Pets do not actually get bored of toys. They get bored of toys that do not scratch the itch. A dog who shreds the couch while a basket of plush squeakers sits untouched is not ungrateful; the plush feeds a soft-mouth carry drive, and what the dog needed was something to chew or something to sniff out. A cat who bats a felt mouse once and walks away is not broken; the mouse just sits there, and nothing about a stationary lump triggers a hunt.
The fix is to stop buying toys by category (another ball, another plush) and start buying by drive. Dogs and cats are wired for a handful of specific behaviors, and a good toy box has something for each of them: the chew drive, the hunt-and-prey-sequence drive, the sniff-and-forage drive, and the problem-solve drive. Buy across all four, rotate them so they stay novel, and the pet who “has no favorite toy” turns out to have several. Here are our award winners, sorted by the instinct each one actually feeds.
For the hunt: let your cat (and your dog) catch it
This is the drive most cat toys get wrong. A cat’s hunt is a sequence, stalk, chase, pounce, and catch, and a toy that dangles forever but never gets caught leaves the loop open and the cat frustrated.
“Play is hunting redirected onto toys instead of prey,” says Nina Vasquez, a Pet Times behavior contributor. “A toy earns attention when it behaves like something alive: it darts unpredictably, and its texture and silhouette land in the brain’s ‘prey’ file. The single most important rule people miss is to let the cat catch it at the end. Land the wand on the floor, let them pounce and pin it, and the hunt finally feels finished.”
Best feather wand: Ocatnip handmade wand. A handmade wand with four pastel feather teasers and tiny bells, light enough to flutter like prey on the smallest flick, vetted by founder’s own adopted cats. Move it like a bird, then let your cat make the kill.
Best cat tumbler teaser: Pidan feathered tumbler. A weighted water-droplet base that wobbles upright with replaceable feathers, from an award-winning Paris brand, in an anti-oxidative hybrid resin built for claws. It self-rights so the “prey” keeps coming back, and the design lets your cat catch and bat it freely, completing the sequence solo.
Best frisbee: West Paw Zisc. For the dog whose hunt looks like a chase across the park, West Paw’s recyclable, zero-waste Zisc is soft, floatable, flies far, and survives gentle chewers, a real physical-and-mental outlet for a prey-drive dog who needs to run something down.
For the chew: durable, sized right, and honest about “indestructible”
Chewing is self-soothing and exploratory, and the wrong toy either shatters in minutes or gets swallowed.
“Some dogs just chew hard, and sometimes hard chewing is tied to anxiety,” notes Nina Vasquez. “If a dog chews to self-soothe or explore, give them something strong and genuinely hard to destroy, and watch whether the chewing looks relaxed or frantic. Frantic, constant chewing is worth a conversation with your vet.”
Best durable dog toy: Modern Pet Co. Busy Buddy Bone. No toy is truly indestructible, but this geometric rubber bone holds up to serious jaws, can be stuffed with treats for added work, and its angular shape helps scrape teeth. Replace it once it starts to break down, and always size it to the dog.
Best cat scratching post: a sisal-wrapped cactus scratcher. Scratching is a healthy outlet for everything from excitement to stress, and the best scratcher mimics a tree: tall enough to stretch full-length, heavy and stable enough not to wobble under force. This PVC-and-sisal cactus checks those boxes and saves your couch.
For the sniff: forage toys are the best value enrichment there is
The nose is a dog’s most powerful tool, and sniff-based foraging is both mentally tiring and genuinely calming.
Best dog snuffle mat: Injoya snuffle mat. A 3D “rug” you hide kibble in so your dog has to nose it out. “Sniff-based foraging promotes relaxation in dogs, not just entertainment,” says Nina Vasquez. Machine washable, non-slip base, with hidden squeakers for less food-motivated dogs.
Best dog lick mat: SodaPup lick mat. Smear it with peanut butter or canned pumpkin and let your dog lick it clean; freeze it to make it last. Licking is self-soothing, which is why lick mats are a go-to for building calm associations with baths, nail trims, and Zoom calls. SodaPup’s are durable, U.S.-made, and rescue-supporting, with a 30-day replacement if a chewer destroys one.
Best catnip: organically grown fresh catnip. Around 60 percent of cats respond to catnip with euphoria, licking, head-shaking, and rolling, while it mellows others, which is why some owners use it to ease stress. Fresh leaf is more potent than dried, and as a bonus, catnip has been studied as a natural mosquito repellent. (We’ll note plainly: the “crystal-infused, vibrational-healing” catnip products on the market lean on claims with no scientific support, so buy catnip for the catnip, not the crystals.)
For the puzzle: make them work for the meal
Problem-solving toys turn a 30-second meal into a half-hour project, which is exactly what an under-stimulated pet needs.
“A lot of dogs are simply under-exercised and bored,” says Nina Vasquez. “Interactive toys give them a job. The trick is matching the difficulty, start easy so they win, then ramp up.”
Best interactive dog puzzle: Nina Ottosson by Outward Hound. An adjustable-difficulty puzzle with seven hidden compartments, genuinely hard to crack, so even clever dogs stay challenged. The benchmark of the category.
Best cat puzzle toy: Nina Ottosson cat puzzle. Sixteen compartments that make a cat strategize for treats. “It’s hard to take the hunt out of a cat; it’s an innate need,” and a food puzzle channels that need productively.
Best treat-dispensing dog toy: Up Dog Odin. A quiet, 3D-printed modular puzzle (no squeak) that dispenses treats as it rolls, in MoMA-store pastels. Founder Michelle Moy’s corgi, @odinthecorgi, is the QA tester, and the brand donates 10 percent of profits to the Humane Society. “Get down on the floor and push it around together; it’s built to be a two-player game,” Vasquez suggests; “once they crack it, it’s a jackpot every time.” The companion Ubbe holds liquids like peanut butter; both are dishwasher-safe, non-toxic TPR.
Best kibble-dispensing dog toy: Fable The Game. A weighted wobbler that drops kibble through a side hole as the dog bats it, holding up to 1.5 pounds of dry food, ideal for fast eaters. Fable founder Jeremy Canade designed it around his own dog: “I tried other products, but he’d slam them against the wall like a bowling ball for one piece of food, and crack puzzles in five minutes. The bar was: quieter, and it had to last at least half an hour.”
For comfort and play that’s just play
Not every toy needs a job. Some are for carrying, cuddling, and the simple joy of a squeak.
Best rope dog toy: Jax & Bones Good Karma. Hand-tied rope toys colored with vegetable dyes, made locally in Los Angeles from upcycled soda bottles and fabric scraps. “Every dye and raw material gets closely inspected,” says founder Tina Nguyen. “I scratch and smell every new material, like a dog. I’m a little obsessive, but we’re all obsessed with our animals.” The zoo-animal bundle does some environmental good while it gets cuddled.
Best sustainable dog toy: P.L.A.Y. A B Corp whose plush, crinkly toys are made with PlanetFill, 100 percent post-consumer recycled bottles, and meet children’s-toy safety standards. Affordable (from about $6) and endlessly fun, from retro joysticks to fast-food classics; the squeaky milkshake is a perennial.
The short version
Stop buying five versions of the same toy. Take stock of which four drives, chew, hunt, sniff, solve, your toy box actually feeds, then fill the gaps and rotate so nothing goes stale. With cats, the non-negotiable is letting them catch the prey at the end of a hunt. With dogs, the highest-value buys are usually the foraging toys, snuffle mats, lick mats, and food puzzles, because they tire the brain, not just the body. Buy for the instinct, and your pet will finally use the toys you bring home.
References
- Delgado, M., et al. “Feline Play Behavior and Toy Preferences.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
- ASPCA. “Enrichment and Play for Dogs and Cats.” aspca.org.
- Cornell Feline Health Center. “Catnip and Feline Behavior.” vet.cornell.edu.
- AVSAB. “Position Statement on Enrichment and Mental Stimulation.” avsab.org.
