The best cat toys help any cat – indoor or outdoor – live out natural behaviours safely, humanely, and often with their owner’s involvement. Having a few within paw’s reach is valuable to a pet cat’s fitness, mood and fundamental felinity.
Interactive toys that come to life in a human’s hand are often the best. It could be a teaser toy, a ball or a bravely proffered scatter toy – what matters is that you and your cat are playing together and growing closer as a result.
Few among us lead lives of constant play, so you may also choose to get some toys that your cat can play with independently through the day. Laser toys with timers, electronic moving prey toys, or puzzle toys with moving parts can all add stimulation to a pet cat’s alone time. When budgeting, bear in mind that they tend to be shorter-term or repeat purchases, especially as cats tend to get bored of or enjoy destroying their favourite toys.
Best Cat Toy Overall: Nature’s Goodies Colourful Long Raffia Tail Teaser Sticks
Rare is the cat who will not respond to a well-chosen teaser. I love toys of this type, as they encourage playful interaction between you and your cat. (Top tip: try trailing one around chair legs or behind items of furniture.)
The best teasers I’ve come across are made by Nature’s Goodies, which sent a selection of beautiful, all-natural teaser toys for our feline testers to review. There are various types, but it’s this raffia option that caused my cat, Martha, to fall head over paws. While I happily wielded the wooden handle, she gamely chased its grass-like bunch of natural strands, made from palm leaves. The rustling sound of the teaser moving across the floor dialled up the excitement – especially when I moved it around while it was out of her sight, behind the sofa.
Other teasers from the brand’s range, such as this feathered sisal twizzle model, hit the spot with Dianne’s rescue kittens, and Vanda’s foster cat Hovis. All of these toys seemed well made, and the natural materials make a nice change from the synthetics used in many cat toys.
It’s a shame that many cats will eventually tire of a teaser toy – even a good one. I’d recommend buying a few different types to maintain interest.
Best Budget Cat Toy: Pets at Home Scrunchie Ball
A great thing about cats – one of the many – is that they couldn’t care less how much something costs. Trivially priced toys can be received like manna from heaven, and so it proved when I tossed this simple, shiny, £1 scrunchie ball into the midst of Dianne’s foster kittens.
The kittens hurtled after this toy, chasing and battering it as it tumbled along the floor. They kept playing with it long after I’d thrown it towards them, so while a little human encouragement helps to get the fun started, the scrunchie was evidently engaging enough in its own right.
Cats are often interested in shiny things, which seem to trigger their hunting instincts – and this must enhance the appeal of the scrunchie, as it glints in the light while it rolls about.
I’d recommend having a few different mobile “scatter toys” around the house to keep cats entertained. This one will sit nicely alongside others, such as crumpled-up packaging or bargain-priced ping-pong balls. You’ll have to be careful where you tread, but that’s part of living with a cat.
It’s a shame that toys of this type are easy to lose, as cats will often knock them behind furniture or into other obscure nooks and crannies.
Best Scented Cat Toy: Zebedee’s Valerian Mouse
The evolutionary reasons why cats respond strongly to certain herbal scents are shrouded in mystery, but it’s well established that many felines go wild for particular plants – hence the abundance of scented cat toys.
Valerian reputedly makes cats playful, relaxed and contented, and this adorable stuffed mouse toy from Zebedee’s seemed to tick these boxes during testing. Dianne’s kittens took a while to warm up to it, but gradually settled to sniffing the pleasingly scented interloper and attacking its tail, with the fabric proving resilient to their sharp, little claws. This wasn’t my first experience with Zebedee’s valerian mouse – my mum’s cat, Bertie, has enjoyed playing with them, too.
The whole Zebedee’s mouse range is handmade and surpassingly cute. If your cat has more classical tastes, they may prefer the original Zebedee’s catnip mouse to the valerian model here.
It’s a shame that it’s difficult to guess whether your cat will respond best to valerian, silvervine or catnip. Some cats have little or no response to the same scents that send others into raptures, and this is significantly linked to their genetics. Of course, you can find out your cat’s preferences through trial and error.
Best Electronic Cat Toy: PetSafe Peek-A-Bird
Tantalisingly twiddling a feather through slots in its right or left side, this electronic, bird-shaped toy can keep cats entertained while you’re too busy with work or chores to pick up a teaser.
This toy excelled during testing with Dianne’s foster kittens. It activates with a tweeting sound that instantly caught the kittens’ attention, and after they’d scoped out the moving feather for a respectful period, they began to attack it, one by one. The unpredictable movements seemed to add to the thrill, sending the kittens scarpering from one side to the other in hot pursuit.
There are two modes of operation to choose from: “one time play”, which activates the toy for 10 minutes; and “play all day”, which makes use of a motion sensor to turn on the toy whenever a cat is nearby. The latter is a great option for owners who spend much of the day away from home.
It’s a shame that Dianne soon found out why a replacement feather is included with this toy: the kittens tore out the original one. With this in mind, the Peek-A-Bird may provide longer-term enjoyment for a less vigorous adult cat than it would for a roomful of rambunctious kittens.
Best Catnip Cat Toy: Honeysuckle Cat Toys Honeysuckle and Catnip Pouch
If your cat responds to catnip toys, then one of their likely behaviours after inhaling the herb’s scent will be rubbing their face on the toy. This sweet-looking pouch from Honeysuckle Cat Toys is perfectly designed for this, with a textured fabric cover that gives the cat plenty of purchase on the item while they demonstrate their adoration.
Martha was immediately taken with this pouch, which elicited enthusiastic nuzzling, rolling around, purring and – I’m afraid to say – drooling after she first caught its aroma. Her interest waned within a few hours, but she was still giving the pouch an occasional sniff after several days. I’ve seen her carrying it around in her mouth from time to time, which is surely one of the cutest things a cat can do.
Scented cat products vary in the quality of their fillings. Judging by Martha’s blissed out response to this pouch, the organic catnip and ground honeysuckle wood inside it are pretty high grade. The toy’s maker, Honeysuckle Cat Toys, uses different fabric with every batch, so you can count on receiving a new pattern whenever you buy a fresh one.
It’s a shame that as is true with most scented cat toys, the fun is over fairly quickly.
Best of the Rest
PetSafe Dancing Dot Laser Cat Toy – This proved to be Hovis’s favourite toy during testing, sending a little red dot of cat-safe laser light dancing around Vanda’s home and tempting him to pounce. It took me a while to realise that the toy is supposed to be elevated – for instance, placed on the edge of a table or hung from a door handle – to project its light around a sufficiently wide area. Once the penny dropped and I had the dot moving properly, Hovis began to chase. Perfect for owners who need to leave their cat home alone for long periods, this toy can be set in “continuous” mode, which reactivates the dancing dot at intervals. It didn’t make the final cut because ideally, it would be capable of projecting its light dot around a wider area from floor level.
Pets at Home Rainbow Cat Teaser – In my humbly cat-besotted opinion, the most enjoyable type of cat toy to play with as a human (and I dare say for cats too) is a teaser. This colourful Pets at Home model provided hours of fun for Martha, as she flailed her paws after it through the air, bit into its ample fabric and watched it slowly, temptingly trailing across the living room floor. The jingling rattle at the end of the teaser is a nice touch. It didn’t make the final cut because I preferred Nature’s Goodies’ teasers, but this is an excellent budget alternative. Of course, you can save more money by playing with a piece of string or ribbon.
Catit Senses Super Circuit – Catit circuit toys have been a firm favourite with several of the felines in my life since I first gave one to my mum’s cat, Bertie, in the mid-2010s. You slot it together like a marble run or a hamster tunnel kit, and place the supplied ball inside the partially enclosed track, where it can be seen and pawed by your cat – but never caught. This toy can provide hours of fun, especially if you give it a nudge to get the ball rolling. The track sections can be set out in different configurations, which might help keep it interesting in the long run. It didn’t make the final cut because it takes up more floor or storage space than some people would like.
Willow’s Catnip Leek Kicker Toy – Our feline focus group had fun with this reasonably priced, leek-shaped kicker toy from Willow’s. It offers a mixture of textures, with string serving as the roots and soft, textured fabric covering the vegetable’s body. Dianne noticed that when a kitten grabbed hold of one part of the toy, other parts would move about, adding to the stimulation. While this toy contains some catnip, this won’t have done anything for the kittens, as the herb has no effect on cats until they are about six months old. Clearly, the toy was fun enough regardless. It didn’t make the final cut because not all cats enjoy playing with this type of toy. If you’ve seen your cat trying to death-kick other toys or items such as the corners of rugs, there’s a good chance they’ll enjoy one.
What You Need to Know
As many cat owners know, cats will tend to become uninterested in a toy over time – sometimes within minutes. A University of Southampton study led by John Bradshaw, the author of Cat Sense, found that this disenchantment is typically with specific toys, rather than types of toys or play itself. So, it’s worth replacing your cat’s discarded old favourites with slightly different toys of the same types.
Of course, replacing cat toys frequently can become costly. Another option is using suitable household objects as toys, or making your own. In my experience, cats can have hours of fun with things like a ball of scrunched-up paper, the turned corner of a rug, or fronds of certain ornamental grasses (check the species is cat-safe before playtime).
With strongly scented toys, my fellow contributor Alan Martin has had some luck with putting them back in their bag in between plays to maintain the aromatic potency. A particularly pungent ferret toy was of far more interest to his cats after a spell back in its plastic pouch than when left out and about.
Felines have an instinct to play – or really, to hunt. If you have an indoor cat, playing with toys is their best opportunity to scratch, pummel, claw and kick that primal itch. Outdoor cats can also benefit from the variety and stimulation afforded by tantalising toys, and there’s opportunity for all pet cats to grow closer to their human devotees through play.
Many of the best cat toys look, feel or move like mice, birds or other critters that scamper around on lower links of the food chain. Another interesting finding from John Bradshaw et al is that cats seem to retain interest in a toy for longer if it starts to fall apart during play – they value proof that the hunter is winning the fight with their prey.
All cats are individuals. Closely observing their behaviour may give you clues as to which play activities they’d enjoy – and therefore which toys you should buy. For instance, cats who bite loose threads or plant stems might appreciate a teaser with long strands for them to chase. Watch and play with your cat, and you’ll get to know them.
