Tag Archives: toys

Cat in a box!

I’m sure it’s happened to all of you before – you’ve tried to treat your cat to a lovely new toy and within 5 minutes, she’s bored of it and has decided to play with an empty box instead!

Maybe now is the time to give in to your creative state-of-mind and turn some every day objects in to fun cat toys! Here are just a few ideas to get those creative juices flowing!

Medicine Bottles

Ever since she was a kitten, my cat has had a strange fascination with my medication bottles! But of course, it is never a good idea to just hand them a bottle filled with pills just in case they have what it takes to take those special child-proof caps off!

If you have some old medicine bottles laying around, you could easily turn these into a fun cat toy! Simply empty the bottle and scrub the container really well. Instead of medication, fill it up with dry beans or dry rice, put the cap back on and voila!

Baby Gym

Old baby gyms could easily be transformed into a wonderful cat gym! Just remove the baby toys and instead, hang some feathers on strings and bottle caps from chords on it instead. Be sure to keep the chords fairly short so your cat doesn’t get tangled in all the string!
Yellow Pages.

Perfect if you have lots old books or an old ‘Yellow Pages’ lying around! Just open the book on random pages and sprinkle them with Catnip. Put some catnip on the outside of the book as well. Now, sit back and watch your cat roll and flip her way through the book!

Toilet Paper Roll

It might be a little messy to clean up, but it will definitely entertain your cat. All you need is a PVC pipe, clothesline and a roll of toilet paper! Simply run the clothesline through the pipe and place the toilet paper roll on the pipe. Tie the ends of the clothesline together and hang the final piece up on a doorknob or cabinet door and voila, lots of fun for kitty!

Doggy Toys – How to entertain your best buddy!

Toys are an absolute ‘must’ in an animals life! Besides fighting boredom, they can also help prevent certain problem behaviours from developing.

As some of you might know from previous experience, cat’s can be rather picky when it comes to enjoying a toy. Sometimes they quickly push their new shiny toy aside for an old newspaper and other times it can’t get enough of a catnip toy mouse!

Dogs on the other hand are often happy to play with any object they come across, which means you will have to spend some time monitoring your pet-friend’s playtime to avoid any “unscheduled” activities! Shiny squeakers are often one of many dogs favourite toys. If you are planning on buying your little friend one of these, remember to make sure the squeaker is buried in its centre. Your dog may feel that he must find and destroy the source of the squeaking so it might be good to monitor your dog whilst he’s playing with it to make sure the poor thing doesn’t accidentally ingest it!

A few safe suggestions include a very hard rubber toys like chewing bones, as they are great fun to chew on and to carry around. Or if your dog enjoys the occasional tug war, perhaps buy him a rope toy. These are usually available in “bone” shape with knotted ends and can provide hours of endless fun!

You could keep a variety of toys available for your dog to play with at all times. Perhaps provide him with one toy to carry, one to “kill”, one to roll, one to “baby” and one to chew. That way there will always be something there to entertain him, whatever mood he’s in!

“Hide and Seek” is a fun way for dogs to enjoy something new and get rid of excess energy whilst they’re stuck indoors on a rainy day! “Found” toys are often far more interesting and appealing than toys that are directly introduced to them. So perhaps spend some fun, quality time together and make a little interactive game out of finding toys or treats.