Nikki Moustaki - Boredom Busters for Cats: 40 Whisker-Twitching Games and Adventures

Vice President, Chief Content Officer: June Kikuchi

Vice President, Kennel Club Books: Andrew DePrisco

Production Supervisor: Jessica Jaensch

Production Coordinator: Tracy Vogtman

Art Director: Cindy Kassebaum

I-5 Press: Jennifer Calvert, Amy Deputato, Lindsay Hanks

Karen Julian, Elizabeth L. McCaughey, Roger Sipe, Jarelle S. Stein

Copyright 2010 by I-5 Press

Photographs Fiona Green Photography, www.fionagreenphotography.com

Additional photographs courtesy of/reproduced with the permission of: Judith Wolfe4; Shutterstock

Images43, 49, 50; Gina Cioli and Pamela Hunnicutt/I-5 Publishing, LLC44, back cover; Mary Bloom61

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of I-5 Press, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

The author would like to thank CAT FANCY Editor Susan Logan.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moustaki, Nikki, 1970

Boredom busters for cats : 40 whisker-twitching games and adventures / by Nikki Moustaki.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-935484-18-9
eISBN 978-1-620080-58-0

1. CatsBehavior. 2. CatsTraining. I. Title.

SF446.5.M656 2010

636.8dc22

2009050662

I-5 Press

A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC

3 Burroughs

Irvine, California 92618

Printed and bound in China

14 13 12 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Table of Contents

WHEN CAPTIVE POLAR BEAR Gus began exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviors, zookeepers were told he needed something to do. Like Gus, a bored, anxious, or stressed domestic cat requires enriching activities to keep him healthy and happy.

Enriching Your Cats Life

W hile on a visit to the zoo, a cat lover will certainly include a trip to admire the lions, tigers, and cougars in their mini jungles. Its amazing to see these giant cats groom themselves, amuse themselves with tree branches, and wrestle with one another. Every behavior seems to mirror that of house cats, so who would think that feline fanatics would learn even more about their pets by watching a polar bear?

In the mid-1990s, zookeepers at the Central Park Zoo in New York City noticed that their 700-pound male polar bear, Gus, seemed to be experiencing some stress. Gus swam back and forth in his small pool day after day, for hours on end. Clearly, something was dreadfully wrong with the bear, so the zoo hired an animal behaviorist to study him. What was the diagnosis? Years of captivity had caused Gus to become neurotic, and his obsessive-compulsive behaviors most likely were meant to keep him from going out of his mind from boredom. This natural predator wanted something to do.

The behaviorist suggested that the Central Park Zoo implement a protocol of enrichment activities and create an environment that would stimulate the natural tendencies of the polar bear and break his neurotic patterns. So the zookeepers installed a whirlpool for Gus, began offering his food in packages for him to open, hid food around his habitat for him to hunt down, froze fish in giant blocks of ice for him to break open, and gave him interactive toys to play with. Gus seemed to be thrilled with all of these additions to his habitat. He stopped his pointless swimming as he learned to play and forage as he would in the wild. Thats what enrichment is all about: keeping your pet active and engaged in his environment.

Enrichment for cats means anythinga toy, a game, an adventurethat stimulates natural behavior, keeping them active and engaged. Many behavioral problems can be solved by adding these types of activities to your cats life and environment. As with Gus, lack of enrichment can cause stress and anxiety, which a cat may express with excessive grooming or inappropriate elimination.

Enrichment can eradicate, or lessen, these problems and other ones, including antisocial behavior and obesity. This book explores a number of simple ways you can provide your cat with stimulating enrichment to keep him happy, healthy, and out of trouble.

(Warning: always watch your cat when he plays with stringy toys, such as the one above, which he could chew, choke, and/or eat and end up with an intestinal obstruction.)

Daily Activities and TYPES OF Enrichment

W anting to know what to expect is natural for a cat, an animal needing routine for comfort and security. Studies of feral, or community, cats (who differ from stray cats in that they were never socialized as kittens and were never pets) reveal that they are either solitary animals who stay within a defined territory or members of colonies that reside close to a food source, choosing to deal with each other for survivals sake. Day after day, these animals know what to expect and how to fend for themselves. The average feral cat is one tough cookie! Thriving packs of wild dogs are far rarer than healthy feral cat colonies.

Even though feral cats are the same species of cat that lives in your home, theres one important difference: the house cat is not in charge of his own life. Without prey to hunt, other cats to compete with, and the daily struggle for basic survival, the house cat must rely on his humans to give him order and activity. Cats, like most animals, evolved with a purpose; they have natural instincts that tell them what to do. If you dont enrich your cats environment, then these instincts may stray toward activities such as clawing your furniture and overgrooming. You wanted your home to have that lived-in clawed look, right? Very fashionable.

There are three types of enrichment activities for catssolo, social, and environmental; your cat will do best when you engage him in activities of all types. Although your cat likes routine, within that routine he needs variety to keep him interested in what you have to offer.

Solo: Solo activities encourage your cat to engage in an activity alone. Seeking and catching prey motivates most cats, so they like moving or noisy objects they can run after. Food also motivates many cats, so they may enjoy eating from food-dispensing toys rather than their food bowls. Most cats have a variety of motivations that you can tap into to create solo enrichment activities.

Social: Social enrichment involves interactions between your cat and you, other people, and possibly dogs and other cats (depending on your cats level of sociability). Opportunities for social enrichment include engaging in games that simulate hunting prey, cuddling, spending safe time outside, and training.

Environmental: Enriching your cats environment to give him activity options will provide much-needed exercise for the couch-kitty and give your cat mental stimulation, which decreases feline depression and boredom. Environmental enrichment may include giving him a dedicated space in which to play, entertaining things to watch (such as the birds outside), and high perches from which to survey his world.