For years, my mom always told me a story about how her cat growing up had a small crocheted pumpkin that he loved playing with and would carry around the house.
He would even growl if you tried to take it from him!
Now that autumn is here, I decided to make one for my cats to play with, hoping they’d love it just as much as he did back in the day.
Spoiler Alert: They do!
Why I Love Making Handmade Toys for My Cats
But why spend the time making cat toys by hand when you can just buy cheap ones online? I’ll tell you.
I enjoy learning a new craft. Instead of scrolling on my phone looking at funny cat videos, I get to spend an afternoon creating something my own two cats will get to play with. Plus, I level up my skills as a maker. It’s a win-win.
Making the cat toys makes them much more special. Each one I make is totally unique and made with intentional love. I know my cats would play with a cardboard box, but there’s just something so heartwarming about them playing with something I made specifically for them.
It’s a great way to use up extra yarn. All of the cat toys I make are crocheted with the extra yarn I have leftover from the blankets I make for cats in local animal shelters. Instead of throwing away the scraps, I use them to make these zero-waste cat toys!
My cats love them! This needs no further explanation.
Mini Pumpkin Crochet Tutorial
Like all hobby crafters, my favorite place to find new crochet patterns and tutorials is on YouTube!
For this pumpkin, I followed a video posted by Holly Auna.
I did make a few tweaks to her design though:
- I only completed five rows of the pattern (front and back), rather than the six she recommends. This made my mini pumpkin the perfect size for my cats.
- I used teal and white yarn instead of traditional fall oranges and browns. Since I was using yarn leftover from the blankets I crochet for shelter cats, I simply didn’t have those dark colors! But teal worked out perfectly, since I’m allergic to everything and this was a shout out to the Teal Pumpkin Project.
Cat Toy Safety: Keep This in Mind!
At the end of the day, crocheted cat toys are made up of yarn and filling material—neither one of which you want your cat to consume!
That’s why it’s so important you watch your cat closely and supervise them when playing with these toys. If you start to notice an end beginning to fray, filling coming loose, or any other issue, take the toy from your cat. You can either fix it before the next play time or make them a new one.
You can always replace toys. Your cat’s safety is the number one priority!
Pawsitive Purrpose 
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