Indoor enrichment provides physical, mental, and social stimulation for your pet cat. Engaging in these activities can help him or her work off excess energy while strengthening your bond together.
Make a forage box full of catnip mice, treats, and kibble, or use an indoor ball pit to trigger their hunting instincts. Other options such as tall towers, sisal rope posts. And cardboard scratchers come in both vertical and horizontal designs that could prove fun options for your cat.
Interactive Treat Toys
Many cats enjoy playing with toys that stimulate their predator-prey hunting instincts while at the same time relieving tension, stress, and aggression. Cats love balls, feathered or motorized mice or fish toys, wands & teasers, or plush or ribbon-connected mouse toys which allow them to pursue and hunt them while also expending pent-up energy and relieving tension & anxiety.
Interactive toys can provide great human interaction for older and less active cats, particularly older, less-active ones. But it is essential to supervise any new toys before leaving them alone with your cat. As new toys could require time for familiarization before being left on their own with your feline friend. Or have parts that could come loose and pose a choking hazard. Hard and durable materials tend to withstand claws and teeth better while remaining safe.
Cats are inherently curious creatures who thrive when challenged, making the Catit Senses 2.0 Food Tree one of the top interactive toys for high-energy cats. It stimulates their hunting instincts by forcing them through various side openings to access shallow cups filled with treats. Plus there is also an included peg system that allows users to fill it up for further enrichment.
PetSafe Laser Cat Toy offers multiple preset modes that will occupy and entertain your feline friend for up to fifteen minutes before automatically shutting off. Experts caution against leaving a laser toy alone with cats as this may lead to frustration, increased energy expenditure, and possible injuries.
Puzzles and Mazes
One common misperception about cats is that they prefer lounging around all day. But this is simply untrue – they need stimulation and exercise to remain contented and healthy. Enrichment toys can help cats channel their energy in positive directions. And don’t have to be difficult or expensive either: some of the best enrichment tools may already exist in your own home.
Treat games and mazes are great tools for stimulating cats’ natural hunting instincts and mental sharpness, helping keep long stretches of isolation more bearable for your cat. While these toys may seem expensive initially, their positive impacts on your pet’s behavior. And overall well-being more than justify the investment cost.
Many puzzle feeders are designed to hold dry food, while some can also accommodate wet foods (like canned tuna or chicken). A simple wooden box filled with crumpled paper and treats or kibble is enough to enthrall cats; they will spend hours diving under it, licking up what remains, rolling around in it, or simply batting away at it! For something more elaborate try the Waldreif Wooden Activity Board which provides six sections of puzzle-solving fun through its rounded divots, circles, rectangle cups pegs, and pegs among many other challenges!
KONG Puzzlements Pockets Cat Toy is another engaging treat game with nine pockets to hide toys or treats, satisfying cats’ hunting instincts. Additionally, this toy comes equipped with a rattling yarn ball and crinkly material for extra sensory stimulation and includes adjustable levels of difficulty so multiple cats can learn how to use it simultaneously.
Scratching Surfaces
Cats enjoy scratching as it helps them release energy while also maintaining healthy nails. By providing your cat with an appropriate scratching surface, you’ll reduce its need to scratch furniture or clothes while simultaneously enriching his/her experience by using its claws to mark and stretch muscles.
Sisal rope, fabric, cardboard, and even bare wood scratching surfaces often offer more appeal to cats than plain carpet or furniture when it comes to scratching surfaces. Scratching these surfaces allows cats to flex and stretch muscles such as their feet, legs, back shoulders, and hindquarters while simultaneously eliminating dull, dead outer layer claws for new, healthy nail growth.
If your cat is an aggressive scratcher, try encouraging them to use one surface by placing some catnip or treats on it – this may help them associate positive experiences with it and make other surfaces less tempting for scratching.
Add variety to a scratching surface by including an angled scratcher like the Purrfect Angle in their scratching experience. Many cats prefer keeping their feet on the floor while scratching, but an angled scratcher allows for upward or downward tilted scratching action that stretches different muscles while alleviating shoulder and back discomfort in cats.
To encourage more of the natural behavior of scratching vertical structures, try installing a cat tree in your home. Cat trees provide your cat with a place to scratch while stretching and moving. They’re great places for restful sleeping or eating areas as well as introductions between cats. When introduced to other cats, cat trees help them communicate and mark out territory by claiming spots on it as their own.
Scratching Toys
Offering your cats toys and activities that match their natural hunting and playing style can help release pent-up energy while simultaneously strengthening the relationship between you two. Plus, it can be fun exploring what different toys your cat likes best!
Cats love scratching surfaces! Give your cat plenty of opportunities for them to scratch. One great choice is this OJBK corrugated paper cat scratching toy. Which looks like a waterwheel and offers your feline friend both fun and scratching action. Plus, it’s eco-friendly too.
Provide vertical space with perches, cat trees, and shelving to give your kitty the sensation of surveying its territory. This can be especially helpful for younger kittens that need an outlet for restless energy. For older cats who still wish to explore, providing ramps or moveable ledges at lower heights might help them see things from a new angle. And can also be an effective way of helping them explore.
Your cat may enjoy stimulating his or her olfactory senses with scents such as catnip, silvervine, and safe houseplants – these scents may also include perfumed products like Feliway that you use yourself! Puzzle toys, cardboard boxes, and paper bag toys may all provide these olfactory stimulation opportunities – with puzzle pieces featuring these smells being placed strategically for optimal enrichment.
Pets Plus Us’ interactive laser cat toy is one of our go-to toys for keeping our hyperactive young test kittens engaged and amused for hours on end. Its rotating movement and lights draw their interest while its butterfly and rolling ball features are enough to keep them playing for minutes at a time – ideal for busy pet parents! Plus, it requires no batteries so can be reused multiple times! A must-have item in any household with an energetic cat!
Play Time
An energetic cat requires frequent activity to reduce its excitement level and prevent destructive behaviors, as well as strengthen and enrich relationships between you and your feline companion. Playing with your cat is another great way of providing enrichment; play-fighting games, interactive toys, pheromones, and cuddling can all provide this stimulation for enrichment purposes.
Providing activities to keep their minds stimulated and active, stimulating activities can also help prevent boredom and depression in cats. When cats become bored they may start behaving destructively resulting in aggression, territorial disputes, or litter box issues.
Some forms of enrichment are better suited to kittens and younger cats than others; others can be enjoyed by cats of any age. Kittens might require longer and more intense play sessions to release excess energy, while older cats might find these activities enjoyable at their own pace. Kittens and young cats in particular should receive toys that simulate prey animals such as rodents or birds so they can practice their hunting instincts.
At times, cats enjoy playing with battery-powered robotic fish toys activated by water that is activated when placed into their bowl. Some even come infused with catnip to increase interest. Other toys may include paper balls made out of aluminum foil or similar items that create sensory stimulation for your feline friend.
As part of your efforts to provide social enrichment for your cat, make sure they spend quality time with you through interactive play such as fetch or using a wand toy they can chase around the room with. This can help build strong bonds between themselves and the family unit.
