Picture this: It’s a warm beautiful day outside, birds are chirping and the sun is shining, and you’re stuck inside. Day after day while your family gets to leave the house you’re stuck sleeping inside. Sounds pretty boring, right? This is what it’s like for most cats every day. You, as an owner, can change this and make your house a more stimulating environment for your cat!
Research shows that some cats can experience behavioural changes such as depression, anxiety, aggression, inappropriate urination or defecation, over-grooming, retreating into isolation, self-mutilation and picking on other pets just to name a few… By creating a happy and fun life for your cat you can eliminate some if not all of these negative behaviours.
Good news about this research is that it shows how important the feline owner bond is. Some cats prefer to perch on things like scratching posts, while other prefer to hide away in boxes or covered beds. Try different things out and see which your cat prefers. Learning how your pet interacts with their surrounding will allow you to better enrich their life!
Different ways to enrich your pet’s life! (Watch your cat to make sure they do not ingest any of their new fancy and fun toys!)
- Bottle caps or wine corks: cats find these very fun to play with!
- Cardboard boxes and paper bags: cats love playing in cardboard boxes! Anything can be used to entice your pet to play.
- Scratching posts and cardboard scratchers. This allows them to be high up and scratch to their hearts content.
- Catnip or honeysuckle toys or spray: cats love catnip!
- Laser pointers: cats love to follow the laser (Just be careful not to shine it in their eyes) you can also lead them to treats to teach them a new trick.
- Crumpled up paper or tinfoil can become an inexpensive ball for your cat to bat around and chase.
- Tricks! It is completely possible to teach your cat new tricks! All you need is patience, time, cookies and a willing participant. Take it slow and don’t get upset if they don’t learn them right away!
- Bird watching: Cats love looking out windows, so if you provide a nice scratching post, stool, chair or anything for your cat to snooze on in front of a window the happier they will be! You can even put a bird feeder in close proximity to the window to allow for hours of entertainment.
- YouTube has many great videos to entice your cat to play!!!
Written by Britney Ludwig CSR
