10 People Whose Crochet Hobby, Skills, and Patience Turned Yarn Into Unique Toys for Dogs and Cats

Someone ordered one crocheted mouse from my Etsy shop every Monday for 2 years. 104 mice. Same name, same address. Then the orders stopped.
A week later, a letter came. I opened it and read the first line twice: “Please don’t think I stopped because I didn’t love them. I loved them more than you know.”
The letter was from Dr. Anita Shah, a vet at a low-cost spay clinic two towns over. Every Monday, she picked the most frightened cat of the week, the one shaking in the back of its carrier, and sent it home with one of my mice. “So it has something soft to wake up next to,” she wrote.
104 cats in two years. Then the clinic lost its funding and closed, and she couldn’t bring herself to tell me.
For the record: crochet is my hobby, not my job. I make those mice at my kitchen table from leftover yarn, with stitches so tight a cat can’t pull a single strand loose. I’d assumed she was a collector. I cried into my yarn basket.
Last month, the clinic reopened under a new nonprofit. Their first order: 300 mice, one for every cat that comes through the door now, not just the scared ones. I’m sending them for free. Somebody’s kindness and compassion kept those pets calm for two years. The least my handicraft can do is keep up.

• Aw, your pup is adorable 🥰 He deserves that sweet slice of watermelon. I see someone is going to be loved and very spoiled!! © Takilove / Reddit
• Omg your pupper is so precious!! He looks very happy with his gorgeous new watermelon. What a well crafted and clever piece! © heydeedledeedle / Reddit

• I love crochet and cats. © Due-Hall-7270 / Reddit
• OHHH MY GOSHHHH !! this is sososo cute! And really well done too! Love it! © just_peachy0-0 / Reddit
• Love the Scottish Fold ear accuracy! © TigerInTheLily / Reddit

• Oh my goodness, cute bee and dog! © beyondmidgar / Reddit

I braided a rope bone for our puppy from old T-shirts in the garage. My husband came home, saw it, and went pale. “Where did you get the black one?” I said a box marked JUNK. He sat down on the floor and whispered, “That shirt was signed by the whole band. Backstage. 1996. I was 17.”
“It was in a box marked JUNK,” I said. “So nobody would steal it.” “Who steals from a box marked JUNK?” “Exactly.” The signatures were on the back, faded to gray. I’d only looked at the front.
Knitting is my hobby, and I’ll turn anything into yarn if you leave it in the garage long enough. Twenty minutes of braiding, and our puppy had a bone. He reached for it. Waffles, our 4-month-old pit mix, growled. First time in her life. He laughed until he cried.
That night, he posted the whole story online. Two days later, the band’s bassist replied: “Best use of that shirt yet.” A week later, a box arrived with a new signed shirt and a tiny bandana for Waffles.
The new shirt is framed in the hallway. The old one, my finest piece of handicraft, sleeps in her crate. My husband says happiness is watching your teenage treasures get chewed, as long as it’s by one of your own dogs.

Quick amigurumi project to protect you and your cat(s) from boredom. I recommend making half a dozen or so, because your cat(s) will swat them under your furniture and silently laugh at you while you try to retrieve them. I used cotton and a 2.5mm hook, but you can use just about any leftovers suitable for 3mm and under for this. You’ll also need some stuffing.

• That dog certainly looks like it is enjoying the toy! © nekino / Reddit
• I think my dogs would rip it apart even as a rope toy cause they’d play tug-o-war. But it’s such a cute idea! I wish I could knit them toys. © you_dub / Reddit

• Omg this just gave me memories I didn’t know I had...my grandma used to make these and put them next to her ceramic cat statue, it was such a big part of my childhood and I forgot about it until now. © Therapyandfolklore / Reddit
• I plan on crocheting something similar as a Christmas gift for my cat. How do I know which type of yarn is safe for my cat? Currently I only own yarn labelled as 100% cotton. © ThickWriting4060 / Reddit
• Pure wool is the way to go. It’s worth buying new yarn if it avoids a future cat-astrophe. DEFINITELY nothing synthetic, and wool can be felted so it becomes a solid fabric instead of long strands that can seriously mess up kitty if chewed/torn apart. © No_Aerie_3549 / Reddit

I hid an AirTag inside a crocheted mouse, because my cat kept losing them. The next morning, the app said the mouse was three blocks away, inside an apartment building I’d never been to.
I knocked on the door, ready to apologize for something. A woman opened it, looked at the mouse on my phone screen and laughed. “So you’re the mouse lady.”
On her son’s windowsill, lined up in a neat row, were twenty-three crocheted mice. Arlo is 6. They moved here in August, and he hadn’t said a word at his new school since. Every morning at 7:30, my tabby, Fig, had been walking to his bus stop and dropping a mouse at his feet. He carried each one to school in his backpack and whispered to them at recess.
His mom told me that last week his teacher called her, almost in tears. Arlo had raised his hand and told the whole class about a cat named Fig. His first sentence since September. That’s the kind of empathy you can’t put in a lesson plan.
Crochet has been my hobby for years, and I made those mice so Fig would hunt something besides birds. Apparently, she had a better use for them: curing a 6-year-old’s loneliness, one mouse a day. Now Arlo and his mom walk Fig home from the bus stop every afternoon. I crocheted him a cat that looks just like her. The AirTag has been retired.

• Cat seems to like it. © SuzieWi / Reddit