An interesting fact to note before buying any catnip toys for cats: Most cats have no reaction to catnip or catnip toys until they are 6 months old. Your kitten isn't going to understand what you've given them, but giving them a catnip toy won't harm them, either. For some kitties, their sensitivity to catnip doesn't begin until they are one year old. Once your feline friend is old enough, you'll find some of the best catnip toys online right here!
The 9 Top Rated Catnip Toys for Cats
| Editor's Pick | Product Name | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Handmade | YEOWWW! Banana Catnip Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.7 |
| Best Interactive | Potaroma Flopping Fish Cat Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.1 |
| Best For Exercise | SmartyKat Skitter Critters Value Pack Catnip Toys | Buy on Amazon | 4.7 |
| Best Toy For Dental Health | Petstages Toss 'N Dangle Dental Catnip Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.4 |
| Best For Big Cats | OurPets Cosmic Catnip Filled Cat Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.6 |
| Best Soft Toy | Pet Craft Supply Wiggle Pickle Cat Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.2 |
| Best Chew Toy | Legendog Cartoon Catnip Filled Toys | Buy on Amazon | 4.3 |
| Budget Option | SmartyKat Tea Teazers Catnip Teabags | Buy on Amazon | 4.4 |
| Best Organic Catnip | Yeowww! Rainbow Catnip Cat Toy | Buy on Amazon | 4.8 |
1 Best Handmade: YEOWWW! Banana Catnip Toy
- Banana shape
- 100% organic catnip
- No fillers
- Made using durable cotton twill
Filled with 100% organic catnip, this banana-shaped catnip toy is an enjoyable addition to your cat’s daily life. The size of the product is perfect for cats because they can sometimes struggle with the shape of various catnip toys. The best catnip toys for cats are always the ones that aren’t too bulky. Cats need to be able to pick the toy up, bat it around, and bunny kick it while still holding it with their front paws. Cats don’t have thumbs, typically, so the shape of any toy you buy them will affect the way they play with it.
There are no fillers inside the toy with the catnip. It’s just pure, organic catnip, which around 80% of adult cats react to in hilarious ways. The catnip banana, itself, is made of a durable cotton twill material, so it’s perfectly safe for your cat to carry around in their mouth and it will dry out quickly if they drop it in their water bowl.
2 Best Interactive: Potaroma Flopping Fish Cat Toy
- Soft plush toy
- Moves like a real fish
- Catnip pouch
- Rechargeable
Reminiscent of the old singing fish toys that used to be hung on walls in pubs and some people’s kitchens, this cat toy from Potaroma doesn’t exactly look like other catnip toys that you may have seen in your local pet store. Although most cats react to catnip, if your cat doesn’t, they’ll still get a kick out of this kicker toy!
This flopping fish is rechargeable using the supplied USB cable. By keeping the fish charged, you can give your cat an interactive toy that dances by wiggling around. The fish will only move when touched, which should entice your cat and activate some of their natural hunting instincts. The motor that makes the fish dance can be removed so that you can wash the cover, too.
3 Best for Exercise: SmartyKat Skitter Critters Value Pack Catnip Toys
- Filled with pure catnip
- Tested for safety
- Stylish mice without the high price
- Pack of 10
Slightly different from the other Skitter Critters from this brand, here we have a set of 10 cat toys filled with quality catnip for all of your cats to enjoy. Some cats have a habit of hiding their toys, to the point where you won’t see certain toys again until weeks or even months later. Occasionally, you’ll find them in the strangest of places – like under the couch or behind a shelving unit somewhere in your home. That’s where this value pack comes in handy.
Let your cats start out with the catnip kick from one or two of these colorful mice before you decide to add any more toys to the mix. That way, you’ve always got back up toys for your cats to play with when you notice their other ones have, inevitably, gone missing or gotten a bit damaged. These lightweight and easy-to-carry mice are sure to be a hit with your kitties.
4 Best Toy for Dental Health: Petstages Toss ‘N Dangle Dental Catnip Toy
- Stuffed with potent catnip
- Mesh material to help clean teeth
- Promotes dental health
- Available in other shapes
Though there are plenty of variants of dental cat toys to choose from when looking at Petstages’ offerings, our favorite has to be the Avocado dental toy. Having an avocado as a toy for your furry friend is just outright hilarious, and we believe that every household needs at least one funny toy to hold their cat’s attention, even if the cat in question doesn’t know what it is they’re playing with.
Toys like this are great for mental and physical stimulation, while also having the necessary features to help clean your cat’s teeth. This avocado-shaped toy promotes positive chewing behavior by giving your feline friends a specific plaything to chew on, rather than them using your furniture or couch cushions. The mesh material of the toy will help gently clean your cat’s teeth, too, which is something that other toys don’t typically help with.
5 Best for Big Cats: OurPets Hot Stuff Cat Toy
- Hot pepper shape
- Made from felt
- Filled with Cosmic Catnip
- Encourages play
Perfect for households that love all things spicy but respect that their cats can’t enjoy the same food, we present the “Hot Stuff” catnip toy from OurPets’ Cosmic Catnip line of catnip-stuffed cat toys. This pepper-shaped toy is created from durable materials and stuffed with catnip specifically grown in North America. The brand advertises this type of catnip as the most aromatic catnip ever produced; when pinched, the scent stored in the dried mint family herb releases and causes all kinds of good fun for your kitty.
The durable material used to create these catnip chew toys is a super soft felt fabric. Felt should be able to hold up to any physically active playtime that your cat puts the toy through for a while, though the toys from this brand are also fairly inexpensive, so they wouldn’t be costly to replace if your cat gets too rough with them.
6 Best Soft Toy: Pet Craft Supply Wiggle Pickle
- Rechargeable cat toy
- A great toy for good behavior
- Promotes natural feline instincts
- Fun pickle shape
Give your cat a toy that has googly-style eyes without worrying about the plastic pieces! The Wiggle Pickle from Pet Craft Supply automatically wiggles and flops around while your cat is interacting with it. The design is very fun and unique – certainly something that you won’t find on the shelves of your local pet store when you go looking for cat toys.
The wiggling and flopping action of the toy will help stimulate your cat’s natural hunting instincts, enticing them to treat the pickle toy like prey in the wild. Though this isn’t a refillable catnip toy, it does have a pouch of potent, fresh catnip, and the toy can be recharged using the supplied USB lead. Simply plug it into any USB power adapter or your laptop/PC and let the toy charge up so that your cat can play again.
7 Best Chew Toy: Legendog Cartoon Catnip Filled Toys
- Set of 5
- Bite-resistant
- High-quality, durable material
- Cute emoji/cartoon faces
A set of five cat-shaped cat toys that have the cutest emoji-like faces! If you’re looking for more than one catnip toy so that you have a few at home for your cat to play with, this set could be the perfect solution. Budget cat toy sets like this ensure that you aren’t spending far too much money on cat toys. They never last long! Even the most durable catnip toy will eventually need to be replaced due to the sharp teeth and claws that your kittens will, without a doubt, sink into the fabric of.
This could be the best catnip toy for a younger cat owner who appreciates emojis and has a great sense of internet humor. They’re apparently bite-resistant, which is a great feature for any cat toy to have – but remember, just because they can’t be ripped open by your cat’s teeth doesn’t mean they won’t get destroyed by their claws. It’ll just take a little longer. For a high-quality cat toy with four extras to put away, consider a cartoon cat face cat toy from Legendog.
8 Budget Option: SmartyKat Tea Teazers Catnip Teabags
- Bright, noticeable colors
- Pack of 2
- Only filled with catnip
- Made of durable materials
An amazing cat toy to gift to your favorite cat owner who also happens to have a sweet spot for a decent cup of tea. These Tea Teazers from SmartyKat come in a pack of 2 and are filled with 100% fresh catnip that has been dried to perfection. The teabag toys are brightly colored, which will help any human spot them when their kitty inevitably hides them somewhere in the house.
The teabag toys may not look like they can stand up to much, but SmartyKat always tests for safety and ensure that there are no harmful materials used in the making of their products. These teabags are lightweight, inexpensive, and only filled with catnip. They even have the little teabag string that you can hold to tease your cat with the toy!
9 Best Organic Catnip: Yeowww! Rainbow Catnip Cat Toy
- Rainbow-shaped cat toy
- Crafted from natural cotton twill
- Made in the USA
- Stuffed with organic catnip
The best catnip toy for your cat if you’re looking for something made of more natural material. This rainbow cat toy is made from natural cotton twill and stuffed with organically grown catnip. Made in the U.S., Yeowww!’s Rainbow is sure to brighten up your living room with its colors and the reaction that it’s sure to get out of your cat.
Many cats react to catnip, though not all cats have the same reaction or react at all. But if your cat is one of the many that enjoys catnip, there’s certainly enough catnip inside of this little rainbow that your kitty will be playing with it in seconds. The rainbow toy is a good size, being approximately 3.5 inches in height, and the perfect shape for your cat to hold and kick at.
How to Choose Catnip Toys
Before you spend much money on this kind of cat toy, ask yourself if you’re sure that your cat reacts to catnip. If you don’t know whether your cat is a feline who does react to the herb, it’s best to buy an inexpensive toy to start with. Something small and inconsequential.
After that, there are a few things to consider when you’re in the market for a fun cat toy that your household pet will enjoy. A refillable catnip toy will ensure that you have a potent catnip-filled object that you can refresh every few weeks, but they can be more expensive than the cheaper toys that have catnip pouches sewn into them.
The best catnip toy is going to be one that stimulates your cat’s mind and gets them moving. Look at your cat’s favorite toys. What do they like to play with? Older cats probably won’t enjoy something that they have to chase around, so a static (non-moving) toy would be better for them, or perhaps a dental toy to help clean soft plaque from their teeth.
If you’re unsure, why not offer a few? Buy your cat around three toys of different types to see which they like best. Make sure to include at least one wiggling or dancing toy because those ones are great for getting your cat to commit to physical activity. Little mice toys are always a good option, too, and they’re often very cheap, though you can get multi-packs for an extra cost.
Also, consider the different kinds of catnip that some cat toy companies offer. There’s Canadian catnip, North American catnip, Cosmic catnip, and even Organic catnip – just to name a few that you might see!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Catnip is a herb from the mint family that many felines respond to in various ways. Some cats get excited, some get super relaxed, and others get agitated. Because of this, it’s often referred to as a cat drug, but there are no medicinal benefits to giving your cat catnip.
For more in-depth information about catnip, check out our blog.
Around 70 to 80% of cats react to catnip, though not all of those cats react to the herb in the same way. That also means that your cat could be in the smaller percentage of felines that don’t react to the herb at all. The response to catnip is inherited; which means if you have parent cats that react, their kittens are likely to react to the herb, too.
Interestingly enough, catnip only lasts around a week or two. Catnip loses its potency very quickly, which is why it’s a good idea to store filled toys in sealed bags in your freezer or buy refillable catnip toys so that you can refresh the catnip used in them. If the toy has a removable catnip pouch, you should be golden!
Your cat should be fine to play with a catnip-based toy for around 10 to 15 minutes before it’s a good idea to put the toy away and let them calm down for a few hours. Longer play sessions won’t hurt them, but they just won’t be as affected by the toy.
Catnip has some interesting effects on cats, and though it’s fine to let your little one play with other toys all day long, catnip isn’t something we would recommend you leave out all the time. After around 15 minutes of play, the toy just won’t have the same kind of effect on your cat and you don’t want them getting that buzz again at 3 am because you left the cat toy out.
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