This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Cats are finicky. One day they may love a toy and the next day they couldn’t even deign to spare a glance at it. But there is always one kind of cat toy that I can pretty much rest assured my cats are going to love. Cardboard boxes. Just kidding. Kind of. We definitely have a gigantic cardboard box smack dab in the middle of the living room because Mar took a shine to it. People with human children have building blocks and toys on the floor and we have cardboard boxes everywhere because the cats like to hide out in them and I feel too guilty to move them until we have company. Then they MUST move temporarily to the garage because there is only so much crazy that is allowable even in a crazy cat lady!
I can buy cat toys all day long and have the cats not even begin with an interest in them to be able to lose interest in them. It’s so frustrating as expensive as pet toys can be these days to bring home an expensive little sack and have the pets not go for it. Womp. Womp.
But handmade toys ALWAYS are a big hit with the cats. In fact, the cats always like to come around when I’m making and get involved. And they’ve often made off with things that are not made for them. So when I can, I make toys for the kitties. And when I can I allow them to be involved if they want to while I’m making them. It might be a bit difficult to work with a cat swiping at your handful of raffia but it’s so cute. And in the end what does it really hurt?
And I prefer the idea of my cats having something without a little bell to swallow or whatever and that’s why I often make toys out of felt and fill them with catnip. But I was inspired to go natural after Marla tested out some wet Purina Muse food. Now Marla eats dry food and it’s the main source of her diet but every day she gets wet food as a treat. And she LOVES it. She’ll cry if I forget and when I start getting the dogs’ food bowls prepped she mills around on the buffet pacing back and forth until her little pink rimmed cat face shaped dish is set in front of her.
Now I stood inside of Petco and PORED over the different flavors available. Mar’s a fishy gal and she prefers seafood to poultry any day so I focused on the salmon and mackarel and tuna flavors. I kept noticing “natural” in the names and that really pleased me. It wasn’t until I got home that I saw a window in the back of the plastic tubs and showed it to Rob. “This is real fish! Look in there! You can tell it’s fish and carrots!”
When I opened Marla’s first package she was stoked and I think she more got a special treat, like when she shoves her face into a can of tuna I’m trying to turn into tuna salad. It was too much food for her for one go but she cleanly ate half of her little meal away. And then she sat and cleaned her paws and her face and looked supremely satisfied!
And why shouldn’t she be satisfied? I looked a bit deeper into the details of Muse Cat Food and found that it is, indeed natural, with no artificial colors, preservatives or flavors. It provides a 100% balanced diet for kitty without the use of corn or soy with lots of grain-free recipes to choose from made with real fish or poultry. There are the classic paté flavors that Mar enjoys on occasion as well as wet foods In Chowder, In Broth and With Toppers. And we found that Marla’s favorite are the broth recipes!
In honor of Mar’s new natural food I made her some natural new toys that she “helped” me make and she really digs. And why wouldn’t she? They make an awesome little noise for her and she can fling them around and grapple with them to attack them with her back feet. They’re perfect!
For this project you will need:
- Raffia
- String
- Hot glue gun
- Food coloring (optional)
Take a small handful of raffia to start.
Fold it in half.
Tie a string an inch or two down from where you folded. Trim an inch or two away from the knot to remove the raffia from the bunch.
Trim both ends to even up.
Squeeze hot glue into the center beneath your tied string. Take care not to burn yourself OR kitty if you’ve got a cat craft assistant. Move to place small daubs of glue all around the middle of the raffia piece to assure it holds together even during vigorous play.
Once the glue has dried you can begin fluffing out the ends to form a ball.
If you wish you can be finished at this point and kitty has a new toy that she will instantly go nuts for!
What? Weren’t you done with that? It’s mine now, right?
If you’d like to add a little color place your raffia into a bowl with a small amount of food coloring and a tiny amount of water. Move around in the water like you are using the raffia to scrub the bowl. Squeeze out the excess with a paper towel and allow to full dry.
Now isn’t that hot pink lovely? I am assuming because it’s my favorite it’s Marla’s, too. I’m going to keep assuming as she hasn’t informed me otherwise! :)
And there you have your DIY natural raffia cat toys. So simple and loved so much and inspired by Muse® Natural Recipes!
Now look at Marla go!
If you’d like for your kitty to give Muse® a go, check out Muse at Petco. Backed by Muses’ Clean Plate™ Guarantee you’ll know your hard earned money won’t go to waste with this new food but I’m pretty sure your kitty will love it, too. Afterall, my cat is the queen of the finicky and she LOVES it!
