Why Every Cat Needs a Food Puzzle
You may have noticed a new kind of cat toy getting popular in stores - food puzzles. Should your cat have one? And how do you go about picking one?In this post, I’ll go over the benefits of food puzzles and how to pick out ones your cat will enjoy.
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Why use a food puzzle?
They help fight boredom
A lot of indoor cats don’t have a ton to do all day, especially if their owners work outside the home. Self play toys, like mice or balls in tracks, are great, but adding in other enrichment is always a good idea. Keeping your cat from being bored can help with other behavioural issues, such as destructive scratching and boredom derived aggression issues with other cats or humans (ie chasing a human or other cat and swatting).
They slow down your cat’s eating
Lots of owners report having a cat that scarfs down their food at dinner time and then they vomit it back up. Having a food puzzle (or multiple puzzles) will force your cat to eat slower, which in turn will prevent that vomiting.
They help reduce food anxiety
Some cats gobble up their food because they’re worried about when their next meal will be. Having food in several puzzles around the house is going to help with that. Cats in the wild would eat multiple small meals a day, rather than the larger portions we tend to give for breakfast and dinner. By having a bunch of small meals that they have to “hunt” for, it not only helps keep boredom down, it allows them to feel secure that another small meal is around when they get hungry at any point in the day.
They help with weight loss
One reasons cats can over eat is boredom. That combined with a lack of movement can lead to an overweight kitty, which isn’t very healthy for them. Food puzzles can help solve both problems by providing entertainment as well as requiring activity in order to get the food. For an overweight cat, food is usually a strong motivator, so making them do a bit of work for their food can really help with their weight loss journey.
What kind of puzzle should I get?
There are all kinds of puzzles out there. There are lots of types. The most well known one is a treat ball - a ball with holes in it that your cat pushes around to get out the food. But there are lots of others as well. Digger toys have tubes that make your cat use their paw to pull the food out. Then there are stationary “board” toys with various sliders or obstacles. There’s also silicone mats with various patterned grooves in them that you can spread wet food in.
Match the toy to your cat’s skill level
Puzzles range from extremely easy - such as a basic licky mat - to extremely difficult. Always start your cat off with an easy toy. For dry food, this is usually either a ball or a digger. If the toy has different settings (some balls have adjustable holes), put it on the easiest one first. You want to give your cat a chance to figure it out without getting frustrated. Once they’ve got that figured out, you can try a different style or increasing the difficulty of the toy you have. For wet food, a licky mat is the easiest way to start off, but there are other puzzles that you can switch to as your cat gets used to the puzzle feeders.
Ideally, it’s a good idea to have several small dry food toys scattered around the house. This gives your cat lots of hunting to do. If you’re like me and find that the rolling kind are always getting lost, you can put them into an open box or container to keep the toy contained to a smaller area. There are also similar toys that wobble rather than roll and I find those don’t get lost as easily.
Example of a rolling toy: PetSafe Slim Cat Feeder Ball
Example of a wobbling toy: CatIt Pixi Treat Dispenser
Increasing the difficulty
Here’s an example of a toy that can scale the difficulty. You can start by just putting the food in the cups. Then try covering the cups with the blue rotating pieces. Finally, you can put the food into the sliding pieces so that your cat has to shift them over the cups in order to get the food.
You don’t have to buy a ton of toys to increase the difficulty. You can try repurposing the toys you have in various ways. For instance, put a toy inside a loosely closed cardboard box. That requires your cat to figure out how to get inside, then get the food out of the toy. You can also next toys in each other. For example, I have a digger toy that I put “mice” toys into so that my cat has to pull out the mouse before batting it around to spill out the food. Finally, try putting them in different locations and eventually even slightly hiding them for your cat to find.
Some toys come with various skill levels built into them, so you can start your cat off on the easy mode and gradually increase the difficulty as they learn how it works.
DIY food puzzles
Toys are expensive! But there’s lots of DIY toys you can make as well. This is also helpful for figuring out what kind of toy to start your cat off with. You can use an empty egg carton or ice cube tray to try out the digger style toys.
Empty toilet paper tubes with holes cut in them make great rolling toys. I will cut out one cup from an egg carton and tape it over one end, then fold the other end over once food is inside (see image to the right)
This is just a small sample of all the options for DIY toys. You can get more elaborate (tape different length cardboard tubes together to make a digger toy) and even have kids help decorate the toys for kitty. And the best part is, if they get lost or broken, you can just make a new one!
how to introduce food puzzles
Most cats will figure things out pretty quickly - they have an incredible sense of smell and are usually curious about new things. If you’re worried that your cat may not be able to figure out the toy right away or if you have a cat who is a bit more nervous, it’s a good idea to put some food in their normal bowl and some into the puzzle. Making sure your cat has options is always going to be an easier way to get them used to something new.
Make sure you aren’t adding in extra food - fill puzzles with food from their daily allotment.
Finally, always start with something really easy. The main reason a cat will give up on a food puzzle is frustration. So, make sure to begin on easy mode and only increase the difficulty when it seems like your cat has really got the hang of it. Or, rather than increasing difficulty, you can just split the food into more puzzles, giving your cat a lot of searching and hunting to do in the day.
Food puzzles are a great way to add some entertainment to your cat’s day, so try experimenting with food puzzles and see what your cat likes!