Cash In With These DIY Cat Toy Designs

According to the ASPCA, approximately 2.1 million cats are adopted each year. Every cat needs the basic water dish and litter box, but the most exciting purchases for new pet owners are cat toys! If you’re interested in making and selling DIY cat toys, now is the purrfect time to make space for yourself in a booming market. In this guide, you’ll find ideas for easy, low-cost DIY cat toys that you can sell online, along with tips on the best place to sell them.

DIY Designs

Cat owners want the best for their feline friends, and many people consider pets to be family. This means your future customers are more likely to buy a toy with a personalized touch than something mass-produced. The DIY cat toy designs below are easy to make and look amazing, so they’re a great place to start when building your inventory.

Don’t be afraid to talk to the cat lovers in your life to see what toys they would be interested in buying and check out trending products on popular ecommerce sites to get a feel for the market. You can stand out online by starting the next DIY trend, or you can attract customers with fantastic fabrics, bright colors, and customizable options.

Feather wand

The feather wand is a staple in any cat owner’s toy arsenal, and DIY designs are much cuter than the varieties found in pet supply stores and on Amazon. This is a great product to include in your online store because the materials to make the wand can be purchased inexpensively and in bulk.

You’ll need: wooden dowel rods, string or leather cord, felt, small bells, and glue.

Start by cutting your felt into cute designs. The traditional design would be feathers, but you can customize your wands with felt clippings in the shape of cheese, a mouse, or any other cat-friendly image. To help your customers feel special, you can personalize the designs based on their preferences! Poke a hole in your felt designs, thread them onto your string or your leather cord, and add a bell before tying them off. You can repeat the previous step for multiple tassels, if you’d like. Finally, connect everything to the handle by winding your string around the top inch of the wooden dowel and securing it with glue. Any size dowel rod can work, but ten to twelve inches helps bridge the gap between your customer’s hand and their cat’s level.

Check out this video for a visual tutorial if needed, and the feather wands will disappear from your store in no time.

Catnip yarn ball

This design is sure to be a best seller because it brings to life the classic image of an adorable kitten rolling around with a ball of yarn. Cat owners want to know that their cat will love the toys they buy, and the catnip tucked inside this yarn ball ensures customer and kitty satisfaction.

You’ll need: Styrofoam balls (golf-ball size), dried catnip, yarn, and glue.

Mix your glue with water to dilute it, and then coat the surface of your Styrofoam ball. We suggest golf-ball sized Styrofoam, but you could include a variety of sizes in your store. Once you’ve applied the glue mixture, roll your ball in dried catnip until it’s lightly dusted. Set your Styrofoam aside to dry while you select your yarn.

Once the ball is dry, attach one end of your yarn with glue and wind the strand around a few turns. Coat your wound yarn with a little bit of glue, and then wind in a new direction to start building up your layers. Add glue as needed, but you can also tie or tuck strands of yarn together to secure them. Stop winding when no Styrofoam is visible, or when the ball seems full and plush. Try out a variety of yarn colors and types to see what sells best.

Check out this video tutorial to get a better sense of the winding technique, which can be relaxing to do once you get into a rhythm!

Kicker toy

Kicker toys are great for cats who like to play independently, and for owners on the go who want to keep their pets occupied. While this design requires a little bit of sewing, the simple steps are easy to master, and customers will appreciate the extra effort. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can customize your kickers with different fabrics, or even personalize them with an embroidered name.

You’ll need: fabric, stuffing or polyester fill, and needle and thread.

Any type of fabric will work for this DIY kicker toy, but the brighter the better for catching your customer’s eye online. You can even save money by using scrap fabrics or upcycling thrift store finds like curtains. To start, you’ll need to cut your fabric into a 3” x 16” square. Fold the square widthwise and sew the long sides together. Once you’ve made a tube, sew one of the two open ends together to create a container. Fill your fabric with stuffing, and then sew the tube closed. For added fun, you can include bells or dried catnip with your stuffing!

This in-depth tutorial will demonstrate the sewing technique step-by-step, but you can also experiment with gluing your fabric or doing your stitches freehand.

Sell Your DIY Designs Online

Once you’ve settled on the right crafts for your store, you’ll need the perfect platform to support it. There are many ecommerce platforms to choose from, and you want to make sure you find the best fit. When you’re making your decision, it can be helpful to consider the cost of setting up your store, whether the platform includes fees to add inventory or per transaction, the platform’s connectivity with other sites and marketplaces, the ease of managing your store, and the checkout experience for your customer.

Here at Ecwid, we’re putting free trials on trial so you can focus on filling your store with cat toys and your wallet with cash. Ecwid is an ecommerce platform that makes selling online easier. Build your own store from scratch to instantly sync and sell across your own website, social media, marketplaces, and more. Grow your business with automated marketing tools and manage it all from your Ecwid control panel.

At Ecwid, we offer an app that enables you to create full websites, add products, manage orders and inventory, and more. You can start and fully manage your store from your mobile device. And, if you ever need support, Ecwid offers live customer service to ensure your online experience is a breeze.

We can’t wait to see what you make! Drop a comment below with your favorite DIY cat toy designs, ideas you’ve been wanting to try, or a product from your store that’s a proven best seller. With the right DIY and the right ecommerce platform, you can become the king of the (online) jungle.

Discover DIY craft ideas and learn how you can sell them online.

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