Indoor Cats: Tips to prevent boredom

Have you decided to keep your cat indoors?

If you're worried about whether to keep your cat indoors you're not alone.  There are risks involved in letting your cat roam your neighbourhood including predators, traffic, poison and accidents.  I'm lucky that my back garden backs onto a field with a beautiful view especially on a bright summer day.  Often I see the local cats jumping, running or relaxing in the long grass soaking up the the sun or honing their hunting skills.    As I don't live on a busy main road I do let established foster cats enjoy the calm and reasonably safe habitat where I live my with check up walkabouts to make sure they have not gone too far.

However many cat owners live in busy cities or areas with predatory wildlife roaming free presenting a bigger threat to their feline family members.   So if you have decided your cat is safer indoors what can you do keep them occupied and interested in life.

Let your cat have as much in your house as much as safely possible.  A larger territory gives them more to do, cats like to do their rounds and check all is well in their space.  

Toys don't have to be expensive but a variety will give them different experiences, things to chase, jump up for or pounce on all mimic their natural hunting behaviour.  Food forage toys seem to be especially popular but you can easily hide cat treats in safe places for them to hunt out.  

Boxes: It is still a mystery to me why cats love boxes so much although I suspect it is possibly because of warmth.  A simple box always appears to bring contentment to a cat.  So if you can bring your indoor cat a box home he'll be happy making his hideout from it.

Windows - cats loving looking out of the window as the world outside presents plenty of things for them to watch; passers by, other cats, birds or small insects along with observing the changes in weather that cats seem so sensitive to.  In the summer  you've probably noticed, your cats will lay in the spot where they can soak up the sunlight coming through the window.  Hildy, one of my less vocal, rescue cats started meowing at me a few days ago as it started to snow.  She must have thought it very important to provide me with this weather report.  

So just a few ideas to keep your indoors cats happy but if you have any ideas of your own then please leave a comment.  

Visit Cat Buddy youtube channel  where you can find out more about the cats we've rescued.

Cat tooth decay what to look for

If you're cat is showing unusual out of character behaviour and has a strange smell like rancid fish she or he may be suffering cat tooth decay.  

Mitsy, a 14 year old black and white female cat belonged to a relative.  Mitsy started displaying behavioural problems, she wanted to sleep outside more often and was toileting indoors.  Her coat was also in poor condition and we wondered if her flea allergy had returned yet, on inspection, found no fleas on the little cat.  My relative also noticed Mitsy had a strange smell like rancid fish adding to our confusion as to how to help Mitsy. We feared she was getting old and reluctantly, fearing the worst,  took her to the vet.  

The vet looked over Mitsy and concluded her heart was strong and he could see no obvious serious health problems.  However when I mentioned the other symptom of a strange smell the vet appeared to have a light bulb moment.  He inspected Mitsy's mouth and found the problem - cat tooth decay. 

Mitsy stayed at the vets overnight and I collected her the next day with the slightly shocking news that all of her teeth had been removed.  Mitsy didn't seem too concerned though the vet gave her a shot of strong pain killers and she seemed very happy to be back home.  Her diet for a few days was wet mushy cat food as per vets orders.

The difference in Mitsy from what must have been a very painful period was remarkable all the strange behavioural issues stopped, she uses her litter tray, mooches around my relatives home quite happily and her coat is shiny again.   Mitsy doesn't seem bothered over her lack of teeth at all in fact her calls for food even seem a little louder and bolder than they once were.  

Cat tooth decay is very distressing and the signs aren't always easy to spot but in this case the rancid smell was a clear indicator of a treatable problem.  If you have any tips for detecting cat tooth decay in cats please do comment below.