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Catnip toys, and how to use them

A catnip toy is a little bag of dried catnip in a shape a cat likes to grab. Two checks keep it fun and safe.

Choosing one

  • Solid stitching and no tassels, strings or small parts that can come off.
  • A refillable toy lets you add fresh catnip when the smell fades.
  • A size your cat can hug and kick, not one it can swallow.

Using it

Hand the toy over for a short session, then put it away in a closed container with the rest of the catnip. A toy that lies around all day loses its smell and your cat loses interest; one that comes out for play stays special.

If the toy has a wand or a string to pull, play with your cat and put it out of reach afterwards: that kind of toy is for play together, not for a cat alone.

Good to know

  • Catnip is given fresh, dried, or inside toys stuffed with it.1,2
  • A catnip episode usually lasts about 10 minutes.3,4
  • String, thread, yarn, tinsel and rubber bands are among the things cats swallow most often, and they can block the gut: keep them out of reach.5,6,7,8
  • Cats lose interest in a toy they see all the time: rotate toys, and put interactive toys away between sessions.9,10,11

How we checked this page

Checked on October 20, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.

Sources

  1. What Is Catnip and What Does It Do to Cats? (Heather Hoffmann, DVM), PetMD
  2. Feline Fine: The Benefits of Catnip (2019), Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine
  3. Why Do Cats Love Catnip?, Scientific American
  4. catnip, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  5. Linear Foreign Body in Cats, VCA Animal Hospitals
  6. Bowel Obstruction/Intestinal Blockage in Cats, PDSA
  7. Linear foreign bodies can be disastrous for cats, UF Health, University of Florida
  8. Cats and String: To Pull or Not to Pull, Preventive Vet
  9. Safe Toys and Gifts, Cornell Feline Health Center
  10. Playing With Your Cat, San Francisco SPCA (Maddie's Fund)
  11. Object play in adult domestic cats (Hall, Bradshaw and Robinson, 2002), Applied Animal Behaviour Science (University of Southampton ePrints)
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