Enriching Your Cat’s Lives
As a pet sitter, we are always looking for different ways to connect and socialize with your feline friends. Some are more social and comfortable with us than others, but we can add enrichment to all cat’s who we cross paths with.
So the first thing we need to know is that cats are always in fight or flight mode. They are one of the only mammals who are both prey and predator. They hunt for their food but are also prey for many other animals. This is also why it is a good idea to always keep your cat indoors. With this knowledge we can begin to recognize what our feline friends are going through. They are constantly trying to decide whether every person, noise or object is a threat or not and can be the reason why it can sometimes take some time for a kitty to warm up to you. They have to decide you are trustworthy and some cats take longer to make that decision.
When we talk about our cat’s health we usually are speaking to their physical health and well being, but we also need to make sure we are taking care of their emotional and cognitive health as well. So most cat’s lifestyles may look like hunt/play, eat, sleep, groom and be social. Most cats perform this cycle more than once per day and we want to make sure our cats are making the most of each activity.
I know I mentioned hunt earlier, but for cats that is their mode of play. So when you are engaging with your cat in play it should always mimic hunting. The stages of the hunt are eye, stalk, chase, pounce and kill. So think about what toys your cat loves playing with the most. It is a string with a toy on the end or maybe it’s a laser pointer or even a toy mouse. Each of those things mimics the hunt. Your cat sees the toy, red dot or mouse. They then will stalk it, some cats get down low and with quick head movements follow the item and prepare for the next step. Chasing - most cats will love to chase a toy mouse that has been thrown or will chase the red dot of a laser around a room and up the walls and even chase that toy on the string whether in the air or on the ground. Always remember, as your cat ages, they will still want to engage in the hunt play but you may need to slow things down or move to them casing objects on the floor and not in the air. The next stage is the pounce, we may see this occurring when our cats start to dance with their rumps in the air and boom, there they go! And finally the kill. While we don’t love it when our cats bring us a gift of their kill, we always need to make sure the play ends in a reward. Allow your cat to catch the toy at the end of the string, make sure they catch the dot and allow them to catch the mouse toy and bring it to you as a gift. Now when it comes to catching the red dot, that on its own is not always fulfilling, what I do with Regina and Phoebe I position the laser to one side of the room, drop a few treats on the floor and bring the laser back to the treats, it is their reward for ‘catching the red dot’. Always remember to rotate your cat’s toys every few days or weeks, just as we can get bored of certain items, cats do as well.
Eat. First I want to pose the question to you, where do you feed your cats? Most people say kitchen, why? Well most likely we feed our cats and dogs for that matter in the kitchen because that is where we eat. But, what if your feline friends don’t want to eat in the kitchen or even the same spot each day? They most likely will never be able to tell us where they would prefer to eat, but there are some basic things about cats we should know and this can help your cat feel more fulfilled during feeding times. While the quality of food we feed our cats is very important, we also need to keep in the back of our minds that sometimes where we feed our cats is more important than what. Cats, as creatures, want to work for their food. It is a basic instinct for them. Puzzle feeders can be great for this, there are so many styles of feeders from timers to puzzles. Just adding a puzzle feeder into your cat’s routine can create enrichment that has been missing from their lives.
Sleep. Did you know that cats spend between 12 and 16 hours each day sleeping, which means they sleep for 50-60% of each day. This is the time your cat recharges, since they are constantly in fight or flight mode, it takes a lot of mental energy for them to make it through the day. While your cat may spend most of their time sleeping, we need to make sure we are recognizing sleeping vs. being lethargic. It is always good to know your cat’s routine, as becoming lethargic can be a sign of something being wrong. Remember since they are also prey animals, they will try to hide illness and injury from us.
Groom. Cat’s love to groom themselves and if you have more than one cat, you may notice they groom each other. Welcome, hairballs! There are many reasons why our cats groom themselves. After your cat eats, you may notice they tend to immediately start grooming, they are hiding the scent of their food as well as their scent. When you cat groom themselves or another cat they are cleaning their fur of any debris or other scents as well as dispersing oils from their skin and fur evenly throughout. You always notice when a get is either no longer able to groom themselves as their fur becomes matted and oily in spots. Cats also groom themselves to clean injuries. Did you know that cat’s saliva has some antibacterial matter in them. Not saying if you are cut, you should allow your cat to clean your wound, but they will lick injuries as a way to assist with the healing process. And most fascinating, did you know that when a cat grooms they are also regulating their body temperature? After a cat is done grooming, touch the spot they just cleaned and it is actually cooler than other parts of their bodies.
And Social. Make sure when being social with your cat you are engaging in all five senses. This can be talking to your cat while they are on your lap and you are petting them. Trust is always key when interacting with a cat. In our business we do sometimes encounter cats who are shy or fearful, even just sitting in the same room with the cat, as long as they have a way out, can be enough social interaction.