Budget-Friendly Cat Enrichment: Simple Ideas Your Cat Will Love
When a package arrives at my parents’ house, the box doesn’t always go straight to the recycling. Sometimes the flaps come off both ends, it gets turned upside down on the living room carpet, and it becomes a tunnel. It’s one of Cleo’s favorite things in the house.
Cleo has a few toys she loves, and none of them cost much. But she loves the free things just as much: that box, a paper bag from the grocery store, her seat by the window. If you’re watching your budget, that’s good news. Keeping a cat happy and busy doesn’t take much money. It mostly takes a little imagination, and ten minutes of your time here and there.
Here are the free ideas Cleo loves most, the three inexpensive toys she’d choose over anything fancy, and a few simple ways to keep it all safe and interesting.
Why Enrichment Matters for an Indoor Cat
Indoor cats are safe cats, but their world is small. Out in the wild, a cat’s day is full of watching, stalking, chasing and exploring. Indoors, she can go hours with nothing new to look at.
“Enrichment” is simply the word for giving her some of that back: things to explore, chase and investigate. A cat with a little more to do tends to be more settled, more playful, and better company. And a few minutes of play is good for you too, as we wrote about in 5 ways your cat is already improving your health.
The Free Favorites
The cardboard box tunnel
A plain box is the most reliable cat toy there is, and a tunnel makes it even better. Here’s how my parents do it:
- Pick a box she can walk through without crouching too much. A medium shipping box works well.
- Remove any tape, staples and labels first.
- Cut the flaps off both ends, so it’s open at each end.
- Turn it on its side on the floor, so the open sides become the two ends of a tunnel.
Cats love a space to walk through and hide in, and a tunnel gives her both. When it gets tired and saggy, it goes in the recycling, and the next delivery brings a new one.
A paper bag, handles off
A paper grocery bag on its side is a hiding place, a crinkly noise and a cave all at once, and it’s another of Cleo’s favorites.
Always cut the handles off first. A cat can get her head caught in a loop, and it’s not worth the risk. And stick to paper: plastic bags should never be used as toys.
A seat by the window
Cleo loves her window perches. A window with a view of a bird feeder, a busy street, or even just trees moving in the wind can hold a cat’s attention for hours.
If you don’t have a perch, clearing a windowsill, or pulling a chair up to a window with a folded blanket on it, works almost as well. A bird feeder outside the window turns it into her favorite channel.
A crumpled ball of paper
Scrunch up a sheet of plain paper and toss it down the hallway. It’s light, it skitters, and it makes a satisfying noise when she pounces. When it’s flattened, make another.
Three Inexpensive Toys Cleo Loves
All three are simple and very reasonably priced. We’re not paid to mention them; Cleo just likes them.
The Cat Dancer
The Cat Dancer is about as simple as a toy can be: a long, springy steel wire with a few little rolls of cardboard on the end. You hold one end and flick your wrist, and the cardboard bounces and darts like an insect. It’s one of Cleo’s favorites.
It’s also one of the best toys for anyone who’d rather not get down on the floor. My mom plays with it from her armchair or the couch, just waving it around a bit. A small movement of her hand makes a big, unpredictable movement at the end of the wire, and that’s exactly what catches Cleo’s attention. She lunges and jumps around trying to catch it.
Catnip chew sticks
These catnip chew sticks are short sticks wrapped tightly in cotton rope, made for chewing, batting and carrying around. They come with a small pouch of catnip, so you can freshen the scent when she starts to lose interest. Cleo loves hers.
We’ve found our own way to play with them, too. We unravel a little of the rope from one end, leaving 12 to 18 inches of loose string with the knotted tip at the end. Then we sit on the floor near Cleo and drag the string slowly across the floor, or around the corner of a doorway so she loses sight of it. She chases it every time.
If you try this, give yourself plenty of slack. Cats are extremely quick, and if the string is too short, your hand is closer to the tip than you’d like when she lunges for it. A scratch is the usual result. And since it’s now a toy with a loose string, put it away when you’re done.
Not every cat reacts to catnip, so it’s worth knowing before you buy. PetMD notes that in one study about two-thirds of cats responded to it. If yours is one of the others, she may still enjoy a rope stick simply for chewing and batting around.
A ball track toy
A three-level ball track is a round plastic tower with balls trapped inside the rings. When she bats a ball, it rolls around the track, just out of reach, and she bats it again. Of Cleo’s three favorites, it’s the one that needs the least supervision.
A Word on Safety
Most of these toys are simple, but a few habits keep them safe:
- Play together with anything that has a wire, cord or string. The Cat Dancer and the chew sticks are toys for supervised play. When playtime is over, put them away in a drawer or cupboard where she can’t get to them. Cats can swallow string and cord, which can be very serious, as we explained in our holiday hazards guide.
- The ball track is the exception. It has no loose parts, so it can stay out for her to play with on her own, though it’s still worth a look now and then to make sure it’s in one piece.
- Watch the chew sticks. Cotton rope frays with chewing. Check them now and then, and throw them away once threads start to come loose, so she can’t swallow them.
- Cut the handles off paper bags, and never use plastic bags.
- Check boxes for tape, staples and labels before she gets in.
Keep It New: Rotate Her Toys
Cats get bored with the same toys, just as we would. A simple trick is to keep only a few toys out at a time and put the rest away in a closed bag or box. Every week or so, swap them around. A toy she’s ignored for a month can feel brand new when it reappears.
The same goes for free toys. A new box, a fresh paper bag or a different spot for the old box keeps things interesting at no cost at all.
Making Play Part of the Day
Enrichment works best when it’s part of the routine rather than something you remember to do. Ten minutes with the Cat Dancer at midday and a few minutes before dinner are often enough. Cats tend to play in short bursts, and short sessions suit most of us too.
There’s more on fitting play into your day in building a daily routine with your cat.
The Best Toy in the House
Cleo has her Cat Dancer, her chew sticks and her ball track. But some days, the best toy in the house is a box that arrived in the mail, with the ends cut off.
Here’s to the simple things, and to the cat who loves them.