Make your own groping board for cats

Then cut out small strips and planks with the jigsaw. The exact dimensions can be found on the individual play stations. Sand all edges here too thoroughly far.

Remove dust and sanding residue from the surface of the wood and paint the panel and the fummel strips with acrylic paint. If you don’t like it as colored, you can also paint the wood with a colorless varnish or with wood oil.
to use spray paint, for coloring small parts such as wooden dowels, beads, narrow strips, etc. To do this, place them on a large piece of cardboard and spray all the parts from a distance of about 20 cm. leave the color at least 30 minutes dry. Then you can turn the small parts over and spray the undersides.

build play stations

We will introduce you to different play stations that you can build on your violin board. We’ll also show you how we made our stations.

bead set

Between the pearls it will be for your cat quite trickyto get treats.
Draw a design on the fiddle board with a pencil if desired. But you can also use pearls organize freely.
Glue the beads to the fidget board. join to generous drops of glueso that they adhere well to the surface despite their round shape.
Used here: approximately 120 beads (diameter: 10, 12, 14 and 16 mm)

crawling box

Fill in the crawling box crumpled or brown newspaperto hide treats. Or put a big toy in there so your cat has to fish it out.
Make a small rectangular box with four strips: glue the edges together and wait until the box is firmly held together. Apply glue to the bottom of the box and glue it to the fiddle board. To make it a bit more difficult for your four-legged friend, you can open the crawling box shrink. To do this, simply glue two strips together with the outer edges flush with the top of the box.
Used here: 2x white bands (180 x 60 x 10 mm) and 2x white bands (150 x 60 x 10 mm) for the box, 2 x turquoise bands (180 x 40 x 5 mm) for the opening

plug game

Here the delicacies are hidden between the small chopsticks. Skilled legs and brains are required.
Pre-drill the holes with a wood drill. The distance must about 3.5cm be.
Glue the wooden dowels in the holes and let everything dry well.
Used here: 42 wooden dowels (diameter: 8 mm, length: 40 mm) and 8 mm wood drill bit

set of strings

In the wire maze, catching the delicious prey becomes a test of skill.
Using a wood drill bit, drill holes spaced at least 5cm Before.
Stick wooden dowels in the holes and wait for the glue to set well dried East. They form the frame of the wire set.
Tie the thread in the upper half to a wooden dowel and now wrap it back and forth at this level. Make sure the thread still has good tension. The network should be there not too tight so that the cat’s paws later pass in enough places.
Finally, tie the end of the thread tightly.
Used here: 14 wooden pegs (diameter: 8 mm, length: 40 mm), string

peach mug

Here the cat’s paws must learn to fish. Because to get small toys and treats, your four-legged friend must first fish for them.
Glue the bottom of the small cups to the fiddle board.
Used here: 6 cultivation pots (8 cm)

groping track

In order to reach the beloved prey, your domestic cat must first push it through narrow crevices to the edge.
Apply glue to the underside of several strips and attach them to the fiddleboard. The distance between the bars should be at least 2 to 3 cm be.
Used here: 4x bar (180 x 13 x 13mm)

matter of heart

Small mazes can be built from scattered decorations, in which you can hide food and treats.
Use glue to fix the decorative pieces scattered on the dashboard.
For your cat even more exciting To do this, you can fix the small elements at different heights. For example, use beads of different sizes or scrap wood to glue the sprinkles.
Used here: 19 hearts (height 20, 30 and 40 mm), 10 beads (12 and 14 mm)

There tinkering there are nine decorative hearts left remained, we have further embellished the fummel tray. They now decorate various gaming stations and sometimes make groping even trickier.

Other ideas

In addition to the play stations that we have shown you here, you can also build other elements on your violin board. Let your imagination run wild because there are tons of possibilities:

• Out of Boxes with holes in the lidwash yoghurt pots Or small flower pots food and small toys can be fished.
• cardboard tube (e.g. paper towels or cardboard cores of adhesive tape rolls) or also plastic plumbing pipes invite standing or lying down for fun paw fishing.
• The indentations of egg cartons also require a lot of skill for your cat to access the treats.
• Ü egg capsules offer a lot of fun to play the violin when only slightly opened. Then your hairy nose can figure out how to get the delicious surprise inside the capsule. You can also make a “tongue module” out of it and fill it with lick paste.
• With a sisal carpet or one thin cork board you can make a “scratching post module” on which your cat can sharpen its claws. The mat can be wrapped around a tube or glued flat to the board.
• Out of Building blocks and bricks (wooden or plastic) tricky feeding mazes and tight spaces can be created. The elements are glued at different distances so that small treats can be hidden in the gaps.

You need to keep this in mind when building your cat fiddle board.

In any case, pay attention to the following points if you want to make a fiddle board for cats yourself:

• The board should a certain weight clean to prevent it from slipping during playback. Put one on to be safe Anti slip carpet below.
• If you have multiple cats, add one large violin board and attach multiple items. So each of your furry friends can enjoy the fun and have enough space.
• When crafting, give up materials such as Glass, brittle plastic, rubber, thin cords, foils and objects with sharp edges.
• When crafting, keep this in mind no sharp corners occur or splinters and screws protrude from the fiddle board. Plastic or metal parts should not have sharp edges that could hurt your cat.
• To make it easy to clean your groping board with water, use washable materials like plastic, metal and wood.
  Use only saliva-resistant paints, varnishes and glues.
• leave your cat not unsupervised play with the violin.

Here we go: playing with the violin

Place the fidget board on solid ground and the fun can begin. Feel free to play at first some help. Because there are cats who give up in frustration and completely ignore the lovingly built groping board because they didn’t immediately achieve the desired success. So stick with your pet tiger cub and show him how to fish out his prey. Push small treats to the side so he can grab them easily. Over time, he will learn and develop his own strategies to get the rewards without any help.

We wish you lots of fun tinkering and your cat many happy hours with his fiddle board!

Contest: Win a violin board for your cat

Would you also like to have such a beautiful fiddle board for your cat, but you don’t have time for DIY or have two left hands? Then you can now do it easily ready-to-use groping board by our author Tanja Reeber.

Just tell us in the comments what your cat’s favorite toy is and you’ll be a winner.. The contest is launched until February 14, 2023, inclusive.

Here are the conditions of participation. ZooRoyal presses its paws!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the contest has already ended. The winners have been notified – congratulations!