3D printed cat toys can add a world of fun and distraction for your furry friend, adding a personal touch for both you and your pet cat that store-bought options don’t offer.
Any cat owner will tell you how much personality cats have, and not every toy will work for every cat.
My Favorite 3D Prints for Feline Freinds
- Simple Ball Toy: A beginner-friendly, ball-like toy that’s perfect for chasing.
- Parametric Track: Fascinates cats with its endless rolling fun, customizable to various sizes.
- Food-Dispensing Toy: Combines playtime with treat time.
- Interactive Toy: An electronic, moving toy that stimulates a cat’s hunting instincts.
- Puzzle Feeder: Shaped like an egg, rolling unpredictably to keep cats mentally stimulated.
- Catoku Toy: A clever, sudoku-inspired treat-hiding game.
- Slow Feeder Toy: An engaging game that slows down eating.
- Fishing Rod Toy: Best for interactive play, fostering bonding between cat and owner.
- Wobbly Toy: A modular, wobbly toy filled with treats or catnip.
- Peg Playboard: A versatile playboard that caters to cats of all sizes.
This is where 3D printing can help you add to your cat’s toy collection with unique and fun prints, from fishing rod prints to food puzzle toy designs.
Each toy is more creative and significantly cheaper than those found in stores, and most of the ones we’ll see today are completely free!
1. Simple 3D Printed Cat Toys
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: Surveyor
- Price: Free
This simple toy is perfect for anyone with limited build space or 3D printing experience. It’s the size of a ping pong ball and, so long as you make sure there’s a smaller ball inside, your cat will wear away its zoomies batting the little thing around.
Its print-in-place design means you can easily make it without needing to stop at any point to tweak the settings. The only real thing to keep in mind is that the circular structure doesn’t have a base, so you will want to program supports before printing to ensure it stays where it should.
2. Parametric Track Cat Toy
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: Zippitybamba
- Price: Free
3D printed cat toys don’t come more popular than the parametric toy – but they’re frustratingly expensive they can be for what is essentially a circular piece of plastic.
This free design adopts the entertaining properties of centrifugal force that cats simply don’t seem to get enough of.
Simply print the design, toss in a ping pong ball, and watch your furry friend spend hours on end hitting the ball and watching in apparent confusion as the ball doesn’t roll straight away as expected.
The design is fully scalable in OpenSCAD or similar software, so you can change its size as much as you like provided your printer can handle the chosen size.
3. Food-Dispensing Cat Toy
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: Brian Enigma
- Price: Free
There’s no better way to keep a cat interested in its toy than including food. This easy but very effective toy is a great distraction for your feline friend if you fill it with different-sized treats and let your pet go for it!
The design comes as three different printed parts so you can fill it with treats before fully assembling it, so you can use different filaments to match colors or make it as garish as you like to further captivate your cat.
4. Interactive Toy
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: ahmeted
- Price: Free
If you’re in the mood for something more complicated, and don’t mind a bit of electrical engineering, then you’ve probably found the 3D printed cat toys we’ve looked at so far to be a bit simple. Don’t worry, because this interactive cat toy is sure to scratch that itch.
The moving structure scrambles around freely as your cat interacts with it to appease its hunting instincts. Overall, this is a great toy for those of you with cats who are bored of the same old bat-around toys that just aren’t entertaining like they used to.
Some parts do need to be printed multiple times, and supports are important. Fortunately, the full instructions from print to wiring are available for free on Instructables.
5. 3D Printed Cat Puzzle Feeder
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: DGil
- Price: Free
3D printed cat toys are great for keeping your cat distracted, and that’s why 3D printing a food puzzle toy is a particularly good idea. They keep your cat entertained and drawn to the toy thanks to the enticement of an edible reward.
While you won’t need supports for this print, the designer does warn that there are some overhangs that you should be prepared to tackle for the best results. But the true genius of this design is the egg shape, which rolls more unexpectedly than a standard sphere to further keep your cat on its toes and playful.
6. Catoku Toy Project
- Download: Cults3D
- Designer: GRILLINMUFFINS
- Price: $1
This 3D printed cat toy is inspired by the popular sudoku game found in just about every newspaper since 2004. The square playing field is designed for you to hide a treat underneath one of the tiles to compel your cat to move the printed parts around to find their reward.
As 3D printed cat toys go, the catoku toy project is a very creative one, and it’s a lot easier to make than you might think. Both the board and its pieces only need 8% infill density to make sure they’re light and easy to move.
Assembly can be a little tricky, which is why the designer has included bullet-pointed instructions to make sure the parts fit well together but can also be easily pushed around so your cat can solve the puzzle without issue.
7. Slow Cat Feeder Toy
- Download: Printables
- Designer: Henry
- Price: Free
3D printed cat toys can be more than just fun for your cat; they can also be used to control and reduce overeating. So while not technically a toy, this feeder is a great – and responsible – addition to your cat’s toy collection.
This 3D printed feeder has multiple parts that must be precisely measured and assembled to ensure they survive your cat’s swipes. To ensure the best results, be sure to follow the designer’s clear instructions, as outlined along with the free STL files.
8. Cat Fishing Rod Toy
- Download: Thingiverse
- Designer: vjapolitzer
- Price: Free
Fishing rods are some of the most popular cat toys because they allow you to actively play with your furry friend, instead of just tossing them a ping pong ball and watching them go.
However, these fishing rod toys can often cost over $10, and they break pretty easily. So this designer has come up with his own 3D printed fishing rod so you can play with your cat until at least one of you gets tired.
The winderbase model will need supports, but aside from that this is a really simple print for just about anybody. Each of the other 13 printed parts are easy, small prints that any 3D printer can manage.
So as long as you follow the designer’s detailed instructions included with the files, you should have no trouble 3D printing this fun fishing rod toy for you and your cat.
9. Wobbly Toy
- Download: Cults3D
- Designer: GREANBEANZ
- Price: $2
3D printed cat toys are best when they’re keeping your cat interested and focussed, and so this modular wobbly 3D printed toy is one of the best designs on this list.
The toy is made even more enticing if you fill the model with different-sized treats or some catnip to keep your cat batting away to try to get what’s inside.
It’s worth noting that each lid will require at least 60% infill so the toy stays top-heavy, allowing it to return to its upright position when knocked as intended.
10. Peg Playboard For Cats
- Download: Printables
- Designer: Magda j
- Price: Free
This cat playing board has been remixed and updated multiple to make sure you’re getting the best 3D printed cat toy for your pet.
It even comes in two different sizes for cats above or below 6kg in weight, meaning you can print the smaller version for your new kitten, and 3D print a new one as the little friend grows up.
The design allows for endless customization, reinforcement, improvement, and remixing if you’re in the mood to try your hand at making something a little more unique.
