Cats are independent animals that require mental stimulation to prevent behavioral problems. Without it, they may exhibit destructive behaviors, aggression, and even litter box issues. Cat owners must provide enriching activities and interactive playtime to maintain the mental health of their feline friends.
This mental stimulation can be achieved with a wide range of cat toys, various enrichment activities, and the proper environment.
What is Enrichment?
Enrichment comes down to providing animals with activities and an environment that best mimics what that animal would experience in nature. Zookeepers often rely on this method to ensure that animals in captivity receive the necessary mental stimulation.
However, it’s also important to provide proper enrichment to pets to prevent behavior problems and ensure a mentally healthy pet.
Ensuring Your Indoor Cat Stays Stimulated and Happy
To keep your indoor cat stimulated, make them work for their food. Give them multiple small meals and place them in challenging locations to simulate natural foraging. Scatter toys around the house and provide a scratching post for additional enrichment.
How Do You Mentally Stimulate an Indoor Cat?
Puzzle feeders and catnip-sprayed toys hidden around the house offer excellent mental stimulation for your cat.
What Are Some Indoor Cat Enrichment Ideas?
The best ways to enrich an indoor cat’s life are with specially designed toys that mimic prey, access to a high place, and a designated scratching post that lets your cat properly maintain its claws.
What Are Some Sensory Activities For Cats?
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Hiding plants and herbs that cats like such as catnip and oregano around the house, in their cat bed, or in their cat tree.
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Spraying feline pheromone in your cat’s bed, locations your cat loves to hang out, and on top of their favorite toy.
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Provide your cat with interactive toys that produce noise during playtime; a prime illustration includes toys equipped with bells or balls containing a jingling bell.
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Allowing your cat to view different locations outside the home. Opening the blinds so your cat can see outside the window is a great idea.
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Allowing your cat to play with different colored toys.
How Do You Keep Indoor Cats Entertained?
To keep cats entertained, regularly rotate their toys and provide items that engage all their senses. Motorized toys, flickering lights, and a touch of hidden catnip can entertain them throughout the day.
What Are Some Kitten Enrichment Ideas?
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Do not just put food in a bowl. Give your kitten a food puzzle. This forces your kitten to work hard for their food, which is something cats prefer to do.
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Allow your kitty to view the outside world by giving them access to a window ledge.
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Make sure your kitten has plenty of toys that make sound. Sound enrichment is extremely important for kittens.
How Do I Stimulate a Bored Kitten?
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Puzzle feeders are an excellent way to mentally stimulate your kitten as it forces them to think before they eat food. Make sure to monitor your kitten the first time it uses one, though. Some kittens cannot figure out some puzzle feeders.
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Kittens are extremely social animals. One of the best ways to stimulate a bored kitty is to let it play with another kitten. This isn’t always possible, but it’s strongly recommended.
The Best Cat Enrichment Toys
One part of keeping your feline friend enriched requires providing it with a lot of different toys. These toys do a great job of mimicking situations your cat would find in the wild.
The best part is you can use these toys with one cat or many cats. It’s still recommended to choose at least one toy from each category to ensure a proper level of enrichment and to prevent your cat(s) from getting bored.
Turbo Scratcher
A turbo scratcher is an excellent toy for cats or kittens. It features a plastic ball inside a race track, allowing the cat to chase it without the risk of the ball flying around the house!
The center of the race track usually contains a cardboard scratch pad for the cat. The turbo scratcher from Coast Pet (available here) also contains catnip to ensure your cat is attracted to it and provides sensory enrichment.
Interactive Laser
While many cats love chasing laser pointers, the new generation of these toys operates automatically, eliminating the need for human involvement.
The PetSafe interactive laser cat toy, for instance, follows a preset pattern for a specific duration. It’s designed with an automatic cutoff timer to prevent overstimulation, ensuring your cat enjoys this quality toy.
Melon Madness Food Puzzle
Do you have curious cats?
The Melon Madness food puzzle from Catstages is a great toy to keep even the most curious cat entertained. This food puzzle works great as it holds 1/4 cup of dry food and has 12 hidden compartments for your cat to discover. It’s recommended to replace your normal food dish with a puzzle like this one to keep your cat’s mind thoroughly stimulated.
Motorized Toys
BENTOPAL’s automatic cat toy is a top choice for feline entertainment. With its ground-level navigation, it entices your cat to engage in endless chase games, catering to their nocturnal instincts and providing enrichment day and night. Ideal for cat owners unable to be with their feline friends around the clock.
Food Puzzles
Food puzzles are excellent food enrichment for cats. The basic premise is that cats must figure out how to pull the hidden food from the puzzle. Cats are so curious that they will eventually figure out a way to reach the hidden food. Some cats are faster than others, so do not worry if your cat cannot figure it out at first.
Wand Toy
A wand toy is an excellent way to enrich your cat’s life. One great wand toy is the GoCat Da Bird. This wand has a two-foot string and a very realistic-looking feather that perfectly simulates prey. It can keep your kitty occupied for hours as they attempt to grab the feathers at the end of the wand.
DIY Cat Enrichment Toys and More
It’s not necessary to purchase cat enrichment toys. It’s possible to make many different toys on your own from normal household items. In the following section, we will explore some ideas for creating your cat enrichment toys.
Muffin Tin Cat Puzzle for Cat Treats
Muffin tin food puzzles are great cat enrichment DIY projects to make. Simply grab a muffin tin, cat food, and some cut strips from a cardboard box. Place the food in the muffin tin and cover it with a strip of cardboard. Your cat will push off the cardboard to find the treats inside the tin.
Cat House out of Cardboard Boxes
Creating a cat house out of cardboard boxes is a simple DIY project. All you need are a few cardboard boxes, some tape, and scissors. Cut out the bottoms and one side of the boxes, then tape them together to form a multi-level structure. To make it easier for your cat to reach the top of the house, you can stack plastic milk crates next to the structure, creating steps they can climb.
Soda Box Cat-n-Mouse
Soda box cat-n-mouse, or kitty whack-a-mole, is a simple DIY cat toy. Take an old soda box or shoe box and cut out some circles on the top for the ‘mole’ to pop through. Glue paper towel rolls inside the box for added support, if needed. Leave one side of the box open so you can insert a wand toy through the side and make the toy pop up through the top holes. Your cat can then swat at the toy as if it’s playing whack-a-mole.
Create a Reach Feeder with Toilet Paper Rolls
Food enrichment is a great way to engage your cat. You can easily create a DIY reach feeder using toilet paper rolls. Simply place cat food inside the rolls. Since they’re lightweight, the rolls will move around, and your cat will have fun chasing them and trying to get the food out. Just be prepared for a bit of a mess as the food may scatter while your cat plays.
Using Household Items as Toys
You can also use regular household items as toys for cats. Scrap paper, small fluffy balls like cotton balls, an automatic bubble blower, packing paper, shower curtain rings, milk caps, and paper bags are all fairly common household items that can be used as toys.
The Different Types of Cat Enrichment
Cognitive Enrichment
Cognitive enrichment stimulates your cat’s brain, engaging their problem-solving skills. A food puzzle is a prime example, requiring your cat to figure out how to access their food, encouraging natural behaviors.
Environmental Enrichment
Environmental enrichment means providing a safe environment for your cat. This involves making your cat’s environment as abundant as possible with lots of food, lots of toys, and lots of hiding places. A cat that does not have proper environmental enrichment may display unwanted behaviors such as hiding food or aggression.
Sensory Enrichment
Sensory enrichment for cats involves stimulating your cat’s senses. This is often done with catnip (smell), visually by giving them access to a window, or audibly by using toys that make noise.
What to Avoid in Cat Enrichment Activities and Cat Toys
You should avoid anything dangerous in cat enrichment activities and certain dangerous cat toys. This means you should watch out for any small toys that your cat can swallow, toxic plants, and balls of yarn (choking hazard). It’s recommended to monitor your cat the first time you have them try out a new enrichment activity to guarantee they have a safe experience.
How Enrichment Helped My Cat
As a resident of a small apartment, I recently welcomed a stray kitten into my home – an adorable tortoiseshell with a knack for trouble. Constantly finding herself in mischief and creating chaos, it wasn’t until I introduced her to a world of toys, enrichment activities, and a carefully curated environment that her transformation unfolded. Witnessing the positive change in her behavior, I’m inspired to share this valuable insight with you.
My sincere hope is that this guide leaves you feeling not only informed about the importance of cat enrichment but also equipped to choose the perfect toy or activity for your feline friend while keeping your cat entertained.
