4 Recycled Cat Crafts to Spoil Your Fur Kid

My cat Agnes sitting in the window.
My cat, Agnes, sitting in the window.

I love my two cats! There’s really no other way to say it. Those little fluffballs always seem to be doing something cute, and it’s hard to resist the urge to shower them with toys and treats! Do you like to spoil your kitties? Here are four more eco-friendly cat crafts to show your fur kinds that you care!

1. Recycled Cat Bed

Over at Natural Home Magazine, there’s a great tutorial for turning a broken suitcase into a cat bed. You could take this even further and paint the suitcase or cover it with decorative fabric from your scrap bin before adding the mini mattress. You could also sprinkle a little bit of catnip in the suitcase to get your kitty interested!

A cat playing with a catnip mouse.

2. Fabric Scrap Catnip Toy

This is a great project for raiding your scrap bin. Grab a couple of cute scraps in coordinating fabrics and cut out any shape you like: a heart, a squirrel, a bird…get creative! Iron and pin the pieces wrong sides together, then stitch all the way around, leaving a small gap so that you can turn it right side out. Flip your toy right side out, stuff with dried, organic catnip, then use a whip stitch or ladder stitch.

One word of caution: you might be tempted to add a little ribbon tail to some animal-shaped toys. This is NOT recommended. I’ve heard horror stories about cats swallowing ribbon, and you don’t want your lovingly-created toy to mean a trip to the emergency vet!
cat getting a treat

3. Homemade Cat Treats

No Cans has a great roundup of cat treat recipes that you can try. Many cats are sensitive to dairy, so you may want to think twice about any recipe that calls for cheese or milk powder.
cat playing in a cardboard box

4. DIY Kitty Palace

Between the wood and the carpeting (which is usually a petroleum product), those store bought kitty castles are not the most eco-friendly situation. Cats love playing in cardboard boxes, right? So, it makes perfect sense to build them a whole castle out of cardboard! Over at E-How, Molieannda shows you how to build your own custom kitty palace out of reclaimed cardboard!

[Image Credits: Agnes in the Window. Photo by Becky Striepe, Cat Playing with a Catnip Mouse. Creative Commons photo by furphotos, Cat Playing Getting a Treat. Creative Commons photo by Robert Couse-Baker, Cat in the Box. Creative Commons photo by donabelandewen]

1 thought on “4 Recycled Cat Crafts to Spoil Your Fur Kid”

  1. I made a similar project this year as a gift. I made packets of catnip by folding it into parchment paper which added a fun ‘crinkle’ and then pinned two pieces of and old (and felted) wool sweater around the packet. Then just sewed around as close to the packet as I could and trimmed the edges. I have also made a version with felt scraps from another project but my cat chewed through that pretty quickly

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