How to Build a Cardboard Tube Foraging Box for Your Cat

A cardboard tube foraging box gives your cat a simple way to fish out pieces of familiar dry food. Stand plain cardboard tubes upright in a low-sided box, keep the food easy to reach, and stay nearby to supervise. Your cat should be able to investigate voluntarily, with normal feeding still available.

The basic arrangement comes from AAHA’s cardboard tube challenge: upright tubes in a small box, with food in selected tubes. The shorter rings and snug fit described below are practical adjustments to that idea, not veterinary-tested sizing standards.

Is This Box a Good Fit for Your Cat?

Try this only if your cat already eats a suitable dry food or dry treat and can interact with the box comfortably. Use food that fits the current feeding plan; there is no need to introduce a new food for this project.

Wait until your cat is eating normally before trying a new feeding activity. Ohio State’s guidance on changing feeding containers recommends starting when a cat is well and eating its usual diet normally. If appetite or comfortable movement is a concern, speak with your veterinarian rather than using a puzzle to work around it.

Choose another activity if your cat tends to chew or swallow cardboard. This box also needs your attention whenever it is accessible. The ASPCA recommends close, active supervision of DIY enrichment, so put it away when you cannot watch.

Gather the Materials

• One clean, dry, open cardboard box with low sides and a flat base.
• Clean, dry, plain cardboard tubes, such as empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls. Choose a box that holds the available tubes snugly.
• Scissors for an adult to shorten the tubes if needed.
• A small portion of familiar dry food from your cat’s normal measured allowance.

Keep the construction plain: no glue, tape, staples, decorations, loose filler, weights or covers. You need only the box and tubes to hold the arrangement together. If that does not work, choose a better-fitting box rather than adding fasteners.

Build the Foraging Box

1. Inspect and prepare the cardboard. Remove leftover tissue, packing tape and staples before your cat has access. Small Door Veterinary’s cardboard-box guidance specifically calls for removing staples and tape. Reject pieces with sticky patches, sharp edges, loose layers or damage that cannot be removed cleanly. Do all cutting with your cat out of the work area.
2. Make the tubes easy to reach into. Cut tall tubes straight across into shorter, intact rings if needed. Leave clean, even edges and an open circular shape. There is no fixed height that suits every cat: food on the box floor must be visible and reachable without a deep, awkward stretch. Shortening a tube will not fix an opening that is too narrow.
3. Stand the tubes upright in the box. Rest each tube on the flat bottom, side by side, so the tubes and box walls support one another. The fit should hold them upright without crushing the openings. Choose a box footprint that leaves every opening within comfortable reach from the sides, including those in the middle. The box walls should not block access. Do not fill gaps with loose material.
4. Check the empty setup. Place it on a level floor where you intend to use it. Gently nudge the tube rims and box to check for easy tipping, sliding or collapse. This preliminary check does not replace watching your cat use it. If the arrangement cannot stay upright and usable without fasteners, try a more suitable box or leave this activity aside.

These checks apply RSPCA Australia’s general DIY-enrichment safety guidance to this particular build: choose materials and a setup that suit the individual animal, with no sharp edges or loose, breakaway parts. They do not establish a universal safe tube size.

Make the First Try Easy

Set aside the puzzle portion from food you have already measured for the day, rather than adding it on top. Cats Protection advises taking puzzle food from the daily allowance. Keep your cat’s usual feeding available, and if your cat does not use the puzzle, provide that portion through normal feeding instead.

1. Offer the box in a familiar feeding area. Keep it on the floor with room for your cat to approach and leave. Stay close enough to watch the interaction, without holding your cat beside the box.
2. Show where the food is. Let your cat find an easy piece beside the box, then place a piece inside a short, readily accessible tube while your cat watches. Start near an edge your cat can reach, rather than loading every tube.
3. Let your cat try voluntarily. A useful first success is retrieving and eating a piece without getting a paw caught, straining to reach, or tipping the arrangement. Sniffing alone is not a reason to make the puzzle harder. Never push a paw or face into a tube.
4. Add variety only after comfortable success. If your cat is retrieving food easily and remains interested, place pieces in a few other equally reachable tubes. Keep every opening clear. There is no need to use deeper tubes, cover the food or make an enjoyable activity more difficult.

The Humane Society of Huron Valley recommends making a first food puzzle easy to see into and use. Watch what your cat can actually retrieve, not just whether the cat is trying. If food stays out of reach, simplify the setup rather than waiting for hunger to make it work.

Adjust the Setup or Stop

The Food Stays at the Bottom

If your cat paws at the opening but cannot retrieve a piece, remove the food and put the box aside before adjusting it. Shorter rings may reduce the reach needed. Reassemble the box, check that it still holds together, and try only the most accessible tube.

If the opening is too narrow, or the box sides still obstruct access, choose different materials or another activity. Do not slit or unroll a tube to force a fit. Your cat needs room to move a paw in and out freely; you cannot confirm that by pushing the paw through yourself.

The Box Moves or the Tubes Collapse

Pause as soon as movement makes the food difficult to reach. Check whether the box is too large for the tubes or whether the tubes are being squeezed out of shape. A better-fitting box may help, but test the whole arrangement again before adding food. If it still shifts or collapses during use, stop using it rather than adding glue, weights or other supports.

Your Cat Walks Away

Let your cat leave. Walking away can simply mean the activity is not interesting right now; it is not a failure or a reason to withhold a meal. You can offer an easier version another time if your cat shows interest. If the box continues to be ignored, choose something else.

Your Cat Chews or Struggles

End access if your cat bites, tears or tries to eat the cardboard, gets a paw caught, or has difficulty withdrawing it. Also pause if repeated unsuccessful attempts turn into increasingly forceful swatting or biting at the setup. Do not keep presenting the same frustrating arrangement.

Put the box away and keep normal food accessible. Contact your veterinarian if you think your cat has swallowed cardboard or if physical discomfort is a concern. Do not reach into your cat’s mouth to retrieve material.

Check and Put Away After Each Session

Remove remaining food and inspect the box and every tube before storing them out of reach. Check them again before the next use. Discard cardboard that is wet, softened, soiled, frayed, torn or chewed, even if the rest of the box still looks usable.

For this absorbent-cardboard design, use dry food only and replace compromised material rather than washing or disinfecting it. That is a practical limit of this build, not a rule against wet food in all puzzle feeders.

Keep using the box only while your cat can reach the food comfortably, the materials stay intact, and you can actively supervise. An easy puzzle your cat chooses to use is enough.

Helpful Related Guides

• How to Use a Puzzle Feeder for Your Cat
• How to Set Up Food Hunts for Your Cat

Sources