It would be fair to say that I’m two cats and four cat toys away from being a crazy cat lady.
This holiday season I’ve taken to crafting my own cat toys (yessss homemade cat toys) to share with friends who are equally enthusiastic about their cat-animals. Last year I made homemade cat treats (super delicious and Tron approved), and this year I’ve partnered with Beyond Natural Cat Food to create happy-cat catnip-infused treat baskets. Plush, hand-stitched and catnapped toys, jars of Purina Beyond Natural Cat Food and stacks of Purina Beyond wet food all come together to create the perfect Cat Lady Gift.
We’re even turning our plush felt catnip toys into a flying feather and pompom cat toy. Tron is all the way into it. Attack mode go!
First, let’s gather our supplies!
Supplies
Here’s what you’ll need to make the felt cat toys and the strung cat toy:
• sheets of felt / two of each color
• yarn
• cotton balls or batting
• cat nip
• nylon thread / needles / a glue gun, too!
• cat fluff aka things your cat might like to attack: / feathers / pompom balls / strings / anything with catnip
• a cat
How To Assemble
• Place matching felt sheet on top of one another and trace out small patterns. I used cookie cutters (of course I did) to trace out heart-shaped and round felt shape pieces out of the felt.
• Thread a durable needle with string and begin to hand-stitch two matching pieces together.
• If you have a kit-cat, they will probably be curious about these happenings. Especially if there is cat nip involved.
• Once the felt pieces are hand-stitched about half way across , stuff each pocket with two cotton balls and a good amount of dried catnip.
• Finish hand-stitching across the rest of the cat toy and tie a knot to seal.
• For extra flair, use a hot glue gun to glue a few feathers to the inside of a toy before hand-stitching.
• Once the felt toys are stuffed and sewed, work on the dowel rod. Use a bit of hot glue to attach two or three long thicker nylon strings to hang off the dowel. Attach the strings about 4-inches down the dowel. Use more hot glue to attach one end of yarn about 6-inches from the top of the dowel. We’re going to wrap the yarn up the dowel as a decorative disguise for the nylon string.
• Wrap the yarn over the around the dowel, working your way up. Use a second color of yarn if you’d like. Choose your cats favorite colors… naturally.
• Thread the end of each thicker nylon string through the (previously used, rather durable) needle. Thread the needle through a few pom poms and cat toys. Tie knots to secure.
To complete our Cat Lady Gift Set we have our hand-stitched cat toy (pretty amazing), our hand-stitched felt toys, jars of Purina Beyond Natural Cat Food and stacks of Purina Beyond wet food.
These cat toys are Tron approved, extra fun, great exercise, lots of fun.
This post is brought to us by Beyond Natural Cat Food. No corn, wheat, soy, gnarly by-products, or artificial colors or preservatives. Just the real food I give to TRONCAT to keep him extra sassy, nappy, and wise. To try it yourself, click here! (while supplies last)
Aimee
You’ve won me over Crazy Cat Lady! I have a rescue cat that I thought was feral but has progressed into being an inside cat. I’ve never seen her play with anything until just recently. My poor little girl didn’t even know how to play! She now snuggles with me, but of course, only on her own terms & only if she’s in the mood! I’ll be working on these toys you’ve provided the patterns for.
Thank You!
The Crazy Pug, Goat, & Cat Lady aka Aimee
Donna
I would comment on your bon vivant cat toys, or the glorious Tron, but I kept scrolling down looking for the missing cats. I’m with Eidolons. Three cats is barely putting your paw into the petting pool. It takes, oh, so many more to designate Crazy Cat Lady. Be respectful of the tradition, young woman.
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie
Bahaha I love this. I should make it for myself…
Vanessa
I love how you’ve put “a cat” in your supply list! I will admit that I am a crazy cat lady with 3 cats. I recently made a scrating post for the little critters so I will be making these ASAP! Thanks Joy for the inspiration!
Stephanie @ Velez Delights
Wow, looks like a great gift for my cat! Happy Holidays & Merry *early* Christmas!
courtney
i just adore you and this blog so much. such a bright spot, as always. x
Abi
Love this idea! Also, your post when you found your lost cat was definitely my favorite of the entire year!!
Millie l Add A Little
I love the colours! I love it all Joy!
mscate
How lovely! Our Mr Pablo is 18 (alas a bit old for toys) but he does love company
Heather
Happy Christmas Joy and Tron! Thank you for all your wonderful posts, wisdom, recipes and photos this year. Here’s to a great 2015. Lots of love Heather (fellow trainee cat lady) and James (who is quite like Tron) xxx
Lindsey
This is such a cute idea! And it turned out so cute!
Noelle
LOVE this post so much. I’m a cat owning veterinary student so I think I pretty much automatically fall into the crazy cat lady category, but glad I’m not alone in dreaming up new foods and toys for our furry friends! Great ideas, thank you!
eidolons
Two cat away, huh? So three cats classifies you as a crazy cat lady? I dread to think what you’d call me (hint: i have a lot more than three cats). :P
Kathryn
I love this! I am an unashamed Crazy Cat Lady and this is one of my favorite posts I’ve seen this season. :) The good thing about cats is that they’re so easy to please when it comes to toys, but this looks like a project that is fun for them and for me.
xx Kathryn
http://www.throughthethicket.ca
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan
Yep, going to need to make these ASAP!