Tried and trusted toys

The most agreeable thing I can tell you about the best cat toys is that a great many of them cost almost nothing. Cats, happily, are practical animals with no wish to climb the social ladder — and why should they, being at the top of it already? The price of a trinket makes no impression on them whatever. Not that the pet shops of this country are short of outrageously luxurious cat toys: they have them by the shelf-ful. We only mean that cats were amusing themselves perfectly well long before luxury packaging was invented. There are a few old-fashioned favourites that were entertaining kittens and their owners many years ago.

Ping-pong balls

A plain ping-pong ball is among the finest cat toys there are. They are light, they make a great deal of noise and they move at a touch. A single box of them will give your kitten hours of entertainment. Go to your favourite sports shop and buy several boxes. You will not regret it.

Paper bags

Paper bags — but never plastic ones — of the kind the grocer gives you are another fine way of passing the time. Open one, lay it on its side and turn it inside out. A good way to start the game is to roll a ball into it. Then move the bag out of the way, so that nobody treads on the kitten by accident once it decides to move into its new toy house.

Boxes

Cats can find any number of uses for a box: a bed, a fort, a lookout. Turn one upside down and cut a doorway so the cat can get inside. Or cut two doorways and thread a toy on a string through them — that will hold your cat’s interest. Or cut a great many doorways and roll a ping-pong ball in and out.

Light

A spot of light dancing off a hand-held mirror, or the reflection of blinking street lights in a darkened room, makes good sport for you and the kitten both. Cats and kittens have no notion that a beam of light cannot be caught, which is exactly what makes it more alluring still. Try it.

Balls of foil or paper

A ball of kitchen foil is light, it moves interestingly, and it is easily hooked with an outstretched paw. Balls like these have given a great many cats a great many happy hours. Do not play with foil that has been used for cooking or for wrapping food, though: the idea is for the kitten to play with the ball, not to eat it.

Empty cotton reels

Ever since thread has been wound on reels, cats have been chasing the empty ones merrily about the house. Thread can tangle itself in a cat’s insides, so give it only a reel that is completely bare. Reels are big enough, heavy enough and just the right shape for a cat to amuse itself with them for hours on end.

Wine bottle corks

Corks make splendid toys. They are wonderful to chase, soft enough for a cat to sink claws and teeth into, light enough to toss about. If your cat is one of the few that likes to chew things to pieces, keep an eye on what it does with a cork: it is unlikely to bite off a large piece and swallow it, but why take the chance? For most cats it is simply an old and well-tried amusement.

A rolled-up sock

Roll a sock into a ball. You can put a little catnip inside it if your cat cares for catnip. Then roll it along the floor. Cats that like to pounce on their prey, bite it and drag it about get particular pleasure out of this one. If the cat needs an outlet for its aggression, take a larger sock, stuff it with a few rags, tie a string to it and drag it along the floor. It is big enough for a cat to grip in its front paws and rake with the claws of the back ones, which is just what an aggressive cat wants.

Danger! Plastic bags!

Plastic bags, particularly the ones handed out at the grocer’s, make a delicious noise when a cat pounces on them and can billow most temptingly — but never let your cat play with one. A cat can suffocate inside a plastic bag, and cats really do, every year. Keep the bags safely in drawers the cat cannot get into.

String

For hundreds of years millions of cats have amused themselves with a piece of string drawn temptingly along the floor by somebody. Watched closely, chasing string is excellent exercise and, to be quite honest about it, tremendous fun. But…

Precautions: never leave a cat unwatched with string or yarn anywhere near it. If it bites off a piece and swallows it, the string can tangle in its intestines and kill it. So when the game is over, coil the string up and put it away in a drawer. If your kitten starts chewing the string in earnest, the game is over for that day. Like a good many other toys and contrivances, string is fine so long as it is used sensibly and with precautions taken.