Celia Haddon Pets Problems Page - How to have a happy Indoor Cat

HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY INDOOR CAT

Indoor cats with too little to do, can develop behaviour problems such as aggression toward the owner, fur pulling, attention seeking spraying or tail chasing. These are the obvious symptoms of boredom. The less obvious one is lethargy – they stop doing anything much.
Two cats, from kittenhood onwards, are better than one, if a cat is indoors all the day. Cats Protection suggest that a three bedroomed house shouldn’t have more than two or perhaps three cats so don’t fill up the house with too many (always tempting!).
Ask for new my cat introduction sheet if you decide to add a new cat because just adding an unrelated cat isn’t always helpful. Remember indoor cats have fewer places to go to avoid cats they dislike so it doesn’t always work out for the best. If you are moving house and having to turn your outdoor cat into an indoor cat, it will probably work out fine if the cats are 10 years or older. Older cats don’t do so much anyway. Cats that don’t go out much anyway may also adjust well. Try the change and see what happens. If you are a real cat lover, you will know if the cat is miserable.
The cats that won’t be happy are the young, the energetic and the determined hunters. By all means see if these will adapt, but you may find that they don’t. In this case, a good charity like Cats Protection can find them a new home and probably find you a cat that needs to live indoors – elderly, handicapped or FIV positive.

Here are some suggestions on how to stimulate and enrich an indoor cat's environment.

1. PLAY WITH YOUR CAT.
A cat needs to work off his predatory instincts in play. Cats often won’t play on their own. They prefer games with humans. Buy him a fishing rod toy or make one with bamboo, sticking paper and string. Tie a piece of string to your belt so it trails behind you everywhere you go, so he can pounce on it. Throw corks, balls of paper or kitchen foil for him. A play session should take every day at least once. In the wild a cat would hunt about 10 mice a day, so aim at 10 short games or 30 pounces every day.
If you find it difficult to interest your cat, tie pieces of meat on string. This should do the trick! There’s a book - “Games to play with your cat” by Paul Bergman and Roger Markham, Sigma. Some people get their cat to chase a light reflection from a lazer pen. Once a week or so this is fine but a cat can get addicted to this and become very frustrated since there is nothing for it to catch. The chase instinct is never switched off by a kill, so to speak. This light chasing may become a behaviour problem in its own right. Do not do too much of this.

2. WATCHING
Make sure your cat can look out of the window and see other things. Put a bird feeder up for him to watch. You can buy feeders which stick to the glass or just place food on a windowsill. It takes only a few days for birds to find it. Provide sitting places, preferably on ledges and shelves rather than the floor, at the window with the best view -- ie. with things going on -- passersby, dogs, wildlife, other cats.
3. SCRATCHING POST
One is not enough for an indoor cat. Put several, one in each room. Try mixing the rope covered ones with the cardboard paper ones. At least one should be upright high enough for the cat to scratch at full height standing on its hind legs. But with more than one you could add a paper horizontal one – sold by Oscars pet food. Different textures will give pleasure. Put them in more than one room. Remember the more torn and ragged the surface, the nicer it is for the cat.
Spray with catnip spray, if your cat needs encouragement and if it is sensitive to catnip. Consider buying one with a carpet lined hidey hole higher up. Cats are particularly fond of being high up. Position it so the cat can see out of the window. It will also give expression to its climbing skills. Canac sell wonderful though expensive cat aerobic centres through pet shops. The best ones can be ordered but are usually not in stock.

4. HIGH PLACES
Cats like looking down on us. Supply shelves to sit on at various heights, with different textures – fleece, carpet, rush matting. You can put little shelves up to a high shelf, using small pieces of shelf, so they can leap up one by one. For descent there should be enough shelf to go down in jumps of 45 degrees and 120 cm distance. The surface must not be slippery. This is almost as good as having their own tree indoors. Aim at a vertical complexity. Cat ladders are common in Switzerland. They consist of a suitable length plank about 15 cm wide with cross pieces of wood attached at 10-12 cm apart to make steps. These cross pieces are usually about the width of the plank and 2cm x 2cm in section. The cat ladder and ledges pictured on my website were designed by Shelly Jagd in the US.

6. HIDING PLACES
Cats like to hide. Supply cardboard boxes and large paper bags (plastic ones aren’t safe). Cut holes in the boxes.

7. TOYS
These don't have to be expensive. Corks from wine bottles, scrunches up paper balls, home made stuffed mice etc are all good toys. Grow catnip and stuff them with it. Keep them light and easy to move about. A dried broad bean on a wood surface makes a good toy. Dangle ropes (hemp not plastic) from a hook in the ceiling. Cardboard boxes with holes to get into. Newspapers to tear. Ping pong balls. Suspend toys from a string.
Bought toys include crinkle bags, fur covered mice, etc. The shape (ie like a mouse etc) won't influence the cat as much as its texture and ability to be moved around.

8. CHANGE TOYS DAILY.
Have four boxes of toys and use one box per week. A new toy interests a cat more than a familiar toy. Also try Kitty Go Krazy or Panic Mouse from www.thecatgallery.co.uk some cats adore these; others ignore them.

9. FOOD
Give food four times a day if possible at different locations. If cats were in the wild they would have to stalk and hunt for food. “Get rid of the food bowl,” says Peter Neville, pet behaviour counsellor. “Make the cat work for its food.” Hide dry food round the house or, if using wet food, hide the food bowl daily so the cat has to hunt for it. Hide food in cardboard boxes.
10. MAKE YOUR CAT FORAGE FOR FOOD.
Take a toilet roll and make large holes in it, cut out a round of cardboard for each end and tape this on it. Put in dry food or treats – good ones. Teach the cat how to use it then do another roll with smaller holes. Once you have taught the cat that food can appear in a dispenser, then you can think about buying special food balls.
Try the play-n-Treat ball, filled with food, (can be ordered in pet shops) made by Underworld Products, Belton Rd West, Loughborough, LE11 5TR. Or see if your cat will play with a small-dog-size Havaball which works in the same way. These are heavier products needing a chunky cat to work them.
There’s also something called the Delidome which shoots food out in some way – not yet seen one.

11. FOOD POLE
Fiona Warstat, who teaches companion animal behaviour at Minehead Adult Learning and Leisure, has adapted the food pole used for big cats in zoos for moggies at Glastonbury Cats Protection. It is a small tree trunk large enough for a cat to climb up or down, with holes drilled into each side, big enough to insert a paw! Dry food is inserted into the holes. The pole has to be anchored on a firm base, solid enough to withstand the cat jumping on and climbing up. “Some cats need careful introduction using a highly palatable and well loved dried food,” says Fiona Warstat. “Use very shallow holes to begin with then make them deeper, or have a combination of shallow and deeper holes over the pole, and only use the shallow at the start.” It can also act as a scratching post or be adapted for hanging toys.

10. FRANTIC BOX.
Take a large cardboard box and put shredded newspaper, newspaper balls etc. into it. In the bottom put some dry food pellets. Encourage your cat to use it as a place to play. Cats enjoy jumping into boxes. This gives your cat an alternative play area and she may spend less time shredding the wallpaper!
11. GAMES AND TRICKS
Yes you can teach your cat games and tricks. This will give you and it something to do together. There’s Clicker Training for Cats, by Karen Pryor. Ringpress/Interpet. Using a clicker you can train your cat over an agility course. See also www.clickertraining.com
‘50 Ways to train your Cat’ by Sally Franklin (Ringpress £4.99).
The Little book of Cat Tricks by Sandra Toney, Howell Book House/Wiley Publishing, £7.50

HOUSE CAT BOOKS AND EQUIPMENT.
Housecat, by Christine Church, Howell books, £10.99
A poster about environmental enrichment for cats (both indoor and in laboratories) is available in return for a donation of at least £1.50 from FRAME, Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments, Russell and Burch House, 96-98 North Sherwood St, Nottingham NG1 4EE.
Cat screens to let in air. Cataire Screening for windows, Silver How, Windermere Rd, Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria. LA11 6EG 01539 535468 www.cataire.co.uk enquiries@cataire.co.uk

DISCLAIMER All normal safety precautions should be taken when dealing with animals. Whilst I make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the advice and information provided on this site is accurate, it does not constitute veterinary or expert behaviour advice. Because it is not based upon an analysis of your own personal circumstances, it may provide information, which is inappropriate for you and your animal. In addition the information and practice upon which it may be based may very well be subject to advance and change and despite my efforts the information may not always be up to date. For this reason the information on this website is no substitute for the advice of your own vet or pet behaviour counsellor based upon a full understanding of you and your animal’s individual circumstances. Accordingly, you are urged, if you do require advice upon which to place full reliance, to seek the assistance of a vet, a pet behaviour counsellor or some other suitably qualified professional person having the relevant expertise to assist you with your problem. As far as the liability of myself is concerned all implied warranties and conditions are excluded to the maximum extent permitted by law. Neither I, nor my suppliers or affiliates will be liable to you in contract, for negligence or otherwise in tort or otherwise for any indirect, consequential, special or incidental damage or loss arising from your use of this information nor for any information contained in it or omitted from it.