maine Coon and gets so enthusiastic when in the mood.

Glad she's neutered as I wouldn't put it past her to drop off a kitten at our feet for us to throw for her. (I jest, we would never throw kittens).

Katiehound

Just to add to my piece about the woven ' bones' made from T-shirt cords. i used a whole load of shorter leftover cords tied with a big knot and then plaited rather than woven. these made toys for smaller dogs. All sold for charity last year. (Big knot at each end as the woven ones) Sorry no photo!

Murphybear

TripleH said:

Corks, felt pads, tennis balls, plastic containers all cheap toys our cat brings to us to play fetch with.

She is a Maine Coon and gets so enthusiastic when in the mood.

Glad she's neutered as I wouldn't put it past her to drop off a kitten at our feet for us to throw for her. (I jest, we would never throw kittens).

I’m pleased to hear it