Christmas is almost upon us. At the time of writing it is only a matter of days away so you do have time to make your cat his or her very own catnip toy. It couldn’t be simpler.
I made Casey (a while back) a couple of fish shaped toys stuffed to the gunnels with Farmer Ed’s amazing catnip; it is seriously strong and even now – several months later – he still licks them half to death (he’s watched Gibbs doing it so he’s followed suit).
Find a shape: I used a fish template which I printed out, cut round and then pinned it to the material (cotton is fine). You can use any shape but don’t make it too complicated, the simpler the better.
For the fish, I folded the material in half and cut out two pieces. Using a neat stitch, I hand sewed all around the sides with a ¼ inch seam allowance leaving the ‘tail’ open so that I could stuff the catnip in there.
When I made a second one I tried sewing all the way around leaving the ‘face’ open – either worked way well.
Casey wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with his new toys but when his little doppelganger, Gibbs, stopped by for a play date, he went berserk when he saw the fish. He flicked them up in the air and slurped at them for ages with Casey looking on rather bemused.
Casey now walks over to them in a rather nonchalant manner and composes his body into ‘enjoyment’ mode before putting one paw on the tail and licking the main body. He does this for a short while before ‘resting’. Resting can last for several hours it has to be said! All that licking – and the anticipation of the licking beforehand – tires a cat out! There’s only so much excitement – and licking – a cat can do in one day.
"Of all the [cat] toys available, none is better designed than the owner himself. A large multipurpose plaything, its parts can be made to move in almost any direction. It comes completely assembled, and it makes a noise when you jump on it."
Stephen Baker