Tips to make cat toys and treats

Cats are the purr-fect pet. Here are some tips to make your furry feline content.

Cats love a variety of toys, and are especially fond of small, lightweight, flexible and sparkly toys. Avoid a costly trip to the pet store by offering these found toys to your pet.

• Save foil wrappers from chewing gum and other snacks and roll them into little balls for your cat to bat around.
• Twist a foil wrapper into a little "bow tie" and fasten it on the end of a piece of string, then dangle it for your cat to play with. You can even tie these string toys to doorknobs throughout the house. Your cat will love hiding behind the door and reaching around to bat at them.
• Create little rolling noisemakers by filling film canisters with nontoxic items such as pieces of breakfast cereal and chopped nuts. Your cat will spend many happy hours rolling and chasing these toys.

Some cats love the flavour of melon. If yours is among them, keep some of these mixed melon treats on hand.

Makes 1 cup

• 1/2 orange-fleshed melon
• 1/2 green-fleshed melon

Peel and cube the melon flesh as you would for a salad. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Serve one or two cubes as a treat daily.

House cats like green "grass" to nibble on, and this recipe offers your cat a long-lasting variety for pennies. You can buy untreated sprouting grains at health food stores or at feed mills. Keep grains in sealed plastic containers in the refrigerator. Save an empty Parmesan cheese shaker to fill with seed mix; it makes sowing easier.

Makes four, 10-centimetre (four-inch) flowerpots of grass:

• 250 g (1 c) whole oat berries
• 125 g (1/2 c) wheat berries
• 125 g (1/2 c) barley seeds
• 50 g (1/4 c) alfalfa seeds
• 50 g (1/4 c) rye grass

1. Put grains into a sealed plastic container and shake to mix. Fill shallow, tip-resistant pots with potting soil and moisten with tepid water.
2. Sprinkle the grains thickly over the top of the soil and cover grains with a sprinkling of soil. Set the pots in a sunny window and water as needed to keep the soil as moist as a wrung-out sponge. When the grass is 2.5 centimetres (one inch) tall, set a pot beside your cat's dinner dish and watch the fun.
3. For an ongoing supply, start a fresh pot of cat grass every other week.

Your little Felix will be purring with pleasure when you give him these fun toys and delicious treats — he may even sit on your lap for awhile, or cuddle with you in bed as a thank you!