I don’t know about you, but my kitty cat, Finnegan Illman, seems to be super excited about the newest catnip toy I bring home. I don’t even have it out of the bag, and he is pawing and stretching and nose tapping the bag and me like crazy to get to the toy. When I slowly take the new catnip toy out of the bag, teasing him every inch of the way, he can barely contain himself. It is one of the highlights of being a cat mom. Ah to be loved so much your kitty is head butting your face and doing all the adorable poses a cat does to get anything he wants. Once the toy is out of the bag, he grabs it between his paws and rubs it down with his face a few times. Now that the toy is saturated with his scent and his face is covered with catnip smell, the bunny kicking begins! Kick, kick, kick! It is by far the best exercise he might get all day. I have been sure so many times that THIS toy is the one he will never snub. THIS catnip toy will not let him down. THIS toy will provide him with hours, days, weeks and months of endless playtime! Many of his catnip toys do provide several sessions of playtime but my little guy kicks and bites the nip smell right out of them, leaving the toy battered and limp. In the past I had thrown out countless saggy, lame toys way before their time. Not only is it expensive, it just didn’t feel right to ditch them so fast. That’s when I started refreshing my cat’s toys by putting them in bags filled with catnip. I eventually started making aesthetically pleasing toy bags to keep them organized.
This DIY no sew catnip bag can be whipped up in 15 minutes by following these easy steps. Here is what you will need to get started.
- Hand towel or cloth napkin
- Catnip
- Baggies
- Scissors
- Double sided tape
- Jute Twine
These easy steps will guide you through to make your own kitty catnip bag.
Step 1.
Fold your cloth napkin on each side, so one side overlaps the other and add a few pieces of double sided tape to secure it closed.
Step 2.
Fold up the bottom of your bag so that it will create a bag, so nothing will fall out the bottom. Use double sided tape to secure it closed.
Step 3.
Now you have an actual bag but you want to be able to hang it so take the top corner of one side and fold it over. Use your scissors to cut a small (very small slit) in the fold.
Release your fold, to find a small opening for your twine handles. Repeat your fold over cut on the other side of your bag.
Now you have two slits for your twine handle to slide through.
Step 4.
Add fresh catnip to one of your plastic baggies and pop a couple cat toys in with the nip. Make sure the toy is covered with nip and twist the baggy closed. Put the baggy in your catnip bag for easy storage!
You can swap out the supplies I used for different items that you have. Yarn can easily replace jute twine, and stitch witchery can replace double sided tape. Embellishments like buttons and bright colored cloth napkins can give this bag a colorful pop!
Hang this catnip bag in your closet or on the wall near your cat’s supplies. I like it because having both a cloth bag and baggies keep the cloth bag protected from catnip and the clear plastic bags help the toys absorb the nip. Now your kitty toys will last double, triple, even 5x longer than normal. Paw forward cat lovers!
Lisa Illman is the inventor of an outdoor cat enclosure and founder at Kritter Kommunity. Lisa and her product the Kritter Kondo have been featured in Cat Fancy, the Chicago Tribune, Chestnut Hill West, Good Morning America and most recently Steve Harvey’s Funderdome. You can follow Kritter Kommunity on Facebook and Twitter @KritterKondo. Lisa is a also a business and PR consultant and loves to help small businesses grow their brand. She has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes.com and the Philadelphia Inquirer. When Lisa isn’t growing businesses she is hanging out with her adorable tuxedo Finnegan. Contact Lisa at lisa@lisaillman.com
