Soft toys have a big place in satisfying our cats' 'kill' urge. There are a lot of toys that can't have teeth sunk into, or can't be grabbed and 'kangaroo kicked' and bitten. Often these are toys that have hard attachments or metal components. But soft toys can be carried around as prey, soccer-ed around the floor, and 'killed' to their hearts content (and the durability of the toy). They are also brilliant to stuff into a cat's maw and paws if they are biting you!
As always, I'm a bit fussy about materials. I want materials that are not toxic or chemically laden or with unknown stuffing. I want materials and workmanship that last - and don't fluff apart, or have loose threads that will get eaten. So we have very few commercially made toys as I don't trust much that comes out of China. Afterall, China is responsible for thousands of pet deaths, when they sold melamine as a food ingredient to pet food manufacturers (who shouldn't have been looking to take short-cuts with protein content from a plant source in any case).
But back to materials. The three soft toys we have, and which are much loved are:
1. Several large homemade crocheted mice. We were given these as a gift from a friend of our breeder - Kato loved them so much, I had to ask for a bigger order! If you are making these yourself, one design improvement that was discovered, was that crocheting was far more durable than knitting.
2. A couple of alpaca and sheepskin things from Hyendry products: http://www.sheepskincattoys.com/. Not so much of a hit with Kato, but nice to know they are so natural and material safety is a high priority. Ava is currently liking the black sheepskin one to blow her aggression on.
3. An accidentally genius toy I made from my favourite high-quality polar fleece and pillow stuffing. I originally made it as a wand type poker. And quickly found that this was a unique idea; the stuffing makes it just rigid enough to use as a wand, but it's all perfectly soft for maws and paws. Both Ava and Kato love me to play with them using this 'squid' on the cat tree. And anyone who has tried to wave a wand around the corners and small angles of a cat tree will appreciate just how user friendly the soft design is. Plus the waggly bits on the ends are very enticing. And yesterday, Ava came up with yet another use for it - it was purfect for her to hug, bite, kick and maul.
As always, I'm a bit fussy about materials. I want materials that are not toxic or chemically laden or with unknown stuffing. I want materials and workmanship that last - and don't fluff apart, or have loose threads that will get eaten. So we have very few commercially made toys as I don't trust much that comes out of China. Afterall, China is responsible for thousands of pet deaths, when they sold melamine as a food ingredient to pet food manufacturers (who shouldn't have been looking to take short-cuts with protein content from a plant source in any case).
But back to materials. The three soft toys we have, and which are much loved are:
1. Several large homemade crocheted mice. We were given these as a gift from a friend of our breeder - Kato loved them so much, I had to ask for a bigger order! If you are making these yourself, one design improvement that was discovered, was that crocheting was far more durable than knitting.
2. A couple of alpaca and sheepskin things from Hyendry products: http://www.sheepskincattoys.com/. Not so much of a hit with Kato, but nice to know they are so natural and material safety is a high priority. Ava is currently liking the black sheepskin one to blow her aggression on.
3. An accidentally genius toy I made from my favourite high-quality polar fleece and pillow stuffing. I originally made it as a wand type poker. And quickly found that this was a unique idea; the stuffing makes it just rigid enough to use as a wand, but it's all perfectly soft for maws and paws. Both Ava and Kato love me to play with them using this 'squid' on the cat tree. And anyone who has tried to wave a wand around the corners and small angles of a cat tree will appreciate just how user friendly the soft design is. Plus the waggly bits on the ends are very enticing. And yesterday, Ava came up with yet another use for it - it was purfect for her to hug, bite, kick and maul.