DIY toy guide

Toilet-Roll Treat Garland

A hanging string of cardboard tubes turns snack time into a foraging puzzle

Empty toilet-roll tubes threaded onto string and hung at nose height make a swinging forage garland — your cat has to bat, tip and fish treats out of each tube instead of gulping them from a bowl.

Difficulty
Easy
Time
10 minutes
Cost
Free

🧺 You will need

  • Four or five empty toilet-roll or kitchen-roll tubes
  • A length of string or cord
  • A few of your cat’s usual biscuits or dry treats
  • Scissors

🔧 How to make it

  1. Pinch and fold in one end of each tube to make a little pocket that holds a treat but can still be shaken loose.
  2. Poke a small hole through the top of each tube and thread them all onto the string.
  3. Drop a treat or two into each tube and gently fold the open end part-way closed.
  4. Hang the garland from a door handle, chair back or low hook so the tubes dangle at your cat’s standing height.
  5. Let your cat paw, nose and tip the tubes to work the treats out, and take the garland down between sessions.

💡 Tips

Making a cat work a little for food taps straight into its hunting and foraging instincts, slows down fast eaters and burns off mental energy. Start easy with the ends barely folded so your cat gets quick wins, then fold them tighter as they get the idea.

Safety: Supervise play with anything on a string, as cord and string are dangerous if swallowed — take the garland down the moment the session ends and store it out of reach. Bin any tube that gets chewed to shreds, and never leave your cat alone with the string.

📝 Notes

It costs nothing, takes minutes, and every empty roll you would have recycled becomes a fresh puzzle. Vary which tubes are loaded so your cat cannot predict where the treats are, keeping the game interesting day to day.

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