How to Keep Your Pet Cat Entertained

Pet cats that live indoors can live up for up to 12 to 18 years if cared for properly. This isn’t difficult to fathom considering that their food is readily provided to them, they have a warm place to sleep, and tender human hands to show them love and affection.

In comparison to free roaming cats, pet cats also don’t have to battle environmental stressors and threats such as abrupt or inclement weather changes, fast moving vehicles, natural predators, disease, fellow felines, and the like. However, apart from a suitable diet, adequate shelter, and bonding time, your pet cat will also require avenues to keep them entertained. In order to keep your pet cat happy, it will need to be provided with avenues for it to exercise its natural instincts and behaviours such as hunting, stalking, scratching and marking its territory.

With this in mind, here are a few ways to keep your pet cat entertained while in the great indoors:

1.  Bring the outdoors inside. Purchase plants that are safe or beneficial for your cat to be around such as catnip or cat grass. Be sure to conduct your research well as some plants like amaryllis, English ivy, tulips, lillies, chrysanthemums, and iris are toxic to cats. Visit with a veterinarian for sound advice or swing by your local library for more information on cat friendly greens. Allow your cat to observe the outdoor world through a large, bright and clear window. Put up bird and squirrel feeders so that your cat can observe these animals interact and eat from a distance. Alternatively, you can create a secure outdoor enclosure so that your pet cat can spend some time outdoors while keeping it safe from potential predators or other environmental threats.

2. Equip it with a world of solo diversions. What does this mean? Think of it this way: aren’t you happy when left alone with a TV set, iPod or a good book? What you want to do is provide the feline equivalent of these for your pet cat so that it stays engaged even while it is all by its lonesome. Visit your local pet store or vet clinic and pick up scratching posts and cardboard scratching pads. With these outlets, your pet cat will be able to spend its time expending energy, running down its claws, and playing its heart out. Sprinkling catnip on the scratching pads and posts will also entice your cat to play with them.

3.         Toys and treats. Purchase as many toys as you can of different sizes, shapes and purposes. Rotate through these reintroduce them every few weeks. You can also hide treats in different rooms around your house and allow your cat to hone its hunting skills

This Video Should Keep Your Cat Entertained:)