B&M's Best Toys for New Kittens and Cats

If you’re an animal lover, there’s nothing better than welcoming a purring furry friend into your household. It’s likely to take some time to get your kitten or cat settled at home but they'll soon familiarise themselves with their new surroundings – and their new family too!

While you might have already bought the essentials (don't forget the Cat Food!), you might also consider getting the new member of the family some toys to play. Not only will they keep them entertained, but toys provide a great opportunity for you, their owner, to interact and get to know them.

Have a read below at just a few of the great kitten and cat toys we have at B&M that you can get for your little feline to play with. Soon enough you’ll have them feeling right at home and having lots of fun at the same time.

Introducing New Toys to Your Cat or Kitten

Allowing your cat or kitten to have toys is an important part of allowing them to play and get a lot of exercise all in one go.

To help them understand when it's ’play time’, there are certain things you can do. Your cat or kitten will instinctively want to hunt for prey and should respond well to you playing this out for them. This means choosing a toy and slowly enticing your cat or kitten with it - try moving it slowly along the carpet, away from them as if it was a small animal escaping! Your feline should respond by chasing and pouncing on its 'prey'.

Always allow your cat or kitten to have the toy if they’ve caught it and repeat as much as you like. Try and get used to the rate of play and know if it's getting a little rough. If your cat or kitten starts using their claws or gets over excited, stop play time for a while.

How do I Know if Toys are Suitable (and Safe)?

There are plenty of toys designed for cats and kittens that are perfectly safe for chewing, clawing and scratching, and won’t have any adverse effects on your little feline’s health. Make sure the toys you buy have the following features:

• Hard-wearing – cats like to use their claws to scratch and it is in their nature to do so. Therefore getting toys that are hard-wearing and can be chewed, scratched or otherwise is always a good idea
• Texture – whilst most hard-wearing materials will do, it is in your best interest to choose toys with a texture that is different from any furniture in the house. If they start associating the couch as a scratching post you will soon realise why!
• Small enough to bat around – there are many different types of toys that cats or kittens can be at play with but to hold their interest it’s preferable to keep them small so your cat or kitten can chase them, pounce on them and generally pretend to hunt
• Avoid sharp edges – since your cat or kitten will do a lot of chewing it’s best you check all toys for sharp edges and any damage before purchase
• Avoid hazardous filling – check the packaging of any toys you purchase to make sure the filling used (if it's a soft toy), isn’t harmful to your cat or kitten, just in case they decide to chew it

B&M Top Tip: if your kitty needs somewhere komfy to sleep, check out our Pet Bedding! They come in lots of different colours to suit your cat's personality!

What Types of Toys are Available?

There are many different types of toys available for cats and kittens to play with so it can be difficult to decide what to get (even though you might just want all the toys!). There are plenty of soft toys that will become very popular with your cat or kitten, although think about larger scratching posts and play centres that will allow your cat or kitten to explore their environment (and keep them off the furniture too).

The following toys might be a good place to start but there are countless more to choose from:

• Kittykins Ball of Wool – the perfect toy for cats or kittens, it even makes a rattling sound
• Meow Sushi Catnip Toy for cats – a great small toy for your cat or kitten to hunt, appealing to their natural instincts and great for play time
• RSPCA Scratching Post – appealing to your cat’s natural habit of scratching, this post is great for kittens and adult cats to strengthen muscles and encourage play
• Kitty Corner Multi Level Activity Play Centre – ideal for indoor or outdoor cats who like to keep active, this play centre also features scratching post legs to save your furniture!

Have you just got a new kitten or adopted a cat? Post your best feline selfies on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages!