What are your recession busting home made pet toys?

Pumpkinseeds

As it says on the tin really:) In the past we'd have spent a lot on pet toys, but those days are gone for a while. I've often noticed our cats get more fun from packaging than they do from the toys. Last night I made paper balls out of an old supermarket receipt and the cats went nuts chasing them around.

Favourites in our house are:

Bottle caps
Tinfoil balls
Paper balls
Slippers
Cardboard boxes

Oh and sometimes I'll bring home a feather if I find one on the street.

So has anyone else got homemade pet toy ideas to share?

Raminahobbin

A simple blanket has a strange effect on my dog. She tries to put it over her head and it's like she knows she can't really hurt me when she bites me through it, so it gives her full licence to be as vicious as she likes once the blanket is on her head. She snarls, snaps, bites- but as soon as she can see (i.e: the blanket slips off or I take it off) she calms instantly.

Typing this I know it sounds like she has had some sort of blanket related trauma, but it really is just a game!! She is clearly enjoying it (stumpy tail going mad) and often puts the blanket on her head all by herself by nuzzling into it and biting you through it if she is on the couch beside you.

Same thing happens when you try to grab her paws through the duvet. It's all a big game and she tries to dig and bite your hand!

borderlinemeath

Old socks that have lost their elastic or have holes make great rope toys. Tie them together at one end, twist into a rope and tie together at the other end and that's it. Hours of tug fun.

One of mine loves a plastic bottle, till she gets the top off then she gets bored. She also loves any slippers or anything furry - my hot water bottle (with a furry cover) burst recently and I threw it into the bin in my bedroom. Next day I found it in her bed!

baby and crumble

For small furries a great one is a toilet roll (or for hardcore fun, a kitchen roll!) stuffed both ends with toilet roll and then treats or just their regular food inside. I tend to alternate layers of toilet roll and food, so once she gets past one 'barrier' she still has more. Lots of fun!!!

SillyMangoX

A spoon broke in out house the other day and the little circle part where the spoon connects to the handle came loose, I hadn't intended for it to be a toy but it fell and Cream found it and it is his new favourite thing in the world!

Knine

baby and crumble wrote: »

For small furries a great one is a toilet roll (or for hardcore fun, a kitchen roll!) stuffed both ends with toilet roll and then treats or just their regular food inside. I tend to alternate layers of toilet roll and food, so once she gets past one 'barrier' she still has more. Lots of fun!!!

We do this all the time. I call it the home made hamster kong.

juniord

flirt pole, a small bit of plastic paper on a string on the end of an old fishing rod, my dog will go mental chasing and jumping around after it

Alun

juniord wrote: »

flirt pole, a small bit of plastic paper on a string on the end of an old fishing rod, my dog will go mental chasing and jumping around after it

I have something similar for the cats .. just a bit of cardboard tied to a length of string at the end of a garden cane. Just as good as the multi-coloured feather things you can get at the pet shop, and eminently repairable / replaceable when they tear the cardboard to bits.

Baybay

Not entirely certain about recession busting but our cat LOVES the Tesco jute carrier bags. So much so, I've given him one of his own.

He sharpens his nails on it, tries to dig out the printed on ladybirds, sleeps in & on it, hunts treats & paper balls from inside & under it, chews the handles, rolls ecstatically on it & generally has fallen in love with it!

I knot an old sock in the middle and give it to pups to play with. They have great fun tugging at it. Old slippers are also good, just NEVER leave good ones lying around! Farmers use a rubber thingy to put on cows teats to milk them, they make great puppy toys!

Pumpkinseeds

Baybay wrote: »

Not entirely certain about recession busting but our cat LOVES the Tesco jute carrier bags. So much so, I've given him one of his own.

He sharpens his nails on it, tries to dig out the printed on ladybirds, sleeps in & on it, hunts treats & paper balls from inside & under it, chews the handles, rolls ecstatically on it & generally has fallen in love with it!

I brought some shopping over to my mum in one of those and left the empty bag on the floor, one of her cats instantly went asleep on it, didn't have the heart to take it off him.

aonb

Charity shops have tons of soft toys - you can get them for approx 50c if you tell the nice ladies that its for your dog/cat!!! (Just make sure no beanies or unsafe bits)
I smear peanut butter around the inside rims of jar lids - takes AGES to lick it all out of the grooves!
Any empty small box - bits of scrunched up newspaper/paper, with a treat inside each ball of paper - they have to get thru the box first, then shred the paper - total mess, but lotsa fun
And the all time favourite - fresh raw FREE bones from the butcher!

Beekay

The yellow thing that is inside a kinder surprise. My dogs love chasing it and trying to open it. Will eventually get chewed.

boomerang

I relented tonight and gave my two foster kittens a loo roll. Oh my god, the fun they knocked out of it! It's anihilated, tissue paper all over the shop! And it's getting recycled as pre-shredded bedding for my two pet rats, so I don't feel so bad.

Zapperzy

Bunty goes crazy for paper bags, she crawls inside them and waits for you to tap the outside of the bag and run your fingers along it so she can attack it. The kitten also found the toilet roll in the bathroom, not really an intentional toy but it can be rolled back up and reused :P

Also bottle lids of various different types, the more cylindrical ones from the tops of some cosmetics seem to roll around best

sparkle_23

The cardboard tube from the toilet roll! I cut it in to smaller rings and pepper loves it! She bats them around &carries them in her mouth!! And she's been playing with the lid of a pen for 3 days now!

muddypaws

I had a few pairs of old jeans that I cut up and made into tug toys, plaited them together. I also plaited some dog biscuits into a couple, so that the dog had to really work to get the food, kept Zebo occupied for a good while.

ZiabR

Socks, she goes mental for socks!

rannerap

My cats are both absoloutely obsessed with the little plastic rings off milk cartons. not the lid, the little bit connected to it. They will play by themselves with one for hours. And the little one likes to play fetch with them. I sit on the sofa watching tv and she brings in to me, I throw it across the room and she runs off and brings it back. repeat for several hours :pac:

Alun

Makes me wonder how cat toy manufacturers make any money!

tk123

My pup likes to take the towel from under the water bowls and sit with it..........?!

Bullseye1

Egg boxes seem to make my guy happy. For five minutes anyway.

JaneeMack

My cat loves shoe laces (a loose long one) and any plastic bottle lids and caps (the round ring thing!).. He also loves toilet rolls, kitchen towel roll, and strangely enough, pen lids!!

TooManyDogs

My dogs love a 2L empty coke bottle, put a few treats into it and screw the lid back on, takes them forever to get the treats out

BillyMitchel

Old tea cloths with a few bits of dried food. Soak them and stick them in the freezer all night.

Mine does have great craic with it!

madrabui

Old bicycle tyres - I used them as tug toys with the dogs. We love them!

Hooked

Off the back of this thread... I put one of Hugos treats in a one litre cardboard milk carton and let him at it.

He's never had a kong, etc... He has attempted (and succeeded) in the extraction of the treat, in such a variety of ways, that he's now spent on the floor - exhausted. But he did get it in the end.

It got trapped in a crease at the base of the carton so he's had to work his face and paws off to get at it...

He's nackered after it all...

Kali_Kalika

The plastic ring that seals the milk :rolleyes: The cat goes mental for them :rolleyes:

We've also moved into a house with "slippery" wooden floors - they aren't unsafe (for human or animal) but my god, those rings fly! And, well, so does the cat! I haven't seen him reach such speeds since he was a wee man!

He also has this new game he incorporates the rings into. He'll get one in his mouth and go out to the kitchen where there's a small rug just inside the back door he'll start batting the milk ring around near the rug and he'll work it closer and closer and then slyly the other paw comes out, lifts up the corner of the rug while the other paw shoots it under the rug - then he just calmly and nonchalantly just walk off and sit in the middle of the room. Then out of no where just take off running into the dining room. Silence then rules, nothing, no movement, nothing ....... until ..... he shoots back into the kitchen and straight to the rug, which at a fast run he can smoosh up against the door, which uncovers the milk ring - oh the joy! He'll stare at it, bloop (crazy weird tuxedo cat noise) overjoyed and look at you as if to say "OMG did you SEE what was hiding under there??!??!!" - Yes, he's an only cat and it shows :rollseyes:

srsly78

My cat will completely ignore expensive toys in favour of playing with a reusable shopping bag (yes the tesco jute bag, just like another poster mentioned!). Also corks are great, cat will bat them around and chase them.

We do have a catnip soft mouse that the cat loves, but will not go near the catnip soaked scratching board we got.

Finally, hang stuff from the ceiling with cord + some elastic - cat goes berserk.

Shivers26

Mine dogs are getting a bit auld so kind of lazy these days but some favourites:

Socks! roll them into a ball and they will fetch them quicker than any shop bought toy
One of my dogs LOVES cuddly toys
Kong - I know you have to buy it initially but I fill them with a little bit of dry dog food, tiny bit of mashed banana and peanut butter and freeze it. Keeps them busy for hours
Lidl do these yogurts (you buy them individually, about 35c each, milbona fruit ones) but the container is really sturdy plastic and nice a wide so the dogs nose can get into it. I'd eat most of the yogurt and leave a little bit in the end and let the dogs finish it off. Keeps them entertained for a while and then they'd play with the container for a bit.

mymo

I brought home a black bin bag of shredded paper to use for something, but the cat got to it first, I got out of the shower to find two dogs and the kitten having a ball, another cat playing at the edges and another watching ready to pounce.
They had so much fun, it was really funny to watch...still picking up bits of paper from all over though!