This is an enhanced version of the catnip cat toy I made prior. This one has a much better looking fish pattern, catnip, and crinkle sound and is much larger then my original project which were closer to catnip mice in size. Attached here are three different sizes to print out, I have a smaller one that prints diagonally, a medium one which is what I used in this project, and a large one which is what I will make next time I make another cat toy.

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Here is a complete list of Supplies & Tools you will need. They are not all the same supplies I used but should be similar or better replacements.

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Supplies

• Old Blue Jeans (Denim Fabric) or Your Own Fabric - (I made mine out of old blue jean denim pants. You could use old shirts, old pants, old sheets, old pillow cases, old blankets, felt, etc.)
• Black Thread - (Needed to sew the fabric together. You could do any color but black blends in well enough with the blue jeans and is very versatile. 3000 Yards.)
• Denim Thread - (If you really want the thread to blend in this is the best choice. 250 yards.)
• Cotton Balls – (I used paper towels but cotton balls work better as the stuffing for the catnip fish. You could use scrap fabric, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.)
• Paper Towels – (If you want to copy what I did in the project here are some cheap paper towels.)
• Parchment Paper – (This gives it the crinkle sound some cats really enjoy.)
• Catnip 1oz - (Used to make the cat more interested in the toy. Optional depending on your cat. Mine came for free with some scratching cardboard.)
• Catnip 0.5oz - (Cheaper then above and would be more then enough for this.)
• Cardboard Scratching Cardboard - (These are the scratching cardboard that came with the catnip I used for this. 3 Pack comes with free catnip with each scratching cardboard.)
• Invisible Tape – (This is used to hold the patterns together and hold the pattern to the fabric. Any tape would work too.)

Tools

• Scissors - (Needed to cut out the pattern and fabric. Same brand I used.)
• Needle - (Needed to sew the fabric together. Same brand I used. Variety Pack.)
• Permanent Marker - (I used this to trace out the pattern onto the material. You could use anything that will leave a mark on the fabric you can see. This is a 12 pack. I used a Sharpie but Amazon Basics looks like a better deal.)

These are fairly simple to make and you could improvise with any of the supplies depending on what you have available.

All the patterns I modified and put together are attached in this step and it comes in 4 different size choices. If you want a mini one from my original project its been attached here also as 05, Mini Fish. First print out the pattern you want to use, if you use the medium or large cut the pattern in half and trim by the tails so they can be taped in the next step. If you went with the extra large print two and do the same.

Once again only for the medium, large, and extra large pattern, tape them together at the tails so its one long pattern. Any tape you have should work

Now that its all one long pattern cut it out along the outer lines until you have the double fish pattern by itself.

I cut off the leg of a pair of old blue jeans then cut it open, cut a long strip, and trimmed off the outer stitching. I left the stitching in the center for where the two tails attach. You could do any other fabric you want as well, I just like the denim because its free, as these pants are no longer wearable, and its heavy duty which with a cat biting and clawing it is a huge plus for durability.

Now tape the cut out pattern to the strip on the strip of denim you already cut out. You could also use pins if you wanted, but tape is easier and only needed to hold long enough for the next steps.

Next trace around the pattern onto the denim, I used a permanent marker as its a cat toy so it doesn’t need to look perfect and is going to get destroyed eventually anyway.

Now remove one piece of tape at a time and cut it off the pattern then lay it back down and finish tracing it. Once its all removed fill in any missing gaps with the marker.

Now cut out along the lines until you have the full cutout fish shape. I cut the scraps of denim smaller as I was going to stuff it with them, but since I went for a medium fish there wasn’t any need for extra filling. If you go with the extra large one then all the scrap denim will make great additional filler.

Fold the denim fish in half and line up the top and bottom then lay it flat for the next step.

Now cut off a few feet of thread, I think I did roughly 3 feet, and then thread the needle and tie a double knot on the end of the thread so it doesn’t pull through the fabric.

Now starting with the tail of the fish sew it up until a bit after the fin. I sewed it using an overhand stich which is you go through bottom to top then loop it around the side and go through bottom to top again.

Since the cat will be attacking it its a good idea to do knots in the thread often as you go in case some of the tread comes loose it shouldn’t entirely pull apart then. Simply when you put the needle through from bottom to top, before pulling it tight, and instead of looping back for the next overhand stich, go through the same loop from before and then pull it tight. This will make a single knot and helps stop the stitching from coming out if a thread gets loose. I did one probably every half inch to inch.

Now triple knot the thread once you get about halfway up the fish. Just like before with the single loop instead of going through the loop wrap the loop around the needle 3 times then pull tight.

Now sew the other side once again starting with the tail up until the same part of the fish halfway up which is roughly the fins, be sure to do the occasional knots and then triple knot it at the end same as before.

Now roll the fish in on itself pushing the tail in as high as you can and then using something like the back of the permanent marker to apply additional direct force on the tips of the tail. This will take a bit of force to get it all the way through, you can also pull from the top as you put pressure. This is why we stopped halfway instead of going further, it gets really hard to do when your at the end as I learned with the mini catnip fish original project.

Mine tore a bit during pushing it through so I patched it off real quick with the leftover thread from sewing the other side.

Now sew the bottom to the base of the head of the fish but not all the way around yet. This will leave a nice big hole to fill the fish.

Now that the sewing is over half done gather the parchment paper, paper towels, and catnip if you haven’t already.

Now cut a long strip of parchment paper about double the length of the fish and a little shorter then the width and feed it into the fish. I used the sharpie to push it all the way to the tail. This will give it a crinkle sound when compressed. If you go with a large or extra large I would put a strip on both sides so it makes more crinkle, with the medium I only managed to get it on one side.

Now tear off a strip of paper towel, mine are the smaller half sheet paper towels which works good for this, if yours aren’t just rip it in half first. Then take the strip and pour in a good amount of catnip and fold it up into a wad. I found a better fold method partway through which is shown in the next step. Insert the catnip wad and push it into place with the back of the marker. I pointed on the picture where I pushed it to as it might not be as obvious in the pictures.

Here is a better way to fold the catnip into the paper towel strips that is less likely to break open and spill on you while stuffing it into the fish. First pour the catnip, then fold one of the sides, then the opposite side. After that fold the bottom then fold the whole strip in half and roll the remaining around the edges. This creates a much better wad that holds the catnip firmly in the center.

While stuffing in the catnip paper towel wads it also bunched up the parchment paper and pushed it all in so I cut another strip and insert it to where it got smashed in up to the head then I just folded it over itself so it doesn’t hang out of the fish.

Now prepare an extra large paper towel catnip wad and insert it into the largest part of the fish body. I used half of another small bag of catnip on this part alone so it would have extra catnip smell.

Now sew the top to the same part you stopped on the bottom so we can finish stuffing the fish.

Now prepare one last paper towel strip with catnip and fold it into the wad and insert it into the head of the fish. Once its in there sew it shut pushing it down as needed while you sew. I could have probably made mine a little bit larger but I wanted it to be easy to sew the head shut as it was a pain on the old project with how full it was.

Here is the finished catnip fish, yours should look something like this when done. Some of the edges are a bit rough and the stitching could be better, but for a toy that the cat will destroy eventually anyway its not bad and doesn’t take too long to sew by hand which is a huge plus.

Now the most important step giving the enhanced catnip crinkle fish to the cat. I included some pictures of my cat playing with it, this is his new favorite toy and is long enough he can also kick it with his back claws, something he couldn’t do with the original mini catnip fish. So far the crinkling gets his attention as well and he does goes crazy for the catnip so this toy is a definite winner!

Here are some upgrade ideas:

• You could use some of the plastic packaging that comes off of some items which makes a really good crinkle sound. Parchment paper is just commonly found in most kitchens and makes a decent sound.
• You could stuff the fish with just about anything, scraps of cloth, paper towels, toilet paper, cotton balls, plastic grocery bags, etc. Just make sure if your cat rips it open you don’t let him eat the stuffing.
• You could also dampen the paper towels with liquid catnip if you wanted it to be extra potent, or put even more catnip inside.

If you want to see the original mini catnip fish project click here.

If you would like to support me in making these projects you can do so here.

Do you have any more suggestions? I will add good ones to this list and if there is enough demand I will possibly do some of these ideas in the future.