Frugal play

Animals are not frugal. Properly cared for they require good food, shots, flea meds,surgery and toys. I have never added up our animal cost as we don't want to know. They provide us with joy and that's good enough. There are a few ways to keep costs down. I'm going to start with toys.

A few minutes ago my 2 dogs were joyfully sliding across our floor chasing after a toy. What was the toy? A Kong ball? A tennis ball? A stuffed animal? Nope. An empty, rinsed plastic milk jug. Their very favorite indoor toy. That's right theres nothing my dogs like to play with indoors better then a milk jug. Big dog grabs it by the handle and flips it into the air while he prances around, teasing little dog. If it should fall it glides easily across the hard floor. Outdoors they love, LOVE sticks. When we take them out to play and they will no longer chase their soccer ball, volley ball, or tennis balls they will run for a stick! lol my pampered pooches love the simple things. That's not to say that they don't like stuffed things that squeak, they do. But they could care less about it being a $10 petco animal or scrap fabric that i stuffed and added a squeaker. (i save squeakers from animal they tear up, and petsmart sells a package for $2)

Dh and I joke that the more expensive the item is the less likely the cats are to like it, when purchased for them. But an expensive coat carelessly left on a couch is wonderful to lay on. :) My cats favorite toy is a real fishing pole, with a rubber ball and scrap of fabric tied to the end. They love it! I don't know how much it cost to put together my dad did it for us, but i bet you could find good deals on fishing poles at garage sales. The black demon loves twist ties. The orange menace loves hair ties but that isn't frugal as every few months I have to replace the ones he hid! The cats love feathers on sticks usually $3-$5 at a petstore. Unfortunately so do the dogs, and they shred rather then play. I'm planning on taking the left over plastic stick and attaching feathers to it with floral tape. We'll see how that goes. I have feathers left from another project that i will try it out with but i would like some bigger ones if its successful. Like i mentioned earlier we are building a massive (over 5ft) cat scratcher and i will try to post photos of it when completed. We have some carpet but i don't think it will be enough even though i plan on wrapping part of the posts with sisal rope. If i need more fabric i will look at a remnant store down the street from us.

Rabbits are big chewers. Our bun has chewed through and on countless cords even though we try very hard to rabbit proof his room. He's sneaky! He enjoys chewing baskets till they are nothing but twigs. Just make sure its not a coated basket. I pick them up from the thrift store spray with vinegar and leave in the sun to sanitize. He chews cardboard boxes. Oatmeal tubes make great chewable tunnels. Black and white newspaper in a big box is fun to shred and dig in. Pine cones are good to chew as well. Some rabbits like toys, mine isn't a fan. but i know several people who buy baby rattles at the dollar store for the rabbit to toss.

My best recommendation is to know whats safe and what isn't and let the animals experiment under supervision. Last night my husband gave a hunk of leftover wood to the dogs. They chewed it into little chunks in no time! We took it away because small chunks can be swallowed and cause problems. (something you need to watch with any chew) I used to let the cats play with string in till they started eat ting it. Now i pick up every piece I find. But if we didn't experiment we wouldn't know how much fun a used milk jug is!