Homemade Cat Toys
Recently, my friend Felissa from Two Little Cavaliers came across this video about creating kitty toys of out of one nature's most plentiful resources: Cat hair. I myself am always excited about any new developments in the area of cat hair craftology, and have been dutifully saving neatly labeled Ziploc baggies of fur (one from Charlie and one from Priscilla), like a crazy person in anticipation of the release of Crafting with Cat Hair
, later this fall.
, later this fall. 
The finished product
For this experiment, I decided to sacrifice a small sampling of Charlie's hair, and sure enough, after rolling it around a bit in my hand, the fur quickly knit itself into a remarkably tight little felted cigar, perfect for some cat tossing fun.
[Side note: Unlike the hair removal device used in the video, my cats are totally obsessed with their FURminator de-shedding brush. I have no affiliation with the brand, so I'm not getting paid to say this, but they seriously love it. Priscilla comes running and flops over when it's out, and I even put her into a quasi-kitty coma the other day after a particularly good brushing session!]
Hair balls are a major issue in my household, so my first concern was that since Charlie likes to chew and lick his toys, we were on a one way ticket to barf city. True to form, as soon as I handed the toy over, he was ready to put the bitey on, so I decided maybe it wasn't such a good idea. While it seems sturdy enough, I really don't want him ingesting any extra fur, so I think we're going to bench the cat hair cigar idea, for now.
*bite*
*chomp*
Awhile back, cat hair jewelry designer Flora Davis told me that she makes toys for her cat Gaia out of his hair by rolling them into tossable balls, and others have told me they do the same, with great results.
So tell me, do you make toys for your cats out of hair, and if not, would you be willing to give it a try?
7 comments:
I'm just curious - aren't they put off by the smell of their own fur? If it works, it would certainly be a useful way of getting rid of unwanted cat hair around the house!
Oh no, Charlie loved it..MOL. Priscilla on the other hand gave it one sniff and walked away..hehe.
I think it's an interesting concept but I'd never do it. One of my cats has issues with hairballs and I'd be too worried that she'd accidentally consume a ton of her hair at once. That and both my husband are actually really allergic to cats and try to keep cat hair at a minimum (although I know it's nearly impossible).
I've been making toys out of cat hair for years. My cats seriously love them. If you pack the fur tight enough, especially into a ball, they do not ingest it.
Well, we think this is an excellent use of our furs...our mom throws our furs away most the time...so we're gonna have her try this!!
nope and nope!! I can't get past the "creepy" factor. Don't know why but that is how I feel :)
Nope, my cats will try to eat it, no matter what. I guess it's because it smells like dirty fur they need to clean, NOW? Hell, one of my cats EATS HIS OWN WHISKERS THAT FELL OUT. I love the little monsters, but dude, they're kind of gross.
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