[Hamlet's Keeper]

Flokati rugs. They love lolling on them, running into them and sliding across the floor on them. Screwing them up into a ball and attacking them like they are prey. Wrinkling them up and rumbling each other over the fur mountains. You can buy flokati's very cheaply on ebay these days and they clean very easily and look great for ages. Mine is 2 years old and looks like new. The kitties adore it. They are more like blankets than rugs and you could even drape one over a chair to prevent them from scratching it. Or the end of your bed to keep kitties warm in winter. Much cheaper to buy than sheepskins and in my opinion look better.

Ikea Komplement wardrobe boxes (open top ones). At $35 for a set of 3 (or $50 for the extra large ones) they are the right price. Kitties love to sleep in them, play in them and love it even more if you store some of your clothes in them... Best of all they fold down flat for storage, or you can use them to hold all the cat toys and get rid of horrid plastic boxes from your living room. They look nice stored underneath coffee tables. Place a cushion in there and you've got a nice cat bed.

Dressmakers tape measure The perennial favourite toy amoung my lot. Buy a really cheap one because then it's very easy to remove the metal ends before playing with kitty. The metal ends catch their claws.

Ikea Alseda footstool $45, perhaps the world's most stylish cat scratcher\bed. Hamlet has been ripping the hell out of his for about 6 months and it hardly shows any sign of wear. They are heavy so he can really pull on it and it doesn't move on him.

Dried Shaved Bonito $5 for a large packet. Obtainable from any Asian foodstore that sells Japanese food. This is naturally dried fish that is then shaved into paperthin slices. I like to call them cat chips. They smell strongly of mackerel and they are a great cat treat that my two lap up. I've seen this same stuff sold in pet stores at stupid prices. It's a basic ingredient in Japanese cooking and is much cheaper from your local Asian supermarket.

This post has been edited by Hamlet's Keeper: 20 January 2009 - 10:21 PM

[Advert]

---

[QueenKell]

Door Snakes - the ones you use to stop drafts of cold air coming under your door in winter... Babs LOVES to wrestle them! $5 from Spotlight

[Jann M]

Like those last 2 suggestions Claire - my best bargain still remains the humble dry gum leaves..

[aboutTaya]

Paper shopping bags (with the handles cut), Taya loves diving in and out of them and chewing the edges.

And cat dancers - loves them! Bit of piano wire with cardboard curls that dance like a moth on the end - they don't last very long though hehehe...

Oh and rolling out the roll of paper towelling then dancing all over and under it. I have a roll just for laundry floor litter duty so I can roll it back up still use it cause it doesn't matter if it has teeth and claw marks through it.

[Merri]

Plain old laundry pegs... a huge hit with Gandy. Light enough to be thrown all around the room and chased. Unfortunately, also small enough to easily slide under the lounge...

[dantri]

PIPECLEANERS! Mine go absolutely nutso over pipecleaners. Oh and old shoelaces and tracky cords. Desi's favourite toy is an old tracky cord with a pipecleaner stuck to the end of it. He has just rediscovered it in the bottom of their toy basket and has started dragging it around EVERYWHERE. He is never far from it. It is cute but not when he wants to play with it on your pillow at 2am! It looks disgusting as he has had it since he was a kitten (3 years) and has sucked all the ends - ewww! We call it his "preciousssssss".

But the thing that keeps them entertained the most is opening the front door and putting a bucket of water on the front verandah. The magpies LOVE it and love teasing the cats. The cats chatter away for hours

[Hamlet's Keeper]

Hamlet does like a ping pong ball but only if you bounce it for him so he can leap in the air to swat it. He doesn't play with it on his own.

I'm off to spotlight today to get some pipecleaners and a door snake, these are brilliant ideas.
Jann, I am going to fill a box up with leaves from outside for the Jam.
Yes I will admit that the empty cat litter bag is a source of amusment, they just don't look any good on my loungeroom floor.

[Joy]

Bags & boxes. Also a rolled up piece of lolly wrapper or a straw can keep them amused for ages.

[Samantha]

The good old tin foil ball there are heaps around here lol
Also i found in a pet store these little furry mice and the make a shake noise for 1 dollar i got 3 and they are always in my bed at night , yogi loves runnign around the house with chocolate wrappers chomps or areo my addictions and jazz loves wrestling with socks
All the fancy toys i got for them the day i brought them home are sitting in the corner gathering dust

Forgot yes they love boxes and Yogi likes to body surf on plastic bags on our polished floor boards , mum brough over a pipe cleaner and they loved it , i will definalty be checking ot the ikea items they sound great .....

This post has been edited by Samantha: 21 January 2009 - 12:31 PM

[Paulsragdoll]

Yes, definately the alum foil balls,
They also love toilet paper rolls,
Empty egg cartons,
We have a rubber door wedge that should be under the hall door to stop it shutting with the A/C on,
We have so much trouble keeping that wedge under the door, no matter how tight we jam it under they get it out,
Niki even throws her big ragdoll body against the door to loosen the wedge
I thought of getting them some wedges of there own but i bet they will still want the one under the door,

Cheers,Paul

[burmeselover]

Jasper goes nuts for a Bic pen cap! He turns into a kitten again and it's wonderful to watch him playing without any inhibitions!

[CruisaGal]

Oliver has carted around my old yellow cleaning cloth glove thingy since he got here, I tried to claim it back a few times but he loves it....so now its his lol

[bluesnip2000]

I just open the door and let in a fly or a moth!!
It's eventually a sad and crunchy end for the insect, but great exercise for kitty, keeps him busy for ages and great entertainment for us as he chases it up walls and across/through/over any obstacle....

This post has been edited by bluesnip2000: 22 January 2009 - 08:15 PM

[Felix & Mia]

Wow, some great ideas here.

My lot love to wrestle with toy bean filled bears. They throw, pounc, kick and bite at them.

Small soft kids toys, like the ones you get in happy meals.

[wifeofdink]

Our cats love the scoobie strings, the boys would make some really long scoobie plaits and hang them on the door knobs, keeps them entertained for hours.

The little ping pong balls are also great, especially the ones that come in the cat toy packs, they will chase them all over the house to see who gets the ball first.