If you want to make a cheap and easy cat toy from items commonly found around the house you can’t go past these homemade sock cat toys!
Both of our cats still love the cork cat toys that I made last year but Wally in particular needs lots of mental stimulation. That means that the toys he plays with need to be varied quite often!
I recently decided to make up another cat toy using old socks. Wally likes to play with my old shoes (see here) so I thought that he would love an old sock!
I got thinking about what to stuff the sock with and came up with a novel idea. I decided to use plastic shopping bags. I know what you are thinking, they can be dangerous but I have made sure that the cats can’t get to the bags.
The reason I used plastic shopping bags is that the cats seem to love playing near and around the plastic shopping bags after we get home with the groceries. Often we will place the bags down on the floor for a while until we get around to unpacking them and the cats will migrate over to the bags and start playing. I think that they love the noise they make!
So I have incorporated the noise of the plastic bags into the cat toy without the cats being able to get to them.
To make the sock cat toy:
- Find an old pair of socks (I have used regular socks or small anklet socks).
- Stuff one sock with some rolled up plastic shopping bags and then tie a knot in the end.
- Place the stuffed sock inside the other sock and again tie a knot in the end.
- Now tie some wool tightly around the knot so that it will not come loose.
- Trim the wool leaving about one metre attached to the sock so that there is enough length for you to dangle/swing the cat toy.
- If you want you can also use a needle and some more wool to attach some woollen tassels to the foot end of the cat toy.
Our cats enjoy playing with the sock cat toy when it is dragged around the furniture and the cats can pounce on it! They also enjoy kicking the sock cat toy and love the crinkly rustling noise that it makes!
*These cat toys are best used for supervised play. Also for safety reasons make sure you throw these toys out if the socks get holes in them and there is any chance that your cats can get access to the plastic bags.
For more inspiration on pets check out my Pets board on Pinterest!
Here is a link to the easy cork cat toys that I share earlier:
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!
We always have odd, unmatched socks around. This is the perfect use for them!
Yes you’re right Kathy, it’s a great use for the ‘odd sock’ collection!
I LOVE THIS DIY!
Thanks Aileen, I hope your cat enjoys these!
I used my old socks now to go and bother my family for theirs
Oh my goodness – I love that shot you got of your cat.. absolutely perfect!!!! Seriously can’t believe the timing on that one :).
I tried this out and sadly my cat is way too lazy to play with it, even if I actively try to get him to play. He’s a lazy one, though, so that’s enough to explain it. Maybe I should donate it to another cat I know ;).
Haha yes I was very lucky to get that picture of Wally! Pity about your cat not wanting to play with the sock toy though. My cats aren’t lazy but they can be picky about which toys they play with sometimes!
Add some catnip in the sock.
Great idea Kim, I didn’t think of adding catnip!
If you have a dog, they like these too. I don’t know why but every dog we’ve had took off with them. I also make what I call cat pillows out of denim. Sew two side, put stuffing in and some catnip and sew the third side shut.
Thanks for the suggestions Kim. I’d just change what these are stuffed with if I was letting a dog play with them. I used crinkly plastic because the cats love the noise but dogs would probably soon break them open!
I make smoos from socks, Ido the same nut I put catnip in them. My cats love them.