Durable cat toys?

[Twylasmom]

I am looking for toys that Ollie won’t destroy. He has a few different balls, springs and some felted balls that are great, and a couple of kickers. He can’t have anything with feathers, streamers or strings because he will try and eat them. He loves wand toys (he will steal them and carry them up the stairs to his room) but can’t have them because they usually have elements that aren’t safe for him. I would love to find a wand toy that isn’t a hazard for him so we can have interactive play from a safe distance. His favorite toy is the circular track with a ball in it.

What are your favorite toys?

 

[guarua]

My cats also will eat wand toys, I keep all of them in a basket on a shelf that they can't reach. It helps make it more fun too, because then it's special when you bring them out. The Cat Dancer is a great toy with no string.
I've heard dog toys can be great for destructive cats. Kong has a lot of durable toys but I'm not sure they make them at a cat size, other than the rubber ones. Just watch out for ones with squeakers!

 

[epona]

My Sonic, may he rest in peace, had pica - and eating toys, or bits of them, was a speciality of his.
Fortunately never did himself any damage, but we had to be careful about toys - I once bought the cats some toys which were basically strips of rabbit leather with the fur still on there and dyed with veg dyes (not sure why they were dyed, I don't think cats care too much about that, but it was non toxic and and a bit of an aside) - but I once found just a strip of the leather chewed absolutely clean of fur, with a rainbow coloured vomited up fur ball right beside it

I quite like just very simple catnip infused toys, up until this last week it's been a while since I had cats that wanted to play a lot as my previous generation were elderly, but I bought some toys made of tough fabric and a bit of stuffing, infused with catnip this week for the new generation, and the new kittens love them. They are too big to be choked on or ingested and no parts to come off them, they can carry them around and throw them about and pounce on them without me fearing that they will have some sort of accident with them. Got a little corn on the cob shaped one, a doughnut shaped one (that was to amuse my husband as much as anything because he works in a doughnut factory!) - there were also carrot and banana shaped ones (not that the shape really matters as long as it's not something they can get their head or a limb stuck in, like colours of toys that is probably more for our benefit when we go in the shop or browse online clutching our credit cards!)

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Would Ollie try to eat this one? Phoebe loves it, she comes running when I take it off the shelf. I don't let them play with it unsupervised.

All Day Electronic Flutter Butterfly Cat Toy White

All Day Electronic Flutter Butterfly Cat Toy White

www.petbarn.com.au

Daisy prefers her feather wand, but I'm guessing Ollie would devour one of those in no time!

 

[susanm9006]

Yeoww makes great catnip toys with tough covers. My former girl love to not only chew on them but to chew a hole and then suck the catnip out. She also love ping pong balls and plastic bottle caps.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Yeoww makes great catnip toys with tough covers. My former girl love to not only chew on them but to chew a hole and then suck the catnip out. She also love ping pong balls and plastic bottle caps.

I second the yeowww toys. Catnip is good quality and they come in various shapes and sizes. The fish and banana seem popular but some smaller pet stores sell different yeow toys. I bought Izzy ones that look like crayons. She loves them. Wand toys can be difficult because they are not really made tough and to often pieces come off.

 

[Kris107]

We also keep our wands toys out of reach from the cats. As for other toys - durability often depends on the cat! Just observe and remove any toys that break down.

 

[iPappy]

Yeoww makes great catnip toys with tough covers. My former girl love to not only chew on them but to chew a hole and then suck the catnip out. She also love ping pong balls and plastic bottle caps.

Mine have always loved ping pong balls and bottle caps!

 

[epona]

Oh that reminds me, Sonic used to love corks out of wine bottles, they were one of his favourite things to play with (let them dry out so there's not ingestible wine on them ofc). My husband and I both like a drink, so that was something we always had readily available, more wine bottles seem to be metal screw top these days though, and sometimes have sharp bits.

Balled up till receipts were also a firm favourite for playing fetch with.

Young cats are really quite easily amused, it's more about giving them things that they can't get into trouble with or cause them harm, in my experience.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Oh that reminds me, Sonic used to love corks out of wine bottles, they were one of his favourite things to play with (let them dry out so there's not ingestible wine on them ofc). My husband and I both like a drink, so that was something we always had readily available, more wine bottles seem to be metal screw top these days though, and sometimes have sharp bits.

Balled up till receipts were also a firm favourite for playing fetch with.

Young cats are really quite easily amused, it's more about giving them things that they can't get into trouble with or cause them harm, in my experience.

Yep we had a cat that was never interested in any cat toy. Crumbled up paper milk jug caps or playing with him with a pipe cleaner were his favorites.

 

[syzygycat]

It's really cheap and much safer to go DIY for wand toys.

I use regular 1/8" Paracord to tie toys to rather than trust string & stick toys. Melt the cut end with a lighter and pinch so it doesn't fray (it's ment to be sealed by melting).
It's $1 for 20feet, it's durable stuff my puppy hasn't been able to chew through it and she does destroys most plush cat toys she gets a hold of
2 of my kitties eat string, streamers 1/8" cord is thick enough for them to not be enticed, but you can go thicker.

They love when I just tie a heaving line knot (like a noise) at the end, with no toy attached.

I use 1/2" PEX pipe ($4 for 8ft at any hardware store) the wand part.
A dollar store quality saw can quickly cut through it so can a gardening sheers/bolt cutters).

PVC pipe is even cheaper, but you shouldn't use PVC if there's any chance your pet will chew it (I swapped my wands to pex when I got my puppy)

 

[Twylasmom]

I second the yeowww toys. Catnip is good quality and they come in various shapes and sizes. The fish and banana seem popular but some smaller pet stores sell different yeow toys. I bought Izzy ones that look like crayons. She loves them. Wand toys can be difficult because they are not really made tough and to often pieces come off.

I have some of the Yeeow toys and he will sometimes play with them, and he loves ping pong balls. He doesn’t seem that reactive to catnip.

It's really cheap and much safer to go DIY for wand toys.

I use regular 1/8" Paracord to tie toys to rather than trust string & stick toys. Melt the cut end with a lighter and pinch so it doesn't fray (it's ment to be sealed by melting).
It's $1 for 20feet, it's durable stuff my puppy hasn't been able to chew through it and she does destroys most plush cat toys she gets a hold of
2 of my kitties eat string, streamers 1/8" cord is thick enough for them to not be enticed, but you can go thicker.

They love when I just tie a heaving line knot (like a noise) at the end, with no toy attached.

I use 1/2" PEX pipe ($4 for 8ft at any hardware store) the wand part.
A dollar store quality saw can quickly cut through it so can a gardening sheers/bolt cutters).

PVC pipe is even cheaper, but you shouldn't use PVC if there's any chance your pet will chew it (I swapped my wands to pex when I got my puppy)

That’s a great idea!

Thanks all for the suggestions, a lot of them I am already doing. I am mostly looking for wand alternatives because I need to redirect during cat introductions, and if I throw a toy I am out of ammo!

 

[SueLinda]

Mine have always loved ping pong balls and bottle caps!

iPappy Penguin LOVES ping pong balls, but only the semi-transparent ones for some reason. He doesn't even bother with the regular white ones.....

 

[iPappy]

iPappy Penguin LOVES ping pong balls, but only the semi-transparent ones for some reason. He doesn't even bother with the regular white ones.....

Mine definitely prefer the multi colored ones vs. the plain white ones. I wonder if they're easier to see? (That, or they know that I can get 6 of the white ones for cheaper than the multi colored ones and they just want to know they're worth the extra money! )

 

[Draco]

Yeeow catnip are always a favorite among my cats!

my mom got them this plastic mouse with a ball on the bottom that it rolls around. Has a feather tail, and they LOVE it and probably their favorite toy. I see them carrying it around. Its indestructible I think. Here it is:
https://www.chewy.com/petlinks-marb...HI9WFJjB2JjVJC-NbWCJBeBevjytpMtMaAqn8EALw_wcB

 

[neely]

Balled up till receipts were also a firm favourite for playing fetch with.

We tried this a week or so ago by accident when DH missed the waste basket throwing out a receipt. Neely used to love them. She also liked balled up tin foil especially since it made a noise when she would bat them across the floor.

 

[epona]

My 2 kittens are complete livewires and a lot of the time seem happy to make their own entertainment - last night at about 3am Ani pushed one of his ceramic food plates up against the radiator pipes that run along the skirtingboard under the bed and started bashing it against the pipes making a horrific noise (whilst yowling for added effect). I had to get a broom under the bed to retrieve the plate and remove it, I gave him something softer to play with instead.

I hope none of the neighbours make a complaint, there's no way they didn't hear it

 

[game misconduct]

meowijuana makes a bee wand toy that graycie still loves to play with string was cut years ago but she likes to chase and carry it around to swat. da bee makes an octopus version graycie likes. tentacles are leather or hide of some type

 

[syzygycat]

I have some of the Yeeow toys and he will sometimes play with them, and he loves ping pong balls. He doesn’t seem that reactive to catnip.


That’s a great idea!

Thanks all for the suggestions, a lot of them I am already doing. I am mostly looking for wand alternatives because I need to redirect during cat introductions, and if I throw a toy I am out of ammo!

3 of my 5 cats go bananas for toys with a rattle. All of them like anything that looks a tail. Even part of a shoe lace tied onto an old toy makes it an exciting new toy (weirdly even if the old toy already has a tail)
Dollar Tree (and lots of other stores) sell these mice with rattles in them. The 3 cats that like rattles go after them for 15-30 minutes everytime they here the rattle. It's big and noisy enough to get thier attention, light and fluffy enough to go flying then they bat it. (cheap enough to have a bunch of them in every room). My 11year old has been hunting them 4hours a day every single day since he was a kitten without getting bored of them. Every other cat toy gets boring after a few days-weeks but not these mice. And he goes bananas every time I get a new one and it's still attached to the cardboard packaging.
TKDR: toys with rattles and tails are a cats best friend.