If you are an owner of household pets, you most certainly realize that keeping your pet entertained can sometimes prove costly.  The cost of pet toys can prove quite expensive.  It is however, possible to make your own pet toys for your household pet, whereby you can save money on the traditional expenses associated with pet toys.  In addition, when you make your own pet toys you can make a project that involves you and your children or family members and consequently, you make the act of making your own pet toys a way to spend quality time together with your family.


Pet Toy Tips

When you make your own pet toys, your particular choice is a far better decision than to merely give your pet and old pair of shoes, socks or an old stuff animal to play with.  In truth, shoes, socks, household string, and stuffed animals can prove to be unsafe for your pet and even present a choking hazard for your animal.  While pet toys on the market are made strictly for animals so that they are safe for your pets, you can have a lot more fun making pet toys for your animal by yourself or with your children.  Just bear in mind certain safety measures when you are ready to make pet toys for your animal.

Pet toys should not have any small buttons, eyes, or removable or detachable decoratives on the surface.  While the pet toy and may appear more attractive with certain decorations such objects will most likely be chewed off the toy by your animal and either swallowed or choked on.  When making a pet toy for domesticated animals simplicity is best.  You will also want to make toys out of non-toxic materials, and if the toy is a stuffed toy for the animal you will not want to use silicone beads or any kind of hazardous filling in the pet toy’s interior.


Simple and Inexpensive Pet Toys

Pet toys can be made out of leftover materials from other crafts as long as the materials are non-toxic or the materials do not present a choking hazard.  For example, if you frequently knit as a hobby, you may find that you have leftover yarn materials and scraps that you can use to make safe pet toys.  After collecting scrap wool and fleece, you can insert the scraps into an old nylon stocking or knee high.  Once the nylon stocking is filled with the scrap yarns and materials, the nylons can be tied closed snuggly, and washed in very hot water.  The latter toy is ideal for dogs and cats alike, and will give your pets hours of fun.  Once the pet toys you have made have been thoroughly used up by your animals, they can be disposed of and you can always make more.

If you would like there are patterns available so that you can crochet or knit pet toys for cats and dogs.  For cats, you can crochet a small ball and fill it to the brim with catnip.  When you visit the Lion Brand® Yarn website, you will be able to order the yarns you will need to make such a project and the patterns/instructions needed to make a catnip ball for your cat are made available to you for free.  In addition to the catnip ball pattern, Lion Brand® Yarn has patterns for making toy goldfish for your cat, sweaters, blankets, and bedding for your dog, catnip mice, and more.  You can visit the Lion Brand® Yarn website at:
http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/pg.fcgi

A similar website can be found at Knitty.com, where you can get patterns to crochet a pet toy for your animal which entails projects that can be completed in as little as a few hours.  For complete instructions on how to make a catnip-filled Wonton, you can visit and see the Knitty.com website at:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/index.html


Super Inexpensive Pet Toys

Believe it or not, a small empty plastic bottle can prove entertaining for your cat or dog.  In truth, it is not at all difficult to entertain an animal with an inexpensive pet toy.  If you fill up an empty container with noisemaking material, your cat or dog is likely to chase the pet toys around the house for days.  Just make sure that whatever you put into the interior of the plastic container is non-toxic, and that the plastic container is well sealed.

It must be noted that some individuals will not have time to make their own pet toys or that certain individuals may not have the inclination to do so.  As an alternative to making your own pet toys you can get toys online for fairly little expense.  Really great choices are made available on at a site like BusyPetToys.com, a site that offers pet toys for cats, dogs, ferrets, birds, horses, and rabbits.  Online ordering is available at BusyPetToys.com, and the business also offers its products at several physical locations throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, California, Vermont, Virginia, Delaware, and Florida.  Visit BusyPetToys.com for more information at:
http://www.busypettoys.com/