Boredom Busters for Cats E-Book

Nikki Moustaki

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 38

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Cats are commonly misconceived as the household pet that needs little attention. In reality, cats require the same sort of mental and physical stimulation as any other pet in order to be healthy, happy and more importantly, non-destructive in the house. Boredom Busters for Cats explores how to enrich your feline friend's life through socialization, interactive toys, activities and much more! Pet expert and author Nikki Moustaki covers different ways of interacting with your cat so that he will develop good habits in the house as well as enhancing his individual health and intelligence. She also includes advice on which toys to use, how to play with your pet, and activities for your cat to do while you're away from home.

Leseprobe

Vice President, Chief Content Officer: June Kikuchi

Vice President, Kennel Club Books: Andrew DePrisco

Production Supervisor: Jessica Jaensch

Production Coordinator: Tracy Vogtman

Art Director: Cindy Kassebaum

I-5 Press: Jennifer Calvert, Amy Deputato, Lindsay Hanks

Karen Julian, Elizabeth L. McCaughey, Roger Sipe, Jarelle S. Stein

Copyright © 2010 by I-5 Press™

Photographs © Fiona Green Photography, www.fionagreenphotography.com

Additional photographs courtesy of/reproduced with the permission of: Judith Wolfe—4; Shutterstock®

Images—43, 49, 50; Gina Cioli and Pamela Hunnicutt/I-5 Publishing, LLC™—44, back cover; Mary Bloom—61

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of I-5 Press™, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

The author would like to thank CAT FANCY® Editor Susan Logan.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moustaki, Nikki, 1970–

Boredom busters for cats : 40 whisker-twitching games and adventures / by Nikki Moustaki.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-935484-18-9eISBN 978-1-620080-58-0

1. Cats—Behavior. 2. Cats—Training. I. Title.

SF446.5.M656 2010

636.8—dc22

2009050662

I-5 Press™

A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC™

3 Burroughs

Irvine, California 92618

Printed and bound in China

14 13 12 11     3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Table of Contents

Enriching Your Cat’s Life

Daily Activities and Types of Enrichment

Finding Your Cat’s Motivation

Solo Enrichment

Social Enrichment

Environmental Enrichment

Enriched Cat, Happy Cat

About the Author

Resources

WHEN CAPTIVE POLAR BEAR Gus began exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviors, zookeepers were told he needed something to do. Like Gus, a bored, anxious, or stressed domestic cat requires enriching activities to keep him healthy and happy.

Enriching Your Cat’s Life

While on a visit to the zoo, a cat lover will certainly include a trip to admire the lions, tigers, and cougars in their mini jungles. It’s amazing to see these giant cats groom themselves, amuse themselves with tree branches, and wrestle with one another. Every behavior seems to mirror that of house cats, so who would think that feline fanatics would learn even more about their pets by watching a polar bear?

In the mid-1990s, zookeepers at the Central Park Zoo in New York City noticed that their 700-pound male polar bear, Gus, seemed to be experiencing some stress. Gus swam back and forth in his small pool day after day, for hours on end. Clearly, something was dreadfully wrong with the bear, so the zoo hired an animal behaviorist to study him. What was the diagnosis? Years of captivity had caused Gus to become neurotic, and his obsessive-compulsive behaviors most likely were meant to keep him from going out of his mind from boredom. This natural predator wanted something to do.

The behaviorist suggested that the Central Park Zoo implement a protocol of enrichment activities and create an environment that would stimulate the natural tendencies of the polar bear and break his neurotic patterns. So the zookeepers installed a whirlpool for Gus, began offering his food in packages for him to open, hid food around his habitat for him to hunt down, froze fish in giant blocks of ice for him to break open, and gave him interactive toys to play with. Gus seemed to be thrilled with all of these additions to his habitat. He stopped his pointless swimming as he learned to play and forage as he would in the wild. That’s what enrichment is all about: keeping your pet active and engaged in his environment.

Enrichment for cats means anything—a toy, a game, an adventure—that stimulates natural behavior, keeping them active and engaged. Many behavioral problems can be solved by adding these types of activities to your cat’s life and environment. As with Gus, lack of enrichment can cause stress and anxiety, which a cat may express with excessive grooming or inappropriate elimination.

Enrichment can eradicate, or lessen, these problems and other ones, including antisocial behavior and obesity. This book explores a number of simple ways you can provide your cat with stimulating enrichment to keep him happy, healthy, and out of trouble.

(Warning: always watch your cat when he plays with stringy toys, such as the one above, which he could chew, choke, and/or eat and end up with an intestinal obstruction.)

Daily Activities and TYPES OF Enrichment

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