Keep your kitties happy with these low-budget activities.
The scoop
There's a running gag in the cat community — you'll spend hundreds on a new cat toy or tower, and they'll still prefer the box it came in. Pet parent Allie, who runs an account dedicated to her furballs Marley and Pumpkin Malin (@pumpkinmalin), shared a few cheap and easy methods for entertaining your cats.
"Enriching your pet's life doesn't have to be expensive! Incorporate these into your cat's weekly [routine] to help them thrive," she wrote.
Allie's ideas for cat enrichment:
• Lightly crinkle and spread out a few sheets of old tissue paper, packing paper, or newspaper. They'll hide underneath and love to hear the crinkle of paper when they pounce.
• Build a fort. It doesn't have to be anything grand – but giving your cat a new place to hide and explore is a great way to keep their mind stimulated.
• Turn a scrunched-up towel into a no-cost sniff mat by sprinkling treats throughout. Your furbaby will sniff and dig for the hidden treats.
How it's working
Cats can be expensive. Food, toys, treats, and litter can really add up. Rover found the "annual cost of having a cat can range from $710-$2,865 a year, with the typical monthly cost landing between $60-$240."
If you want the best for your cat but don't have a huge budget, there are still a ton of ways to provide safe and fun enrichment for your kitty, like using extra cardboard to make a DIY cat scratcher. This will provide them with mental stimulation, and it'll save you some extra money, too.
Avoid purchasing plastic toys. Not only are they a chewing hazard, but they're often made of cheap plastics that can expose your cat to toxins. Additionally, these hard plastic toys are often non-recyclable, so they'll spend thousands of years in landfills.
Looking for sustainable toys for your pet? Explore our guide to buying long-lasting pet toys.
What people are saying
Pet parents loved these cheap and easy enrichment ideas.
"The cheaper it is the more they like it," one user said.
Another user shared their secret to getting paper scraps for free: "IKEA has stations with free packing paper – every time I'm in there, I grab a couple extra sheets for the cats!"
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