Six Ways To Make Indoor Living A Blast For Your Cat

Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/kids-playing-with-white-cat-6864965/

Pet cats should be kept indoors. For an in-depth discussion of the issues surrounding indoor/outdoor cats, click here. Right here, I assume you’ve already decided to keep your cat indoors and want to know how to keep your cat from becoming bored, depressed, and having a behavioral problem. Here are some ways to help a bored indoor cat..

Photo by Arina Krasnikova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pet-cats-on-the-playground-7725966/

1. Give them places to climb. Cats need to explore and climb.  They often like to be high up and survey their surroundings. Something as simple as a bookcase with empty shelves could be what your cat needs. Or you could buy fancy cat trees, platforms attached to the walls for the cat to climb on called cat shelves, or cat hammocks
2. Give them lots of toys. Once again, they can be simple like a box to climb in. I had a yardstick with yarn tied to one end that one of my cats enjoyed playing with.  You can also get cat toys with feathers, cat toys that are puzzles, cat toys that promote digging, tunnels, little balls, cat nip toys, little toys that look like mice, and on and on. My cat Poppy loves the laser pointer.
3. Have a cat indoor garden. Many cats like something called cat grass, which is a mixture of grasses designed for feline tastes.  You can also grow cat nip. Be careful with your indoor plants because some indoor plants can be poisonous to your cat.  Click here for information about poisonous indoor plants.
4. Cats don’t need to be outdoors, they can be perfectly happy indoors all the time.  If you feel that your cat is bored or depressed being indoors all the time, try these six tips to enrich their life.  Also, they should still have a collar with your phone number on it and they should be microchipped.  If the cat escapes by accident, you will be more likely to get your kitty back if there is some way to identify them as yours.

Photo by Oleg Karsakóv: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cat-on-a-leash-climbing-a-post-12079113/

1. Give your cat controlled access to the outdoors. This could be a perch on a windowsill or a screened-in porch. You can buy netting that is specially designed to contain a cat in an area outdoors, so if you have a backyard, you can screen in a part of it for your cat. You could build a “catio” outdoors with lots of climbing areas. You could also harness your cat and take them for a walk. I have not ever done that, but there are a few people in my neighborhood who have. You can read my interview with one of them here.
2. Have more than one cat. Sometimes cats can be mortal enemies, sometimes they seem indifferent to each other, but sometimes they can be friends and play with each other.  You might consider adopting a bonded pair. I fostered a pregnant cat once. She gave birth to three kittens and someone in an apartment in New York City adopted the whole family.
3. Keep their litter box clean. I’ve heard recommendations to clean the cat box twice a day or as soon as the cat uses it.  There are some litter boxes that automatically clean themselves.  Just make sure it is clean for the cat because they don't like taking care of business in a dirty place.

Cats don’t need to be outdoors, they can be perfectly happy indoors all the time.  If you feel that your cat is bored or depressed being indoors all the time, try these six tips to enrich their life.  Also, they should still have a collar with your phone number on it and they should be microchipped.  If the cat escapes by accident, you will be more likely to get your kitty back if there is some way to identify them as yours.

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