DIY toy guide
Toilet-Roll Wall Forage Station
A row of cardboard tubes fixed to a board so your cat fishes treats from each hole
Several empty toilet-roll tubes glued upright onto a cardboard base make a honeycomb of little wells your cat has to reach into, turning a handful of biscuits into an absorbing paw-and-nose puzzle.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Time
- 25 minutes
- Cost
- Free
🧺 You will need
- 5–8 empty toilet-roll or kitchen-roll tubes
- A piece of stiff cardboard for the base
- Non-toxic paper glue or tape
- A handful of dry treats or kibble
🔧 How to make it
- Stand the tubes upright, packed closely together, on the cardboard base and glue or tape them firmly in place.
- If using long kitchen-roll tubes, cut them down so they are all a similar, paw-friendly height.
- Let any glue dry completely before letting your cat near it.
- Drop a few treats down into random tubes, leaving some empty to keep it interesting.
- Let your cat sniff out and hook the treats from the baited tubes with paws and nose.
💡 Tips
- Vary the depth by scrunching a little paper into some tubes so treats sit at different levels.
- Bait only some tubes each time so your cat has to search.
- Use your cat's normal kibble to fold this into daily feeding without extra calories.
Safety: Make sure glue is fully dry and non-toxic before use, and supervise cats that like to chew cardboard. Discard the station once it is chewed, crushed or damp so no soggy pieces are eaten.
📝 Notes
Free to make from recycling, it channels a cat's natural urge to reach into nooks for prey and is easy to remake whenever it gets battered.