Fun cheap things to build for your cats!

nearly

I thought it would be nice to have a thread to share ideas for things to build for cats... toys, place spaces... cheap/free things to make.

I'm looking for ideas on how to build a cat run at 'the back of the house'... I'm not that good with DIY stuff... me + powertools = not happy. (had an accident as a kid, don't ask!) I don't have a cat yet.. but just trying to figure out what it would take to make my home cat-friendly... I'd love to have a cat run.

I thought I'd share this to start the ball rolling,


Make your Happy Cat Apartment Box!

Take some boxes, and stack them next to each other, and on top of each other. You can cut out holes in between the boxes, so the cats can crawl through, but still have room enough to sleep. Put on little curtain and flaps, and things hanging. Put a shallow 'can tray' kinda box on top, and some old t-shirts in the boxes for a bit of cozy. Change it up every once in a while. Place it in the sunniest place in your apartment.. I swear you'll see some very happy cats!

You know its creative, eco-friendly, and *cheap*


This is my friends cat apartment, and she's always changing it and adding stuff to it. Her cats live indoors only so she says this is important. And fun too.

Glowing

Haha that's great.

When I had two fosters - I just put a cardboard box on the kitchen floor and drapped an old duvet over it and a nearby chair to make a 'den'. Jesus the fun they got out of that! They spent hours playing hide and seek in and around the box, then they could sleep on the top of it.

Nothing as fancy as the above, but goes to show you that you don't need expensive toys to keep your cats happy!

MsFifers

Thats brilliant!

I find the old sheet thrown over a couple of boxes/chair/etc is a great one as well - they love lunging out at each other from under it.

I am also looking at ways of making my garden secure for my indoors cats (also no DIY skills) so if anyone has any suggestions about that I'd be grateful to learn!

ValerieR

I used an old polystyrene box that fish shops receive their fish in, cut a door into it, covered it with fabric ... My little kitten loves it ! :-)



Valerie

Alun

Our cats seem to be able to sense how much money has been spent on any toy or plaything, and their response is inversely proportional to that. the more expensive it is, the less attention it gets. Old cardboard boxes, bits of string, cotton reels FTW. One of our cats is currently sleeping in a box that a pair of walking boots came in.

Glowing

ValerieR wrote: »

I used an old polystyrene box that fish shops receive their fish in, cut a door into it, covered it with fabric ... My little kitten loves it ! :-)

Valerie

That's cos it smells like fish!

ValerieR

This box doesn't smell ... I meant live-fish-shop (ornamental).:p

Valerie

carwash_2006

The tower of boxes wouldn't last 5 seconds in my house, I've seen what they do to one cardboard box if you try to leave it closed. They do like sitting in boxes though and I often leave them one until they make too much of a mess.

I'd hate to think of the mess a polystyrene box would cause under their influence.

I've found wooden structures or the shop bought climbing trees the only thing that last and don't make a horrendous mess.

lostinnappies

get some plastic chicken wire/fence. Bend it in an "n" shape like a tunnel and then just peg peg peg all the way along until they cant escape. Block it off either end using some more chicken wire that has been tied on using wires and can be opened and closed like a door.

BlackCat2008

Thats a great idea,for kittens, but mine would take them apart box by box then piece by piece and mail them back to were they came from, cats do love boxes, mine think there great but they don't last long. but that is brillent.

bnagrrl

My cat loves to go for naps in reusable shopping bags.
My poor mum got an awful fright once when she went to pick one up!

Lauragoesmad

My bro's cat Boo doesn't need much to have fun!

Weidii

You can get catnip mice fairly cheaply in most petshops -cats love 'em.

Sigma Force

lol very inventive

I find the bigger the cat the smaller the space they try to squeeze themselves in to. Baskets from xmas/birthday pressies seem to be popular.

Outdoor aviarys work the same way as a cat run timber and wire with a double door system to prevent escape. You can buy them but cheaper to build yourself.

My previous cat used to love playing with pens..easily amused or tissue paper...you sit at one side of the door the cat on the other and slip the tissue paper under the door..they go bonkers for it.

nearly

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

My bro's cat Boo doesn't need much to have fun!

ROFL!! OMG ... that should be a LOL cat. really!

Jack B. Badd

Quick question re cats playing with (news)paper: our cat seems to love playing with crumpled up sheets of paper and after a while will rip them into tiny pieces that she can deposit all over our apartment and pounce on. She's a really cheap date The thing is that she chews on these little pieces when she catches them and I think she might have eaten a few. Is eating paper bad for a cat?

nearly

Tips for building a happy Cat Apartment:

- Get good sized boxes. I started to find I only have two decent boxes. Most were big moving boxes or small boxes from electronic items, or boxes which weren't tall enough.
- I cut small holes for them to peek through, and holes at the top so I could stick string and ribbon through.
- The flap was getting stuck so I cut another 1 cm around the hole so it moves more easily.
- I doubled up tape to stick them together then sealed with another round of tape.
- They seemed to scratch when they got out, but it wasn't because they're peeing in it, they just need to scratch and mark this very cool place. So I put a little rug there in the front. They use it alot.
- I have only two boxes connecting.. SO FAR (getting more - but there is a hole between them. Cut hole in one, line up, draw outline and cut the other. Voila!

The first photo diappeared! It is over here on Flickr:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/feather/2908626172/in/set-72057594071358242/

I was talking with my friend who made the Happy Cat Apartment in the photo. Turns out it was fine with two cats, but she got a 3rd rescue cat, and there has been much fighting for dominance.

The structure there only has two levels at the top, for two cats. Not good if you have 3! You can clearly see Toby inside there getting a little miffed probably.

Basically, cats determine territory by VERTICAL levels. It's really important to have height differences for cats. My friend had to get alot of advice about this because the cats were having an awful time of it. By making a few adjustments, her cats have been way less stressed out.

There's more info on Google about it: Vertical Territory for Cats





This is the one I started making:

anniehoo

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

My bro's cat Boo doesn't need much to have fun!

Crackin up at those pics definitely a LOLCat pic "Loner me iz"

giddybootz

anniehoo wrote: »

Crackin up at those pics definitely a LOLCat pic "Loner me iz"

Or...'Does my butt look big in this?!?'