Super Easy Cat Toy!

If your cat is anything like mine, they love those little mice that rattle and cost abot $1 each. If they're really like my Daphne's, then they'll disappear into some corner or under a bit of furniture just about as soon as you bring them home.

Well, I got so tired of having to bring these home that I decided to make my own out of scraps I had lying around. I was inspired by this post on Design Sponge for an even simpler toy, but I don't think my cat would go for it...

Materials and Tools:
-Scrap Fabric (knit or stretch fabric works best)
-PVC pipe (3/4" diameter)
-thick paper or cardstock
-rice, dried beans, beads or anything else that will rattle
-tape
-scissors
-pipe cutter (or hacksaw)

I used jersey knit fabric left over from an attempt to make t-shirt yarn. I wasn't happy with the way the yarn knit up - I thought it was much too stiff once knit. So I had long strips of yarn about 1.5" wide just waiting for a project.

Step 1:

Cut a 1.5" length of PVC pipe using a hacksaw or pipe cutter if you have one. Tape a piece of thick paper over one end to seal it up.

Step 2:

Add about 10 grains of rice (or beads, or whatever) to the pipe to rattle around, than seal up the other end, Tape it all together really well.

Step 3:

Take a long strip of fabric and tie it around the middle of your pipe/rattle, leaving a "tail" of about 4". Position the tail so that it is hanging out one end and begin wrapping the longer strip of fabric around the pipe/rattle. Keep wrapping the strip of fabric around the pipe until it's completely covered, then cut of the rest.


Step 4:

Cut a strip of fabric about 8" long and tie it around the pipe, holding the loose end that you had wrapped around it in place. Make a knot to look like a pair of ears. Cut off any extra fabric.

Step 5:

Play with your kitty!

You could probably add catnip to these (just wrap it up in the fabric), but my cat doesn't actually really like catnip for some reason...

Here's a great site for other ideas on how to make cat toys. There's even a video for how to make a toy out of your cats own fur...