An alternative way rather than cat confinement to reduce domestic cat hunting

Feeding a domestic cat a grain-free food reduces their predisposition to hunt

This is an interesting study which I’ve relied on before in a discussion whether hungry cats hunt better. Common sense dictates that a cat that is not fed by their caregiver will, given the opportunity, hunt to sustain their life. But they will hunt just what they need and no more. And a cat …

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All indoor cats should be fed with puzzle feeders

Cat puzzle feeders

The title is a bold statement but I think it’s valid. You might not know what puzzle feeders are. They are devices which make it a challenge to a domestic cat to get at the food which somewhat replicates how they would live in the wild. It’s a sort of substitute for hunting; a …

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Do interactive (puzzle) cat feeders work?

Interactive puzzle feeder for cats

Yes, in my experience, they work very well. Cats instinctively use them without any training in my experience although it is fairly limited as I live with one cat who used it instinctively for the first time. Cats manage to get the dry cat food pellets out of the feeder without any problem in …

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Contrafreeloading and the domestic cat

Domestic cat uses an interactive puzzle feeder

“Contrafreeloading” is a made-up word. It was created by animal psychologist Glenn Jensen in 1963. Scientists like to make their use of language harder to understand. It means behaviour which is against “contra” freeloading which means to get something easily. In other words when behaviour is contrafreeloading it is behaviour that requires more effort …

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Thinking about how to feed your domestic cat to improve health and welfare

Puzzle cat feeder.

The domestic cat is a solitary hunter/eater of multiple small meals. How to feed a domestic cat is perhaps as important as what you feed them. It is argued that on the Internet there is a lot of discussion about the type of food people give their cats but not enough discussion about how …

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