How to Spoil Your Cat and Stay on a Budget

Last Updated on May 8, 2021 by Holly Anne Dustin

We all want to give our kitties the best of everything but sometimes the money doesn’t stretch as far as we want it too. Luckily, cats can be easy to please. It is easy to enrich Kitty’s life without breaking the bank. Here are some ideas you can use to spoil your cat without blowing your budget.

Shop discount and private label products

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• Shop sales and stock up during the holidays.
• Signing up for loyalty programs at pet stores will save you money on treats.
• Look for single ingredient treats and buy the dog size. They come in bigger bags and pieces. Break them up and it will last longer.
• Buy private label versions of treats. Inaba makes my cats favorite treats, but Petco’s store brand, Wholehearted, makes an equivalent for less money and I earn loyalty points.
• Look for deals online. Chewy has some great deals. 
• Buy multi-packs of toys like these and spread them out over time.

Recycle

Turn old furniture into cat scratchers and beds

For inspiration, check out the_cat_tree_guy on Instagram. I’ve seen his work vending at cat shows and it’s great.

• Turn old furniture into cat scratchers and beds
• Shop yard sales and thrift stores or your friends’ attics and basements. 
• Ask stores if they have pallets you can take. 
• Someone renovating might have leftover pvc pipe, carpet remnants, or lumber.
• Add some knobs as feet and a dresser drawer or old suitcase becomes a bed.
• Attach those drawers to some pallet wood and hang on the wall for inexpensive cat shelves.
• Wrap furniture in carpet remnants for a useful scratching post.
  

Make toys out of things you have around the house

Cats will play with a crumpled ball of paper, right? There are many things like that you can DIY into toys and puzzles feeders.

• Cardboard tubes can be cut into rings, balls, or foraging tubes.
• Clean take out containers, plastic bottles, and food storage tubs can make puzzle toys.
• Bottle caps and milk bottle tops turn into fun batt-about toys.

Reuse

• Take the guts out of an old CRT tv or monitor for a novel cat bed.
• An old t-shirt and a wire hanger become a kitty fort. 
• Make catnip kickers out of mismatched socks stuffed with fabric remnants.
• A baby mobile becomes a fun cat toy. 
• Likewise, a child’s sandbox or kids pool can be filled with anything enriching – ping pong balls, bottle caps, snow, ice cubes. What other toys can you re-purpose?

DIY

• Wrap legs of desks, chairs, and tables with sisal or carpet for new scratching posts. 
• A length of fleece tied to the legs of a chair makes a lovely hammock for Kitty. 
• A fleece stripe and a dowel or chopstick make a wand toy or tie a fleece knot for Kitty to throw around.
• Make yarn pom poms on cardboard centers or glue yarn to a ping pong ball.

Cook for Kitty

One of the best ways you can spoil your cat on a budget is to make your own cat treats. You can make your own single ingredient meat treats if you have a dehydrator. Baby food is a budget-friendly substitute for the licky treats my cats love.

There are tons of recipes on Pinterest if your kitties prefer a crunchy, baked, treat.

Cheesy cookies from The Spiffy Cookie is a favorite with Treeno who loves all things cheese. Underbaking them so they are a little soft makes them even more appealing. Popsugar’s Chicken and Spinich treats are a favorite here too.

The Cat Site has a roundup of recipes: the meatloaf is my cats’ favorite. But the turkey treat and the quick and easy treat were well received too. The gravy has gotten picky Minerva eating when she periodically decides she hates everything.

Don’t forget the boxes!

No cost and no cat can resist. Just drop some toys in and let Kitty find them. Or go big and build a castle. Hopefully this has given you some ideas of items you can spoil your cat with and stay on your budget.