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.