If your cats “scarf and barf” this food puzzle is for you! A cat’s stomach is quite small, about the size of a ping pong ball, so when they eat too quickly vomiting is often the result. Slow feeders like this one help make the meal last a little longer.
Food puzzles for cats
The Rainy Day puzzle by Nina Ottosson
This is a difficult, brains over brawn food puzzle that accommodates wet or dry food. It is challenging, easy to clean and promises to keep your cat busy and mentally stimulated.
Doc & Phoebe’s Hunting Feeder – New and Improved Version!
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!
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.
The Snoop
Yet another toy designed and marketed for dogs that is great for cats as well. This toy can work for dry or wet food and can be manipulated to achieve different challenge levels, though as a whole it is a beginner toy.
