I love buying handmade because not only does it support individual business owners, you can get products that are unique, beautiful, and expertly crafted. When I decided to keep my cat Mädchen, I decided to try and buy most of her things handmade.

First, a collar and tag. I got a ridiculously cute pink collar with bunnies on it from Kitty Cat Boutique. The quality is great. But then I decided Mädchen also needed a Burberry-like plaid collar, because the beige would be the same color as her tortoiseshell accents. I couldn’t find one for cats (handmade or otherwise), but I begged Cody’s Creations, who had a “Barkberry Plaid” collar on sale, to make a cat version. She kindly made a “Purrbery Plaid” collar for me, which I’ll post a picture of when it arrives. The pictures the seller provided in the listing made it look perfect, though.

I was worried that finding a tag would be hard because of the special character in Mädchen’s name. But I asked The Taffy Box if she could add the umlaut over the A for me, and she did with no trouble. Her heart-shaped cat tag was the perfect size and the hand-stamped look is much cuter than the engraved cat tags from Petco.

Toys … I saw a pack of real fur mice at the grocery store just after I found her, and I thought I’d give them a shot. It turns out cats LOVE real fur and will go completely crazy about it. The only problem was that the toys from the grocery store and pet stores were very easily destructible: in thirty minutes, Mädchen succeeded in tearing off and almost eating the tail (thankfully I was supervising her), tearing off the little plastic eyes and felt ears, chewing through the fur, and tracking the white clay-like stuff the toy is filled with all over my apartment. The solution was Wanda from Kitty of Mine, who makes real fur cat toys from recycled rabbit and mink fur coats. You can also see in the above picture that Mädchen is holding a little ball of fur in her arms. When I requested some custom fur pillows for Mädchen in a smaller size (about 1″ by 2.5″ inches) Wanda was super nice and sent me two samples at no charge. I will definitely be buying more. The great thing about these is that while they are destructible like any other toy, I know the stuff isn’t harmful (white clay like stuff, yuck!), and there aren’t any small plastic or stringy parts that a hyperactive kitten would tear off and eat. Mädchen loves to play fetch with them, as she does with the variety of toys I’ve crocheted her. Note: all toys only come out with supervision.

One toy that did NOT work (and was not handmade), is the Bergan Turbo Scratcher Toy (this is a better place to get it since they donate to charities). I got the “Starchaser” variety which has a motion activated LED flashing ball. I was convinced she’d love it based on the glowing reviews on Amazon. She does kind of half-heartedly bat the toy around, especially on catnip, but if I try to entice her to play with it she gives me an “are you kidding me?” look. I guess a ball that goes around in circles is too predictable. My kitty is too smart for this toy.

Another thing that elicits a teeny tiny kitty yawn is this Kong Cat Toy (I got it in white). This is another toy with glowing amazon reviews but that got a tepid response. I thought catnip + faux fur + feathers would be a big hit. She kind of sniffs it a bit and walks away. She won’t even play fetch with it.

Next, I want to maybe get a cat tree/scratching post, but the apartment is small and they all cost a bundle. For now she is really attached to scratching the 40$ ikea desk chair we have, and her blunt nails (I clip them) haven’t done much, if any, damage yet. I don’t really mind since it’s kind of an ugly chair and at 40$ it’s cheaper than most cat scratching posts. How beautiful are these, though? Pet Tree Houses. Or this? Lotus Cat Tower.