You can tell when your cat is bored. He scratches on the sofa arms, she yowls at midnight. You’re sure you made the right choice when you decided your cat would be an indoor-only pet. Your cat is safe and sound, away from outdoor dangers . . . but you wonder if it’s any sort of life, captive in your home with nothing to do all day.
Can you enrich your cat’s existence so boredom is not an issue? You can!
While it’s absolutely normal for cats to sleep a lot, it certainly isn’t normal for them to get no exercise and no mental stimulation. Indoor cats with free access to feeders can become tubby Garfield clones fairly quickly with no exercise at all. Indoor cats with no challenges to their wit and wisdom can become . . . witless, shall we say?
Cats need both physical and mental action and interaction to stay healthy in body and mind. Cats can be very good at entertaining themselves, but you can help them do even better. With your involvement, your cat can get both the physical and the mental activity that he or she needs to stay happy and healthy.
It’s not necessary to spend enormous amounts of money to buy interactive toys or play equipment for cats (although if you have the budget for it, there are some great ideas on the market). Before you buy or make equipment to entertain your cat, determine what your cat most enjoys. Is he excited by a yarn ball or catnip mouse thrown past him on the floor? Does she like to leap and jump at a feather on a piece of string? Are they eager to chase the red dot of a laser pointer?
Photo by Brigette Mayer
Try no-cost or low-cost homemade toys first!
Paper offers many ways to entertain a cat. Ball up an unneeded grocery receipt and let Fluffy bat it around the kitchen. Cover your kitten with individual sheets of newspaper or tissue paper and let him “fight” his way out. Lunch sacks and grocery sacks can be crumpled or left open. What self-respecting cat couldn’t play in an empty grocery sack for hours on end? And then there are boxes . . .
Build your own kitty fort from a cardboard box covered with an old T-shirt, lining up the open shirt neck with an entrance hole cut in the box, and cushioning the inside with old towels or no-longer-usable clean clothing. Add onto the fort with additional boxes or maybe even “tunnels” between the parts. Hide the cat’s favorite toys inside the fort when the cat is not looking.
Homemade cat “trees” are another possibility for the cat-owning crafter. Use carpet samples, cardboard shipping tubes, and lumber remnants to keep the cost of materials to a minimum. Make your own scratching posts by wrapping sisal rope around a sturdy interior. Recycle scratching pads from the pet store by putting them into new “frames” as the old holders fall apart.
Grow your own catnip every summer. (Protect it from any outdoor cats who might visit your yard.) Dry it and use it to stuff old socks. Make your own catnip toys with inexpensive fleece from the bolt-ends available at your local fabric store, or with material from old household items or clothes from the thrift store. Homegrown catnip also makes a wonderful gift for your cat-loving friends with no gardens!
Make your own “cat dancer” or cat “flirt pole.” All you need is a “wand” (a thin flexible pole) to which you attach a string or skinny rope with an attractive object at its end. A feather, a small ball of yarn, a soft cat toy with a bell—anything your cat wants to chase that won’t hurt him if he catches it.
Experiment with what most interests your particular cat, adding more of the elements that work, subtracting the things that don’t work. Safety is an issue, so no loose parts small enough for the cat to swallow, of course.
What keeps dogs from getting bored might also work for cats. Case in point? Food-dispensing toys and food puzzles.
Dogs have KONGs—sturdy rubbery shapes that can be stuffed with a variety of food goodies, frozen, then consumed slowly by dogs, both for nutrition and entertainment. Cats can have KONGs, too (smaller, but the principle is the same). Take any food that your cat enjoys and stuff it into a KONG, freeze the KONG, then let your cat enjoy batting it around to knock out any loose bits before settling down to lick that KONG completely empty, however long it takes.
Cats now have food-dispensing toys for kibble or dry treats, too. The object is to slow down and complicate your cat’s consumption so that he doesn’t gobble down his food too quickly. A meal becomes more than a few minute’s pleasure; in a food toy, a meal can last for hours. For any cat who eats dry kibble or treats, a cat snuffle mat is another possibility—feeding the animal with an enriching activity instead of simply plopping down his dinner in a bowl.
Cat versions of food puzzles can be made at home. Use a dollar-store muffin tin sized to make very small muffins, or an ice-cube tray sized to make tiny ice cubes. Fill the indentations in the tray with cat kibble, then drop a ping pong ball on top of each pile. Let your cat figure out how to get the kibble out from under the ping pong balls. You stand back and enjoy.
(Small children and/or dogs in your household? Ping pong balls can be deadly if consumed. Count the number you use and make sure they’re all picked up when you’re done!)
Cats may seem like creatures of habit—many don’t enjoy a change of food, for example. Cats can learn to love variety, though, so don’t be too predictable. Stick with the same food if they’re picky, but give them a chance to try new edibles as well. Figure out what games and toys they like best, but don’t stop there. Add to the variety often. Pick up some old toys, put down some new. Rotate the food-dispensers regularly. Try a new food puzzle before they’re bored with the old one. Switch it up!
Keeping your cat happy and healthy isn’t just a matter of good food and great vet care. You owe your cat more than that! Exercise and environmental enrichment help your cat stay young, physically and mentally.
Set aside time every day to play, to learn and practice kitty massage, to make and use interactive toys. Do all you can to assure that your cat is not bored and you will very likely see your cat stop acting out and begin behaving more like the enjoyable family member you want him to be.
