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8 best gifts for cats

We've found some a-meow-zing presents for the feline in your life

Monday 14 December 2015 17:42 GMT

If you’re a cat person, you’ll know what agony it is: while dog people lap up the affection of their furry pals, cat people are left scrambling after their pets, begging for approval and occasionally rejoicing because their feline deigned to sit on their lap for more than 30 seconds at a time. Still, the condition of cat-lover is what it is and scientists say it can’t be cured – so you may as well get your pet the best Christmas presents that money can buy.

Anyone who’s spent any time around cats knows how notoriously difficult they are to keep entertained: indoor cats, which are becoming more common as people congregate in cities, need an especially high amount of stimulation, which means prioritising toys which really command their attention rather than ones your cat will abandon in favour of the box. Equally, space is at a premium these days and it doesn’t hurt to have an aesthetically pleasing scratching post or a bed which folds conveniently into a corner. We’ve sorted through the easily dismissed, the over-stimulating, the tasteful and the downright wacky to come to the Goldilocks formula for cat Christmas presents. These are our top picks.

Cheshire & Wain Organic Catnip Toy Sugar Mouse: £12.50, Cheshire & Wain

One for the virtuous, Cheshire & Wain is a boutique company which delivers the poshest cat presents you’ve ever laid your eyes on. You’ll never return to a cheapie catnip toy from a netted pet stocking again after you’ve experienced its Sugar Mouse catnip toys, which are made from recycled wool and hand embroidered on the outside, with organically grown catnip on the inside. These are the beautifully sewn, baby-soft toys you want to get your pal who has cats but cares about aesthetics. Cheshire & Wain claims that the organic catnip inside these diminutive mice is high strength because of its quality, and we can confirm that cats went mad for them for days while supermarket-brand catnip toys had been ignored.

Landmark Pet Houses, The Kremlin: £34.99, The Fowndry

If you’re looking for something distinctive, which will give you and your friends a good laugh as well as your cats endless playtime, look no further than the Cat Kremlin developed by Landmark Pet Houses. This brilliantly innovative company makes intricate yet surprisingly durable structures out of cardboard which resemble well-known landmark buildings (at the moment, you have a choice between our personal favourite, the Kremlin, or the White House and the Eiffel Tower). Each miniature building has a surprise inside: the Kremlin has a hidden bell, the White House a springy flag and the Eiffel Tower a treat dispenser. Best of all, it’s virtuous: the cardboard is 100 per cent recycled. Our cats had hours of fun running in and out of the structure – almost as much fun as the humans living with them had watching.

AmazonBasics Cat Activity Tree with Scratching Post: from £9.35, Amazon

If you’re strapped for cash and space, the cat activity tree from Amazon Basics – which comes in three different sizes – is an especially good choice, as it packs a big punch for the price. Each combines an activity space (the smallest has a small watching post at the top, while the largest extends upwards for four “floors” with space for a lookout right at the top) with a scratching post (or, in the case of the largest, multiple scratching posts). These sturdy structures are especially ideal for people living with indoor cats in apartments, as they provide a lot of stimulation yet take up a lot less room than most. Indeed, the entire Amazon Basics pet range is worth a peruse, as it’s become well known among pet owners for its high quality, low-priced versions of what you’d usually find in your local pet shop with innovative new styles and designs.

FroliCat Cheese Automatic Cat Teaser Toy: £25, Pets at Home

Simple yet surprisingly effective, this cheese-shaped cat teaser from FroliCat features two little yellow mice which automatically dart in and out of holes in the triangle block. At first we were sceptical about whether this simple device could really command the attention of two active and curious cats, but it left us thoroughly impressed. The teaser uses randomised movements to make sure the movement of the toy mice never becomes predictable to a watching cat, meaning that each time you turn it on, it feels to them like a brand new game.

SilentNight Micro-Climate Pet Beds – Medium: £39.99, Argos

If you’re as concerned for the comfort of your furry friends as you are for yourself (and why wouldn’t you be?), mattress company SilentNight has come up with a brilliant innovation in the form of pet beds moulded from the same materials used for their extremely popular human mattresses. The fully customisable beds (which are currently advertised as for dogs, but which SilentNight assured us would be equally popular with cats – a prediction which bore out) get their name from the fact that they create their own “micro-climates” – keeping your pet warm on cold nights and providing coolness when the room they’re in is hot. They are spacious (in either medium or small sizes) and luxurious, but come with one big negative: how jealous you feel climbing into your own bed when you’ve felt the softness of the mattress under your kitty.

House of Paws Hooded Arctic Fox Bed: £39.99, Waitrose Pet

A cat bed with a difference, the Hooded Arctic Fox Bed from House of Paws is one for cats which think they’re royalty (so basically all cats). Faux fur adorns the inside while faux suede makes up the outside, and the bed includes a useful handle to make the bed fully transportable (especially helpful when transferring cats to relatives’ or catteries during holidays, we found). The bed’s cave-like structure appeals to cats who just keep climbing into things, and our own cats spent a while fighting over whether it should be repositioned on its side or kept upright for maximum snuggle protection. It helps that it’s sleek-looking and can be tucked inconspicuously into a corner.

Suck UK Scratching DJ Deck: £16.49, Amazon

Like the Kremlin, this one is for the sillier cat owners among us, and we enjoyed every minute of testing it out. Suck UK is a playful brand with a difference, which does a brilliant range of scratchable cardboard structures including a cat DJ deck (our personal favourite), a Cadillac, a plane, a fire engine and a laptop (which comes complete with a bouncy toy mouse in place of the usual computer mouse). Each structure is designed so that it looks like the cat is engaging with an unexpected piece of machinery, which is bound to brighten the day of even the most cynical visitor. The corrugated cardboard is great for their claws too – gentle yet effective – and the structures themselves come fully flat-packed and pop up with remarkable ease once out of their packets.

Hoover Discovery Pets 2-in-1 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner: £169.99, Argos

Because you deserve a present this Christmas for being a cat owner as much as your cat does, Hoover has released this nippy little vacuum cleaner designed especially for houses where pet hair is regularly shed. Bagless and cordless, this top-of-the-range cleaner gets rid of even the most stubborn hairballs, plus it can be converted into a handheld device to go over your sofas and carpets before your mum comes over. After using this, we swore we’d never go back – our house is looking the cleanest it did in years. Worth splashing out for if you can afford it.

The Verdict: Cat gifts

For an affordable yet eminently tasteful addition to any home that will please all cats, Cheshire & Wain’s fully organic, hand-sewn Sugar Mice have to get our Best Buy. For something a little bit quirkier, which is guaranteed to bring festive laughs, the Cat Kremlin has to win out. And if you’ve got cash to splash, the Hoover Discovery is a must-have: you’ll never feel guilty about the state of your sofa cushions again.