Environmental Enrichment for Your Cat

Most indoor cats in the United States live under-enriched lives. While they are often cared for and loved, their natural instincts are often ignored. When keeping cats as pets, consideration must be given to a cat’s natural instincts and behaviors. It’s important to know that under-enriched (bored) cats often become stressed, which can lead to behavioral problems such as urine marking, house soiling, fighting among household cats, aggression, and excessive grooming.

A recent study showed that even well-fed free roaming cats spend an average of 3.6 hours hunting. That’s 15% of their day that they hunt, not because they need food, but because that’s what cats do! So, it’s going to benefit your cat (and you) to enrich your cat’s indoor environment. Proper enrichment should take into consideration all of the cat’s senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. An average cat spends 9.5 hours sleeping (~40%) and 5.3 hours (22%) resting.  Note that resting is different than sleeping.  When a cat is resting, it is observing its environment using different senses including sight, hearing, and smell.

Each cat in the household should have adequate areas to rest and hide within its core area. The spaces should be high enough and/or sheltered enough that the cat can feel safe. A good rule of thumb is to have two types of resting spaces (i.e., one sheltered, one high) per cat in each area of the home. These spaces can be as complex as a floor-to-ceiling cat tree or as simple as a cardboard box.

A cat’s sense of smell can be stimulated with catnip, cat grasses, and pheromones (Feliway.)   Another way to increase a cat’s olfactory and visual enrichment is to walk him on a harness. While most cats do not take to harness walking initially, when they are able to associate it with the reward of going outside, they often adjust.

Scratching is a normal, and necessary, cat behavior.  When a cat is scratching it is leaving a visual and scent signal, as well as conditioning the nails and removing the cuticle, and stretching the forelimbs.  Some cats prefer vertical surfaces, while others may prefer horizontal.  Scratching posts also come made with different materials, such as carpet, cardboard, or rope and your cat may prefer one texture over another.  Be sure to provide your cat with plenty of designated scratching areas to allow an appropriate outlet for this natural behavior in order to save your furniture.

Most indoor cats do not have adequate opportunity to hunt. In order to harness the cat’s natural desire to hunt, it is strongly recommended that he hunt or “work” for his food. This can be accomplished by dividing the cat’s daily ration and feeding him in multiple places in the house; hiding food under the couch, coffee table, rugs, etc. and feeding him from interactive food toys such as the “Twist ‘N Treat,” the "Fish Bowl," or the “Egg•Cersizer” (PetSafe).

Structured play sessions and training sessions (yes, cats CAN be trained to do tricks!) can also be very beneficial in that they help to dissipate energy and direct the cat’s natural predatory behavior toward an appropriate target. Since cats get bored easily, owners should keep a wide variety of toys on had and rotate them so that the cat receives a different set of toys every few days. Toys don’t have to be expensive or high tech.

Examples of cat toys include:

 ♦ a ping pong ball in a bathtub or box
 ♦ plastic rings from milk jugs
 ♦ feather dancers
 ♦ toys on wands
 ♦ Panic Mouse
 ♦ Feline Frolic
 ♦ balled up pieces of paper
 ♦ a laser pointer*
 ♦ catnip mice/balls
 ♦ balls with bells
 ♦ aquarium stocked with fish
 ♦ toys that move or make noises




 *One word of caution with laser pointers. Some cats may become very aggressive when playing with these toys, especially if they are not able to “finish” the predatory sequence and “kill” something. To remedy this, owners should always point the laser at a toy that the cat can “kill” before they turn the toy off.

With proper attention to the environment, indoor cats can live as enriched a life as an outdoor cat while enjoying the health benefits and longevity of an indoor cat. What will you do with your cat today?