Keep Your Indoor cat Entertained

Keep your indoor cat entertained

Having your feline friend indoors is sometimes challenging and requires a few lifehacks to keep them entertained and safe at home without experiencing feelings of neglect. Cats often need attention and it is important to engage them in activities or change their surroundings to keep them healthy, active and happy.

Not every household can accommodate two cats, and if another pet is introduced, it should be done slowly and under expert supervision to ensure everything goes to plan. However, if it is possible, you may consider finding a companion for your indoor cat – after all, having a friend is one of the best ways to alleviate boredom. If you have room in your home, and your heart, for another cat you may find that they both keep each other entertained. From playing together to snoozing in the same bed, many house cats who live together can’t stay apart.

Cat toys are an ideal way to keep your cat entertained, fit and healthy. Playing with your cat also helps builds a stronger bond between you and your furry friend. This is especially important for indoor cats as they don’t get the stimulation and exercise than outdoor cats naturally get. A stimulating cat toy for an indoor cat can relieve boredom, and help prevent them from becoming overweight.

How can I entertain my indoor cat?

To help keep your indoor cat feeling happy, make sure they have plenty of ways to entertain themselves with toys and games. Toys can include things that require your interaction – such as specially designed feathers on a stick – or ones that they can enjoy by themselves, such as balls and stuffed toys from pet shops. It’s also easy to make mealtimes more exciting by putting treats inside a puzzle ball, or even hiding pieces of kibble around the house so they can seek them out during the day.

Interactive cat toys can help indoor cats stay fit and relieve boredom. A simple cat tunnel, cat treat toy, or cat puzzle toy can provide hours of entertainment while satisfying natural hunting instincts. Kitties also love the thrill of the chase they get from teaser toys or anything with faux fur and feathers. There are also fun catnip and noisemaking interactive cat toys. Cat scratchers are a great option for allowing cats to satisfy their feline scratching behaviours on something other than the furniture. For a fun mental workout, puzzle toys or cat treat dispensing toys can help sharpen your cat’s cognitive abilities and keep her alert. Interactive cat toys are truly rewarding for both you and your pet because they help focus her energy and instinctual behaviours into playful exercise.

Cats are usually fairly good at amusing themselves, and generally, their short bursts of activity and play are interspersed with a significant amount of time spent sleeping! unlike dogs, cats do not require a huge amount of additional stimulation and entertainment to be provided by their owners and are usually fine to be left alone during the day when you go out to work. Nevertheless, it is important to provide various forms of entertainment for your cat, and some toys and stimulus to keep them amused. This is particularly important for cats that live an indoor-only lifestyle, and are not able to explore the great outdoors for any one of a number of reasons. Added to this, even cats that usually go outdoors may choose or need to be kept inside on some occasions, such as if you are moving home, they are receiving veterinary treatment, or the weather outside is simply too poor for them to want to go out!.

The perfect house to keep your indoor cat entertained:

Is there anything you do to keep your cats entertained that I haven’t listed here?
Do you do anything special for your cats to keep them from getting bored while you’re away from home, say while you’re at work?
Have you tried any or all of the above tips? what has and has not worked for you? does anything do the trick perfectly by itself?
Do let me know in the comments – always looking for new methods to try to keep my own indoor cat entertained!

Most house cats tend to be under-stimulated. This is because unlike their outdoor counterparts, they don’t have many natural stimuli indoors to motivate them to get moving. The best interactive cat toys, however, can do what you might not always be able to: give your under-active feline a reason to stay busy. Jarring a lazy cat out of their snooze-all-day routine isn’t easy, but you can use your pet’s favourite activities to your advantage when shopping for cool new toys. For example, if you have a cat that would rather burrow and sleep for hours, you might want to consider a scratching post (sprinkled with catnip, of course) that has a little hideaway nook in it. That way, once your cat has amused themselves by playing, they have somewhere to ball up and rest.

According to the American veterinary medical association, keeping a cat indoors (with an enriched environment) is preferable to letting them outdoors. Keeping cats indoors helps to protect them from injury and also protects the local wildlife. However, it can be difficult to keep cats entertained if they spend their whole lives inside the house. A good compromise might be to install a catio (a cat patio) in your garden. A catio is an enclosed space that allows your cat to experience the outdoors but prevents them from attacking local wildlife or injuring themselves. Catios range in size from a few meters squared to a whole patio/garden.

Play and toys to keep your indoor cat entertained

Meg Wright, owner of 18-month-old cat Leo says, ‘Leo is a prolific hunter. When he’s stuck indoors, he has a tendency to scratch beds, couches, and anything he can get his claws into. Having regular play sessions up to 10 times a day, in short bursts of around two minutes, keeps him engaged and feeds his hunter spirit. I offer plenty of toys – the more they crinkle, dazzle and can be batted the better – but you can just as easily make your own.

Before you begin shopping for the perfect interactive cat toy for your feline friend, you may want to consider a few factors that may influence your final purchase. Does your cat need to be able to play alone?
Does your cat need to lose weight?
Do you need to take into consideration any safety concerns?
If you’re away from your cat for long periods of time, such as during the workday, then you may find that you want a toy that can keep them entertained for hours while you’re gone. There are many interactive cat toys out there that your cat can use all on their own, no help needed.

Playtime is crucial for keeping an indoor cat mentally happy, physically healthy, and content to be inside. Make a habit of playing with your cat for at least 10 minutes a day. Kittens and some rambunctious cats require more than that. The best type of play for keeping a cat happy is interactive, where you use a toy to mimic the behaviour of a cat’s prey animals, either birds or rodents. Wand toys are exceptionally good for this. Make the toy on the end of the wand act like scared prey, darting away from your cat, hiding, and freezing in fear. Don’t make the game too easy, but do let your cat catch the “prey” sometimes, especially at the end of the game, after which you should reward your cat with a treat or meal.

Companions – are two cats better than one?

Many cat companions will tell you that it’s impossible for a cat to be happy if the animal is kept indoors all the time. They will point to the cat’s natural position as an apex predator in many food chains worldwide, but they will actually be wrong. It is quite possible to keep a cat entertained, happy, and healthy while they live exclusively indoors. In fact, indoor-only cats typically live longer than outdoor cats, and for several obvious reasons. The trick comes with understanding feline psychology, as well as your cat’s needs as a predator living in an artificial (if very pleasant) environment. Here are five tips to keeping your 100% indoor kitty from getting cabin fever.

Everyone knows cats are pretty smart, and they need things to keep their minds stimulated in order to stay that way. Lucky for us, many of our feline companions are living longer than ever, some even up in their 20’s! as they age, cats are prone to a condition called feline cognitive dysfunction (FCD). Similar to Alzheimer’s in humans, FCD results from a buildup of waxy proteins in the brain, and it can lead to some pretty sad behaviours such as disorientation, desperate yowling in the middle of the night when they’d usually be sleeping curled up on the bed with you and forgetting to use the litter box.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to keep your cat entertained and happy is to give them your loving attention every day. Cats might not seem as attached to humans as dogs but that doesn’t mean they don’t want out companionship. Make sure to play with your cat for at least 10 minutes a day so you can develop a deep bond with your cat and keep them from getting bored out of their mind. If having a job or/and a family takes most of your day, it can easily happen that you don’t get to spend enough quality time with your cat every day. But 10 minutes is always possible to squeeze into your day, be it before you go to sleep, after dinner or first thing in the morning, while you sip your morning coffee.

Sun worship for your indoor cat

Install a perch indoors near a sunny window; padded perches can be purchased at many pet supply stores or through catalogue retailers. Another option is an enclosure that sits in a window frame (much like an air conditioning unit) and provides a secure space in which your kitty can hang out. Larger perches can attach to the side of a house or ground-floor apartment patio.

Like many cat lovers, you may have thought about letting your cat go outside. A lot of cat owners feel guilty about keeping their cat inside, and worry that they are depriving their cat of natural instincts or fresh air and sunshine. If you have experienced some of these feelings, American humane appreciates your concern for your feline friend and would like to help you make an educated decision. Let’s look at the issues surrounding indoor vs. Outdoor cats.

Catnip is a plant in the mint family (nepeta cataria) that contains a natural oil called nepetalactone which has a unique effect on cats. When inhaled, nepetalactone is interpreted by the feline olfactory system as a natural cat pheromone. When cats rub on or chew catnip, it produces a mild natural high that is both harmless and temporary, but that is pleasurable to cats. Not all cats are affected by catnip, and it has no effect on kittens under six months of age, but if your cat does respond to it, it can be one more tool to help keep your indoor cat stimulated and happy. Catnip comes in dried form to fill sachets or special cat toys, as well as in spray form to mist toys or cat beds.

You can keep your indoor cat entertained by providing them with entertainment and stimulation. Read more about how you can entertain your indoor cat.

Providing sources of entertainment and interest for your cat can even help to lessen hunting behaviour and destructive activities such as scratching the furniture, as your cat will be able to find an alternative outlet for their inquisitive natures and propensity to get into trouble!
read on for our eleven suggestions for keeping your cat entertained.

Cat specific furniture gives many options for relaxation for cats. Although, if you’re worried about your indoor cat’s entertainment then a piece of furniture for play rather than rest is a better choice. Your cat can sleep with you or on some furniture, what you really need from a good cat tree is something they can play with. An ideal cat tree should provide scratching posts for them along with other activities to keep them both entertained and active. However, you should investigate what sort of play your cat likes before committing to a large cat tree. Test a few things out first. Whether your cat enjoys dangling toys, tunnels, or climbing, you can find a cat tree suited to their needs.

Most cat owners prefer to keep their felines indoors to prevent mishaps and unwarranted encounters with other pets. So it is obvious to look for interactive cat toys that can keep the cat stimulated and entertained. This becomes more important if you have to leave your kitty home alone as you earn its chow!
in this article, we looked at some of the best cat toys for indoor cats that can provide some supervised or unsupervised entertainment and stimulation to your kitty. We tried to cover almost all popular categories of interactive cat toys – springs, laser pointers, scratching surfaces, treat dispensers and mice toys. Some of these toys are suitable as solo cat toys while other would require your involvement.

Give them things to play with

Give your dog some meaningful interaction by having a dog play date with your friends or family. If there are some friendly dogs in your neighbourhood even better – no need to make any special arrangements. Introducing new toys, socializing, and changing up your walking routine are great ways to keep your dog mentally stimulated.

We all want our pets to have the best lives possible, filled with delicious food, plenty of lovely beds to relax on and enrichment from toys and accessories. If you’ve just recently adopted a kitten or are looking to freshen up your cat’s toy box – where on earth do you start?
we’ve rounded up the top-rated toys online to give you a helping hand. From catnip toys to play circuits and scratching posts, there’ll be something in here to suit your cat’s taste.

‘i’ll cut out holes in empty cardboard boxes for him to explore, or hang ping pong balls in an upside-down washing basket and watch him sticking his paw through the holes to push the balls around. ‘to keep our games fresh, I swap his toys over regularly, always keeping his favourites hidden away until play begins, which gives an added thrill. At feeding time, I’ll hide morsels of food around the house or, if I’m pushed for time, he has a cheap but effective feeding puzzle. I’ve discovered leo finds his scratching posts more enticing with a spray of catnip. Sometimes he’ll fall asleep by the side of one, exhausted from all the activity. ‘.

How do Cats catch Ticks and Fleas?

Michelle* in Adelaide says her family give their two cats supervised outdoor time in their yard. “we let them outside several times a day,” she says. “we will stay out for about 20 minutes and then we just shake the bowl of cat biscuits and they come running back. “dr malik says it’s important if you’re letting the cat have access to outdoors to think about what dangers are out there — could a dog get in? will they be exposed to fleas and paralysis ticks? do other cats go through your yard, potentially exposing them to diseases?.

There are many good reasons for keeping your cat indoors all the time. A cat that roams the neighbourhood is a danger to local wildlife and under threat from other cats, traffic and ticks, fleas and parasites. However, as any cat owner knows, keeping an indoor cat happy can sometimes be challenging. It is much easier to keep a cat indoors from kittenhood. That means a kitten doesn’t really know any life outdoors, so it is much easier to convince your cat this is an adequate lifestyle. However, the key to a contented cat is to keep all their senses working – environmental enrichment is the name of the game.

Exercise for your cats

With our furry friends sleeping anywhere from 12-16 hours a day, us kitty parents have to make sure our cats are getting proper exercise. According to apop (association for pet obesity prevention), 58% of cats are overweight. Only 2 pounds can significantly affect your cat’s health and potentially lead to serious medical conditions such as diabetes, heart and respiratory disease, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, and even forms of cancer.

When cats live outdoors they will often hunt small prey, even if they are not hungry. This is one of their instincts, and it allows them to exercise and enjoy mental stimulation as well as fulfilling a need. Indoor cats are no different – they still have this hunting instinct, and will be happiest if they can regularly exercise it. In the great outdoors they would be able to pounce on anything from prey to falling leaves, but in your home, the opportunities aren’t so ample.

We get it, exercising your cat can be tricky! unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as taking a dog for a walk and throwing a ball around at the park. A cat’s natural instinct is to stalk, plan, and expend as little energy as possible. Indoor-only cats tend to lead a more sedentary lifestyle and usually require more stimulation than indoor/outdoor cats. Interactive cat toys are a good way to bring out the hunter and playful side of your cat while providing much needed aerobic exercise.

10 tips to keep your cat happy indoors

Cats that live indoors naturally have fewer opportunities to express their instincts than outdoor cats. While an outdoor cat can hunt, chase and explore to their heart’s content, it can be harder for indoor cats to enjoy the same kinds of stimulation. Their needs aren’t different, but their environment is – which is why it’s important to help keep an indoor cat happy by providing them with everything they need.

Finally, an important part of keeping indoor cats happy is ensuring that they have plenty of opportunities for exercise. While outdoor cats have the run of the neighbourhood, indoor cats are far more limited in their territory. Besides this, warm and cosy houses might persuade your cat that curling up and having a nap is far more worthwhile than running around and being active!
playing games with your cat is a great way to help them exercise. Pouncing and chasing are both great activities, as not only do they help your cat express their instincts, they’re good forms of physical activity too. Even a scratching post can help your cat exercise – many cats love to stretch against them, reaching for the highest point, or if it incorporates a cat tree even climbing over it.

How to entertain cats indoors

Whether your cat lives indoors because of an illness, physical needs, or simply because they’re happier in the house, keep them stimulated with our guide to entertaining indoor cats.

Walking and having access to the great outdoors provides our cats and dogs with so much brain engaging activity. During outside walks, our pets pick up messages left by other animals, they interact with other humans and animals, and they are getting physical exercise. If their daily routines change and pets find themselves inside more than they normally would, it can have a huge impact on their demeanour, much like it would for us. To help combat this and keep out pets fit, happy and healthy, we need to keep their brains working to help burn off excess energy. If pets are left indoors for longer periods than they are used to they will quickly become bored and frustrated, which could result in displaying unwanted behaviour.

Many cat behaviourists suggest a gradual approach to bringing an outside cat into the house. If your cat is outdoors most of the day, bring her in for increasingly longer visits. You might time this transitional period as the weather gets colder. Most cats prefer warm, dry places, and by the end of the winter, yours could be converted to life indoors. If you want your cat to have safe, limited access to the outdoors, consider building an outside enclosure or run. These can be accessed from a window or pet door, and are most entertaining to cats when furnished with tree limbs, perching platforms, boxes and toys.

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