1. Recycled Cat Bed
Over at Natural Home Magazine, there’s a great tutorial for turning a broken suitcase into a cat bed. You could take this even further and paint the suitcase or cover it with decorative fabric from your scrap bin before adding the mini mattress. You could also sprinkle a little bit of catnip in the suitcase to get your kitty interested!
2. Fabric Scrap Catnip Toy
This is a great project for raiding your scrap bin. Grab a couple of cute scraps in coordinating fabrics and cut out any shape you like: a heart, a squirrel, a bird…get creative! Iron and pin the pieces wrong sides together, then stitch all the way around, leaving a small gap so that you can turn it right side out. Flip your toy right side out, stuff with dried, organic catnip, then use a whip stitch or ladder stitch. One word of caution: you might be tempted to add a little ribbon tail to some animal-shaped toys. This is NOT recommended. I’ve heard horror stories about cats swallowing ribbon, and you don’t want your lovingly-created toy to mean a trip to the emergency vet!
3. Homemade Cat Treats
No Cans has a great roundup of cat treat recipes that you can try. Many cats are sensitive to dairy, so you may want to think twice about any recipe that calls for cheese or milk powder.
4. DIY Kitty Palace
Between the wood and the carpeting (which is usually a petroleum product), those store bought kitty castles are not the most eco-friendly situation. Cats love playing in cardboard boxes, right? So, it makes perfect sense to build them a whole castle out of cardboard! Over at E-How, Molieannda shows you how to build your own custom kitty palace out of reclaimed cardboard! [Image Credits: Agnes in the Window. Photo by Becky Striepe, Cat Playing with a Catnip Mouse. Creative Commons photo by furphotos, Cat Playing Getting a Treat. Creative Commons photo by Robert Couse-Baker, Cat in the Box. Creative Commons photo by donabelandewen]
