How to Make a Cat Playground Out of Everyday Objects

Cats, especially those kept indoors, display significant imagination as they pretend to stalk and capture prey. Enrich their lives by exercising both minds and bodies in a play environment where they can control noises and explore and observe their world from the safety of enclosed spaces with "back ways out." Change the playground from time to time to further enrich your pets' lives.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 or 3 sturdy cardboard packing boxes
  • Plastic zip ties
  • Paper grocery bags
  • Scissors
  • Wicker baskets
  • Sisal mats
  • Fabric ribbons
  • Packing tubes
  • Ping-pong balls
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Instructions

    • 1

      Arrange boxes as the foundation of your cat playground. The boxes used to ship bananas work well, as long as they're clean, because each box has two interlocking parts to configure in various ways. Banana boxes also have air holes and handles that invite paws to reach through, plus larger holes in the top and bottom that make observation windows and doorways that fit most cats. Fasten them securely to each other using plastic zip ties, especially when you stack boxes to give kitty the chance to climb.

    • 2

      Set out a temporary playground or an extension of the boxes using clean, empty grocery and shopping bags. Cut off all handles to prevent a cat getting its head caught. Set some bags upright and lay others down for tunneling. Cut the bottom out of one or two bags and telescope them for a longer tunnel. Expect a lot of noise.

    • 3

      Provide a variety of textures by setting scratchy wicker baskets or sisal mats in some boxes and bags or between them on the floor. Fasten sisal steps up the side of a cardboard lean-to that you've fastened into place, and kitty may climb up for a catnap at the playground's highest point.

    • 4

      Tie lengths of fabric ribbon such as grosgrain, no more than a foot long, from the top edges of boxes so they dangle invitingly in kitty's path. Arrange a whole set of ribbons, car wash style, across a larger opening to provide both play and privacy.

    • 5

      Place a short barrel, at least 10 inches in diameter, at an angle as a ramp from one level of the playground to another. Leave narrower cardboard tubes flat on the ground with rattly rolling prey such as ping-pong balls nearby or trapped inside. Cut a slit in a tube wide enough for a paw to reach in easily, but not quite wide enough for it to pull the ball out.