| Most cats are kept indoors for many reasons, but mostly for health and safety. These reasons include keeping your cat away from outdoor dangers, traumas, toxins, and keeping them away from deadly infections. Cats that live indoors tend to live twice as long as outdoor cats.
An indoor environment for your cat is definitely safer, but is not as interesting for your curious cat. It is up to you to create a stimulate environment for your cat that gives them what they would normally find outside.
Here are some ideas that will help keep your indoor cat happy!
1. Quality Cat Food
Give your indoor cat good quality cat food that supplements them with all the nutrients they need. One way to ensure this is to check to make sure the label indicates that it is “AFFC” approved which means that the pet food has the minimal amount of nutrients in it for your cat.
2. Take excellent care of your Cat’s Litter box
Keep an adequate number of litter boxes in your houses. A good rule to go by, is to have one litter box for each cat plus one extra. Your cat’s litter box should be cleaned daily using a litter box rake, have the litter changed monthly and replace the box once a year. Your cats litter box location is also very important to them and should be kept far away from high traffic areas and dogs. Cats are very hygienic so you should always keep a good litter box clean, and use a type of litter and texture that appeals to your cat.
3. Toys
Cats love to play with toys, so it’s very important to ensure that your cat has plenty of toys in order to enrich their environment. Every cat is different with what kind of toys they prefer. Always have some cat toys that roll, maybe have some cat nip in them, and toys that hang off a string and stimulate your cat to play.
4. Play Time
This goes without saying for most people, but cats should be given at least 10 minutes of attention a day. Always be sure to play with your cats and bond with them!
5. Scratching Posts
Always provide your cat with a good scratching post for them to stretch out and scratch on. If you fail to do this, your cat will resort to scratching the furniture and your house and you certainly don’t want that! Cats scratch in order to mark their territory and to shape their claws. Even if your cat is declawed they still like to go through the motions of scratching. Put your cats scratching post in their favorite place to hang out and if you have multiple cats consider buying multiple scratching posts.
6. Refuge
Provide your cat with a refuge and a place to get away and rest. A refuge may be a box, bed or cat carrier. Anywhere slightly out of your household traffic and up high is great for your cats to refuge. This way they can rest and still see what’s going on around them.
7. Visual Stimulation
All cats should be able to look out the window and have visual stimulation. Cats love to watch outside at nature and see what’s going on. A screened in porch is ideal but you can also use something like a window perch and give your cat a place to lay and watch the world go by.
8. Love
Just like everyone else cats love to be loved! Be sure to always take time out of your busy day to spend time with your cat! They’ll appreciate it and it lets them know that your care!
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