Cats are a large and increasingly multi-cat part of American household life, and toy use is common across surveys. The figures below show how owners provide play, which products they prefer, and why safety affects toy choices.
Contents
- Cat ownership and the size of the audience
- How often cats play
- The toys and enrichment owners provide
- Food puzzles and predatory play
- Toy preferences by country
- Safety concerns and purchase decisions
Cat ownership and the size of the audience
APPA reported that 49 million U.S. households owned a cat in 2024, compared with 40 million in 2023. Its 2025 figure put cat ownership at 39% of U.S. households. The same APPA report said dog ownership rose from 51% to 53% during 2025. These are APPA estimates for the stated years, not a count of individual cats.
APPA also reported 95 million U.S. pet-owning households in 2025. Its 2024 industry report put total U.S. pet-industry spending at $152 billion, while an APPA industry-trends projection estimated $157 billion for 2025. Another APPA report said 2025 expenditures reached $158 billion and were expected to keep rising in 2026. The spending figures describe the full pet industry, not toys alone.
Household composition matters when thinking about enrichment. APPA said the share of single-cat households declined from 64% in 2018 to 58% in 2024. During the same 2018–2024 period, homes with two cats increased 8%, while homes with three or more cats rose 36%.
AVMA’s 2024 U.S. pet ownership statistics counted 42.2 million cat-owning households, representing 32.1% of U.S. households, and estimated a total cat population of 73.8 million. The reported average was 1.8 cats per cat-owning household. AVMA also reported average veterinary-care spending of $433 per cat-owning household per year in 2024.
How often cats play
The strongest direct evidence about toys comes from owner surveys rather than retail sales. In the U.S. survey titled Owners’ Attitudes, Knowledge, and Care Practices, 81.3% of respondents said they provided toys for independent play. Interactive play was also widespread: 47.7% played with their cat at least once per day, while 80.25% played at least every few days. Only 3.8% said they never played interactively with their cats.
That survey included 547 respondents. Their mean age was 38.0 years, and the mean cat age was 6.9 years. A total of 93.6% had lived with their cat for at least one year, and 71.5% had acquired the cat before it reached one year of age. The sample included 39.1% male and 60.3% female respondents. These details describe that study sample and should not be treated as a national demographic estimate.
An earlier 2014 survey focused specifically on indoor-cat toys, activities, and behavior problems. Owners reported an average of seven toys and activities per cat. In that study, 78% left toys available all the time, and 64% played with their cat more than twice per day. Short sessions were common: 33% reported five-minute play bouts and 25% reported ten-minute play bouts.
The same 2014 survey found that 61% of owners reported at least one of six behavior problems. Among owners whose cat had a behavior problem, 54% had discussed it with a veterinarian. The survey recorded aggression toward the owner for 36% and periuria for 24% of cats in the relevant results. It also reported that female cats were 50% less likely than male cats to have one or more behavior problems. Because this study measured indoor-cat owners in 2014, its results are historical rather than a current market estimate.
The toys and enrichment owners provide
The 2014 indoor-cat survey gives a useful picture of the mix of toys and household objects owners used. Furry mice were reported by 64% of owners, catnip toys by 62%, and balls with bells by 62%. Stuffed toys were used by 59%, scratching posts by 55%, and boxes as enrichment objects by 50%.
| Toy or enrichment item | Owners reporting use |
|---|---|
| Furry mice | 64% |
| Catnip toys | 62% |
| Balls with bells | 62% |
| Stuffed toys | 59% |
| Scratching posts | 55% |
| Boxes | 50% |
The more recent U.S. care-practices survey measured related resources. It found that 68.7% kept a scratching post indoors, 51.7% provided cat trees or other climbing furniture, and 92.1% provided quiet, private hiding places. These are enrichment and environment figures, so they are not interchangeable with toy ownership rates from the 2014 survey.
The same U.S. survey reported that 87.2% talked to their cats at least once per day and 87.2% petted them at least once per day. A total of 91.8% considered their cat a family member, while 74.8% said their cat helped them through tough times. These relationship measures help explain why play and enrichment can be part of ordinary daily care, even though they do not measure toy sales.
The survey also recorded several behavior and response figures. Anxiety or fear behavior was reported by 59.4% of respondents, vomiting by 54.1%, aggression toward familiar people by 24.3%, and misbehavior of any kind by 47.0%. When responding to misbehavior, 90.3% said they redirected the cat, 85.2% used loud noises such as handclapping, 77.0% said they yelled, and 51.4% said they had sprayed the cat with water.
Food puzzles and predatory play
Food puzzles were less widely used than ordinary toys in a UC Davis survey of 3,192 completed surveys. Thirty percent of cat owners used food puzzles, 18% had tried them but stopped, 52% had never used one, and 8% had never heard of food puzzles. These categories describe reported experience with food puzzles, not the effectiveness of any particular product.
A 2025 PAW mini report from PDSA measured daily activities among UK cat owners. Seventy-nine percent said their cat ran around the house daily, and 74% said their cat played in the house daily. Sixty-four percent said their cat had access to toys, including treat toys. Other reported activities included hunting birds or mice at 38%, playing with other cats in the house at 31%, finding hidden food at 13%, and walking on a lead outdoors at 6%.
The same report found that 63% said their cat had a scratching post every day, while 30% said their cat had a climbing frame. Multi-cat homes reported more of both resources: 69% had scratching posts compared with 59% of solo-cat homes, and 36% had a climbing frame compared with 25% of solo-cat homes.
PDSA’s 2024 report also examined predatory play among UK cats. Fifty-two percent of owners said their cat played with toys in a predatory way by itself, and 50% said the cat did so with the owner. The share varied by age: 83% among cats aged 0–4 years, 77% among cats aged 5–12 years, and 61% among cats over 12 years.
The PDSA report recorded scratching and toileting behaviors alongside play. Thirty-four percent of UK cat owners said their cat scratched inappropriate items, 9% said the cat toileted in the house away from the litter tray, and 7% said it toileted close to the litter tray but not in it. The report also said 87% of UK cats were neutered in 2024, equivalent to 9.4 million cats.
Toy preferences by country
The GlobalPETS country survey shows that preferred toy categories vary by market. In Brazil, 77% of cat owners preferred scratcher toys. In Canada, 64% preferred catnip toys, while 62% of owners in France preferred balls. Teaser wands were preferred by 81% of owners in Mexico, 64% in the UK, and 68% in the U.S. UK cat owners also reported a 64% preference for catnip toys.
String-toy concerns differed across the markets reported. Forty-eight percent of U.S. cat owners avoided string toys for safety reasons, compared with 31% in Canada and 21% in the UK. These figures measure reported avoidance, not proof that one toy category is safer in every situation.
The country results are best read as preference snapshots. A preference percentage can describe what owners choose or favor, but it does not establish how often the toy is used, how long play lasts, or whether the cat prefers the product independently of the owner.
Safety concerns and purchase decisions
Safety was a major factor in the GlobalPETS concerns survey. Seventy percent of cat owners said safety was the most important toy-purchase factor, and 60% said they had refrained from buying some toys because of safety concerns. In a broader Europe-and-America result, 56% of owners reported a safety concern when buying pet toys.
Among the reasons given for avoiding a toy, 83% cited ingestion of parts, 76% cited choking hazards, and 58% cited sharp or dangerous parts. Poor-quality materials were cited by 51%, eye-damage risk by 27%, and allergic reactions by 20%.
Specific toy categories were also avoided. Twenty-eight percent avoided laser toys, 22% avoided string toys, 20% avoided feather toys, 15% avoided stuffed plushies, and 9% avoided wand or fishing-rod toys. Material priorities included rope materials at 57%, fabric at 56%, and eco-friendly materials such as hemp and recycled fibers at 51%. Rubber was prioritized by 44%, plastic by 28%, silicone by 32%, and wooden toys by 22%. Another result listed 51% prioritizing rope or component quality in toy materials.
Laser play received separate attention in the survey Laser Light Pointers for Use in Companion Cat Play. Of 618 analyzed responses, 45.5% said they used laser-light toys with their cats. Although 52.1% knew the warning that a laser can frustrate a cat if it never catches anything, only 35.6% said they ended laser play by letting the cat catch a tangible prey item. More frequent laser-light play was associated with more reported abnormal repetitive behaviors in cats in that survey.
For owners comparing toys, the statistics point to three distinct questions: whether the cat has regular opportunities for independent and interactive play, whether the home includes complementary resources such as scratching and climbing options, and whether the toy’s construction creates concerns about ingestion, choking, sharp parts, or other hazards. The surveys measure owner reports across different years and countries, so each percentage is most useful when kept within its original source and measurement period.