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Homemade Catnip Toys (Or What To Do With All Those Socks)

This shop featuring oh so fun homemade catnip toys has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MyCatMyMuse #CollectiveBias
A quick and easy tutorial on how to make homemade Catnip Toys using unmatched socks and other easy supplies. The fastest DIY project ever.
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Meow and Roar are our buddies. They hang out with us all day and sleep with us at night. When we’re gone, they’re at the door waiting for us to come home and greet us enthusiastically. Even when they do things they shouldn’t (ahem, their new delight in trying to jump onto counters), we still treasure them.

Needless to say, it’s important to me that they are around as long as possible. The wee ones are only 10 and 12, and (don’t tell my kids this) I use the same strategies to keep them all functioning in peak form. That means the best food possible, plenty of exercise, and lots of time to sleep.

With cats, the sleep part is easy. They are the best nappers I know – and I’ll admit to being jealous of them sometimes. The food and the exercise is all up to me, however. Or at least mostly up to me. They are indoor cats, so I am their primary source of nourishment and entertainment. Granted, they entertain themselves sometimes, but as they get older, I need to encourage them more.

When it comes to food, it’s important to me to find food that is grain-free and that my cats love. I’ve bought food before that has been a natural, high quality cat food, but they haven’t been as big of fans as I’d like. With Purina Muse® Natural Cat Food, that’s just not a worry. They lick the platter clean!

And so between the two of them they licked the platter clean

With Muse you don’t have to choose between natural nutrition and food that tastes great. Your cat can have both when you choose Muse. All their recipes are made with real fish and poultry and come in chowder, broth, with toppers, in gravy, and paté. They have no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives either. With 30 recipes to choose from, it can almost be overwhelming to figure out which to choose, but I’ve yet to find one Meow and Roar don’t absolutely devour.

Loving the Purina Muse dinner

Purina Muse is available only at PetSmart, including all 24 of the grain-free varieties. Since I’m there often enough picking up other cat supplies, it’s convenient to stock up on Meow and Roar’s favorite dinner. Choosing which food to buy isn’t a hard choice with Muse – it’s only hard to choose which varieties to get this time.

Purina Muse at PetSmart

Nutrition is under control with Purina Muse, and I encourage their exercise with homemade catnip toys. They’re incredibly easy to make, and it’s fast and easy to refresh them once the homemade catnip toys lose their allure (read: fresh catnip).

Homemade catnip toys ready to play with

Homemade Catnip Toys

The idea to make homemade catnip toys came to me one day while I was mindlessly matching socks after doing laundry. Or rather… not matching socks. I have an entire bucket filled with socks that are missing their mates. They’re mostly Little Miss’s socks, but my husband and Mister Man have their fair share, too – I have just one in the bucket, of course.

Basket of unmatched socks

I’m always searching for uses for the socks that have lived in the bucket for months – years? – when I’ve finally given up on ever finding their mates. Homemade catnip toys is perfect for this. They’re incredibly easy and cheap – and Meow and Roar love them.

All you need is some old socks, dried catnip (which of course you can also buy at PetSmart), and some polyfill. I prefer the socks with some color and pattern to them only because this makes it easier for me to find when Meow and Roar have managed to fling them under furniture. Oddly white socks don’t stick out as much.

All you need to make homemade catnip toys

To make your homemade catnip toys, spread a chunk of polyfill into a bit of a rectangle. The exact amount you need depends on the size of your sock and how full you want it. For Little Miss size socks (picture a 10 year old girl), I use a large handful.

Once you have the polyfill spread out a bit, sprinkle about a teaspoon of catnip across the entirety of the polyfill.

Add catnip to polyfill

Fold up your polyfill so that the catnip is encapsulated inside the polyfill. The scent is strong enough that it needs to just be inside your homemade catnip toys but not at the surface. By folding it up this way, it gets it into your toy much more easily and securely than trying to sprinkle it in.

Fold catnip into polyfill

From there, just stuff it inside the sock. You don’t have to crush it too much. Let the polyfill fill the inside of your homemade catnip toys taking up plenty of space. The last step is to just fold the opening over and baste it closed with a quick needle and thread. They’re cats. It doesn’t have to be gorgeous; they’re just thrilled to have something they can play with that smells great (to them).

Add catnip and polyfill to the sock

I learned my lesson a long time ago that I can’t have just one toy. Meow and Roar both want to play at the same time, so I always make multiples. But irony sticks with me. Even though I make homemade catnip toys for each cat, they both still want to play with the same one even though they ‘re identical. Apparently orange is their favorite color.

Whether they’re gnoshing on their favorite Purina Muse Natural Cat Food or playing with my homemade cat toys, I love doing what I can to ensure they’ll be happy with us for years to come.

Loving their Purina Muse

Have you tried Purina Muse before? It’s 100% complete and balanced for adult cats, and there’s a coupon right now where you can buy 3, get 3 packages of Purina Muse. This may be the perfect time to check it out! Natural has never been so delicious. Put Muse to the test with their clean plate guarantee.

Purina Muse grain-free varieties

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Have you ever made homemade catnip toys? What do you do to spoil your cats?

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  1. Yvonne says:

    Great idea, just make sure to use only American made catnip.

  2. Gloria says:

    If you put your catnip in the freezer it lasts a lot longer, I found out after you take it out, let it warm up a little bit and you will get a better response from your babies.

  3. Danya says:

    I’ve found that baby socks have cute designs and are a good size, too. These make good cat gifts .

  4. Rebecca says:

    This is such a great idea! I’m going to have to make some of these for my two cats. We’ve been trying grain free food lately, so I’ll have to head to Petsmart and check out Purina Muse!

  5. I have tons of not matching socks too! This is a great way to use them. Meow and Roar are adorable. We are happy they liked Purina Muse®. Thanks #client

  6. Ashley says:

    Love this! Our cat isn’t a fan of traditional toys so I bet he would love this!

  7. Amanda says:

    Those sock toys are so simple and cute! When we got our first baby, his first toy was just a plain black sock. Now his niece and nephew (actually from the same family!) live with us and we spoil them with toys daily. Good to know I can make inexpensive toys for them!

    Amanda | thedeerandthewolf.com

    • Michelle says:

      Thanks! It’s so easy for toys to get super expensive (or have pieces that can fall off), but this is such a fun and easy fix. And if you have all sorts of fun and brightly colored socks….

  8. Therese P. says:

    This is so funny because I’ve been wondering what i can do with all my unmatched socks besides throw them away! I have two feline furbabies who would probably love these, thanks for posting!

    • Michelle says:

      There are so many things to do with them. I never throw mine away (they make great dust rags, too!), but boy do they pile up. I’m glad I have another use for them!

  9. I like the catnip toy idea! I know we have some catnip in the closet, and we have two cats that could use some amusement!

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