Go figure. My three black cats, who have kitty perches, great views of birds at the feeder and toys galore, are gaga over a video. Last year, a friend loaned me a just-for-cats video, which I very skeptically popped into the VCR. My cats were too young and too smart to be bamboozled by some images on a screen. Hah! As soon as they heard the chirping-birds soundtrack, they came running and planted themselves in front of the TV.
Lesson learned. They were bored out of their kitty gourds by the usual stuff. This was new! It appealed to both sight and sound. And it was a different medium. All of which are key to creating a stimulating environment for your cat.
Know your cat
"Providing a rich environment is actually more important for cats than for dogs," says Dr. Christopher Pachel of Twin Cities Veterinary Behavior Referral Service, "because they're not as domesticated and easily revert to their wild behaviors of exploring, hunting and foraging."
Pachel adds that a bored cat will replace these normal behaviors with something else - using the furniture (or you) as a scratching post, sleeping too much or over-grooming.
When creating a more stimulating environment for your cat, Pachel says, "Know your cat. Expand on what he or she likes to do. Something is enriching only if your cat uses and interacts with it."
Pachel recommends considering all of your cat's senses: taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight. For instance, put a kitty treat or two in a wadded up piece of notebook paper and let the cat "discover" them. Or cut a paw-sized hole in a plastic water bottle and place a treat in it. With both of these techniques, your cat has to chase the toy to get to the food, which parallels his catch-and-eat behavior in the wild.
Mix it up