This food puzzle has been upgraded by adding an adjustable opening which allows for a variety of different dry foods of various sizes to be used as well as increasing the challenge. This foraging toy is unique as it is the only one to feature a “skin” allowing the cat to pick it up, toss it around and manipulate it just like real prey!
environmental enrichment
Yard Fun! The importance of safe, supervised outside time for cats!
This video highlights the advantages and importance of supervised outdoor access for cats. While a big advocate for indoor cats, to maximize their safety and health, some safe and controlled outdoor access can be incredibly enriching, potentially improve overall quality of life as well as provide exercise and mental stimulation. This video is intended to inspire cat parents to leash and harness train their cat! Even if you do not have a yard to take your cat out in, how about a cat stroller, open windows with bird feeders and bird baths, or a screened porch? There is often a way to allow the sights, scents and sounds of the outdoors to make their way in, safely!
Tabby Tunes – Hitch and Finn Play Piano
Training can be so much fun and so incredibly cute! Once you teach the basics it’s easy to build upon that and train all kinds of cool tricks, like playing a children’s piano! Training can be for purpose and for enrichment. Remember it is just as important to exercise their brains as well as their physical body.
Finn demonstrates “recall,” a life saving behavior to train!
Cats can be trained, yes it is true! One of the most important behaviors you could teach is recall or “come when called”. This could save your cats life if they ever got outside unexpectedly or were about to dart towards danger. It can also help you find them in the home when you cannot locate their secret hiding place. Please, do not underestimate your cats ability to train and learn!
The Nina Ottosson Dog Treat Maze
This is a very complicated food puzzle. It is two sided, features a maze within the toy on both sides and requires the cats to wobble or flip the toy entirely to dispense food. As this video demonstrates, not all hunting expeditions are successful. She walks away without success but that is ok, intermittent reinforcement keeps the animal doing the behavior! Practice makes perfect. Remember that novel food is helpful to stimulate interest and drive motivation. If your goal is weight loss or busting boredom the toys should be challenging and make them work hard!
Flower Tower by Trixie Pet
This is an intricate, brains over brawn, food puzzle originally designed for dogs, but that won’t stop us! This puzzle features four swiveling layers but access is only granted once the large base cones are removed. That is the challenge, the cat must do one section of the puzzle in efforts for the next to be revealed. All levels can be rearranged for constant variety! This is definitely a toy for the experienced forager.
