The 10 Best Cat Toys of 2022
Play cat toys with your cat isn’t only fun for the both of you—it’s also an important aspect of your cat’s healthy development and making sure he or she is active and entertained. This is especially important if you have an indoor-only or solo cat who doesn’t get as much stimulation.
Veterinarians say that playing has several tangible benefits for our feline friends. First, it can help them maintain a healthy weight if they’re running around the house regularly, rather than sleeping the day away. That, in turn, can help them live longer and mitigate chronic health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Play also helps them stay mentally sharp. Just like people doing crosswords or Sudoku to keep their brains limber, puzzle play engages cats’ minds and staves off boredom. It even boosts their mood.
Different toys do different things, but one thing they all have in common is that they keep your cat’s senses sharp and help them maintain a healthy weight (especially if the toy encourages a lot of jumping and pouncing). Interactive cat toys also help you form a bond with your kitty, ensuring lots of snuggles when playtime is over. But, as any cat owner knows, cats can be beyond picky when it comes to what excites them and what bores the heck out of them.
Whether dangling a feather toy, tossing a catnip mouse or setting up a cat obstacle course (yes, they exist!), engaging with your pet will strengthen your relationship, which can even lead to better-behaved pets since they’ll want to keep you happy. To keep you from buying duds, we rounded up the best cat toys for keeping your kitty entertained.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 0.95 ounces | Material: corrugated paper/feather toy | Lifestage: Adult
Keeping your kitty indoors is the safest route, but cats are natural hunters and can quickly get bored if they don’t have enough stimulation. But the Interactive Indoor Cat Toy can help.
These mouse-shaped toys satisfy your cat’s prey instinct, it mimic the hide-and-seek movement to arouse your cat’s interest. While the catnip inside stimulates your kitty, encourages play, and, eventually, reduces stress and promotes relaxation.
Just play with the interactive indoor cat toy and let your cat catch this unpredictable and cunning fake mouse. It keeps your cats stay active and engaged and keep your furry friends entertained for hours on end. So it is perfect for your lazy cats who love to stay at home all the time.
Type: Automatic | Weight: 12 ounces | Material: Rubber | Lifestage: All ages
If you have to leave the house all day, you can buy the PetDroid Automatic Cat Toy for your cats. Because it has a good automatic mode—it will run for 10 straight minutes, turn off for 90 minutes, and then turn back on for another 10 minutes for just right eight total hours. Let your cat feel not alone.
PetDroid Automatic Cat Toy keeps your cat from chasing your robot vacuum or other pets by giving them another critter to follow. These rolling toys work on carpet, tile and wood floors and ambulates in a similar way to natural prey. The set also comes with several attachments, so your cat can play with a crinkle ball one day, a ribbon another and a feather the next, to keep things spicy.
So if you have to leave the house all day, you can feel better knowing your cat will be entertained.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 0.96 ounces | Material: Plastic with fabric/feather toy | Lifestage: Adult
Playtime is one of the ways you can bond with your cat, and this interactive toy from KONG—a company known for making toys that last—is a great way to encourage your cat to chase, hunt, and capture this “prey.” The Dangle Feet Teaser has a character—there’s a bird, a flamingo, or an owl-like creature—attached to an 18.5 inch string that stretches, retracts, and easily swings around.
The bright feathers on the character and the crinkle sound from the filling inside entice your cat to do his best to capture the toy. Each toy is filled with premium catnip, which helps keep your cat interested, energetic, and entertained. Like all wand toys, it’s best for your cat to only play with this toy while supervised, to avoid any injuries.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 0.96 ounces | Material: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene | Lifestage: Adult
COPOL 360°Self Rotating Ball Interactive Cat Toys have Irregular rolling & rotating and colorful LED slow flashing light effect. The bird sound inside will attract your cat play with this feather toy and make your cat very energetic.
COPOL 360°Self Rotating Ball Interactive Cat Toys built-in sensors, It can recognize various scenes, change its direction when hit obstacles. The cat ball toy will interactive with you cats by 360 degree rotating, forward, backward, shaking, making sound automatically.
COPOL 360°Self Rotating Ball Interactive cat toys have a large battery capacity, is fully charged in 1.5 hrs, and work 10 hrs under default mode. So you don’t have to worry about if your cat feel boring when you are busy, the smart COPOL 360°Self Rotating Ballinteractive toy will be a best friend of your cats.
Type: Interactive | Weight: Not listed | Material: Stainless steel | Lifestage: Adult
Laser toys are a cat favorite, but many of them are flimsy or require small watch batteries that most people don’t have conveniently lying around. But the Ethical Laser Cat Toy changes the laser experience. Just keep in mind that some cats get frustrated by laser toys, so you may want to combine this activity with treats or other toys that your cat can actually catch.
This high-quality laser not only has a stainless steel finish, you can also plug it into a charger or a computer with the included USB, so you never have to change the batteries. As an added bonus, it has two additional modes–UV light and white flashlight. You can use the UV light to check for hidden pet stains on the carpet or upholstery and the flashlight to search for lost toys underneath the couch. It is a really rare cat toy, especially suitable for storage maniacs!
Laser Safety
Never shine a laser directly into any pet or person’s eyes, because it could result in vision damage.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 8.47 ounces | Material: Plastic | Lifestage: All ages
In case you’ve ever used a laser with your cats, you understand how long time going for walks is concerned. In some instances, you would possibly even get worn-out out earlier than your cat does. That’s why the automatic Cat Laser Toy is one of the satisfactory cat toys for workouts.
Many cats love chasing laser hints. If yours does too, this automatic laser toy will offer more amusement without your involvement. The mild will pass randomly across the ground after which flip itself off after 15 mins so your cat would not get overstimulated.
So we defined the Automatic Cat Laser Toy to be a smart cat toy that who have various play modes cats would never get bored, who can run and play with cats at home when they are alone.
Type: Plush toy | Weight: Not listed | Material: Plush | Lifestage: All ages
If your cat doesn’t certainly want to run or chase matters, the OurPets Catnip 24 Karat Cat Toy can assist maintain him entertained without a variety of attempts. The long-lasting canvas carrot is packed with 100% catnip, which is both invigorating and soothing to your cat. Your cat can chunk on the canvas, swat on the feathers, or wrap his paws across the carrot and supply it with some serious bunny kicks. you can also use it as a hold toy to entice your cat to swat or paw at it, pleasing his natural choice to hunt.
Even as the feathers may additionally fall off pretty quick, depending on how a whole lot your cat loves to chunk things, the canvas is made to last thru hours and hours of playtime.
Type: Interactive | Weight: Not listed | Material: cotton fabric, polyfil, catnip, silvervine | Lifestage: Adult
When cats are feeling playful, they love to roll around out their backs and bunny kick. A long and skinny kicker toy is the perfect toy for this instinct. There are many toys marketed as “kickers,” but if you have an adult cat, be sure to look for one that’s at least 12 inches long.
This handmade kicker from Etsy maker The Catnip Calico is a full 12 inches long and has a refillable pocket to hold catnip. It’s covered in durable cotton fabric, so it’s less likely to get shredded to ribbons, although this maker does offer kickers covered with other types of fabric. The center is a soft polyester filling and the purple fish is sparkly! so the toy is flexible and fun for cats.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 0.06 pounds | Material: Plastic | Lifestage: Adult
If your senior kitty seems a little less active these days, the Petstages Tower of Tracks is the ideal solution. This three-tiered toy includes three colorful spinning balls contained in three tracks. When your cat bats at the balls, they spin and roll, but don’t leave the tracks. This satisfies your cat’s hunting instinct but since the balls don’t leave the tower, your senior kitty won’t have to chase them around the room or go looking for them under the couch.
This toy is a great solution for the working cat parent, too. Your kitty can entertain themself even when you’re not at home.
Type: Interactive | Weight: 9.6 pounds | Material: Resin | Lifestage: Adult
Your cat will have hours of fun playing with this little shiny butterfly that keep flying away under his paws. With a flying action that replicates the movement and fluttering of a real butterfly. As the butterfly spins around the base, there is a lifelike fluttering action that provides a realistic look and sound that will stimulate your cat’s natural hunting instincts.
It allows your cat to stalk and hunt in a safe and engaging environment. When you flip the switch and turn the toy on, your cat will experience stimulating and interactive play providing healthy mental and physical stimulation.This ultimate exercise stimulator will push your cat to exercise therefore reducing his stress.
The colorful butterflies move sporadically, encouraging your kitty to bat and chase. It comes with replacement butterflies too, just in case they do catch and shred one.So for cats that like to play with feather wands, set up this automatic flutter toy to keep them occupied while you work or get some chores done.
Final Verdict
The PetDroid Automatic Cat Toy is a well-rounded cat toy that encourages your kitty to jump, chase, swat, bite, and play—all of the things that satisfy their natural prey drive. If you’d rather play with your cats interactively, the KONG Dangle Feet Teaser Feather Assorted Cat Toy can keep them entertained while tiring them out.
What to Look for in a Cat Toy
Benefits
Most toys are designed primarily for entertainment, but many that have additional benefits for your kitty. For instance, some toys have built-in scratchers to help cats maintain their claws; others have chewing components to encourage oral health. Many toys will get your cat moving and using their muscles. Consider these types of wellness benefits as you shop.
Solo Play
Are you looking for a toy that will keep your cats entertained when they’re home alone or something that you have to facilitate? Consider whether solo play is a priority, as this will dictate what type of toy you should buy.
Engagement
You know your cat better than anyone, so be sure to think about whether a particular toy is something they’ll use repeatedly. Cats can be finicky, and they often play with a toy once—then never again. If you’re not sure whether they’ll like a toy, it’s best to opt for something you know they’ll play with. If your cat gets board of a toy easily, you can also consider only letting them play with it occasionally, so it will seem new and more intriguing.
