hey everybody jackson galaxy cat daddy on the job again as usual and with much glee because i love
you guys i i love talking to you i love talking to you about what nope not food not cars cats
you know the concept of our cats being indoor cats uh i've talked about a lot and i do have a video
all about the indoor outdoor debate but i think that we can all agree that cats for the most part
are indoor cats now and i like it that way personally i mean i'll just put it out there
i would rather err on the side of my cat maybe not getting every little bit of the outdoor experience
in exchange they live a longer life but that gets us to the point of today's video the big debate
about indoor outdoor usually centers on our cat's happiness and the folks who say i will always let
my cats outside say that because they feel like they are greatly sacrificing their cats happiness
keeping them indoors and then the debate will go well if they live a shorter life it was a
shorter happier life and i would hate for that to have to be your choice so today's video is how to
keep your indoor cat happy so let's get going actually before i start this i'm just gonna
i really thought of a caveat that i want to say now because if i save it to the end of the video
i'm just inviting a whole barrage of comments from uh you cat mojo tears in the uk and other
places in europe and around the world actually where indoor outdoor is a much different picture
than it is in the u.s so i always get that feedback like i don't know what you guys are
talking about keeping your cats indoors that's crazy you know because culturally it it is
live your life man if it's different where you live it is but for those of you you know you
wouldn't be watching this video right now if you weren't trying to figure out how to keep
your cat indoors and happy right because you saw the title of the video and everything so
why am i spending all this time apologizing my god what's wrong with me
let's get to the list man the first surefire way to keep your cat happy is catification doing
your best to bring the outdoors in the things that make up that sort of outdoor experience
much of which is climbing different vantage points different camouflage places different ways around
the house it's not just going from a to b on the floor but there's all these places for us to go
making sure that there are places in windows for your cats to go so they can get enough sun
so that we allow them to follow the sun like the feline sundials that they are and and give them
that experience that they would be getting outside there are places on the vertical axis from ground
to ceiling where different cats will find their mojo and they're able to find that more outside
than in and of course the way to solve that is by you fixing it with cadification with environmental
enrichment i have so many videos on the topic of cadification i got two whole books written
with kate benjamin about cadification so i don't want to you know just go on and on and on about it
but when we talk about what raises cat mojo it's remembering the experiences of tens of thousands
of years that inform the cat that's sitting right now maybe even on your lap they're all the same
they are all fed the same information through their dna about how to get through the world
which is just a fascinating aspect to cats if you have the ability to build a catio for your cats
man well that's game over right there now why are we even talking about them going outside
because we have a catio a catio is cat patio get it it is an enclosed area off your house
um you should really watch this video right here which was uh the cat daddy dictionary
what is a catio and it shows you all different types of ideas that other people have sent in
to us i gotta tell you if you got a house uh it's it's the way to go and uh hopefully you'll
get some inspiration but that is the ultimate environmental enrichment for your indoor cat is
having something that's half in half out also just little addendums here to the catification point of
keeping your indoor cats happy litter boxes count having litter boxes in different areas
of your place not just in one place spreading it out so that territorially it also has importance
along with just a place to eliminate it really does wonders for your cat's sense of territorial
security another thing is scratching surfaces so either we're talking about scratching posts the
horizontal scratchers the ones that go in an angle all of the above scratching is just a part of a
cat's makeup to exercise the top parts of their body to remove dead sheaths of nail and to mark
visually and scent wise all part of scratching which is why you see trees scratched up whether
they're little cats or lions in the savanna on acacia trees you'll still see all of those marks
on trees that's how a nade it is so providing them with sturdy acceptable scratching surfaces
and finding out whether your cat likes it to be lengthwise height wise incline wise whatever it
is or all of the above really goes a long way to upping confidence which keeps them happy another
way to keep your your indoor panther happy is play play with your cat play with your cat play with
your cat it's not just about getting energy out of them it's about reminding them who they are they
are hunters not only are you using an interactive toy and you're moving around the house and you're
you're not just standing still and waving that wand around but you're doing it with a purpose you
that you're allowing them to mimic that hunt and to get that deep sort of almost reptilian brain
satisfaction of hunting but that's when we follow up with a meal afterwards so they do what
hunt catch kill eat honestly i can't even tell you how big a deal this is there are so many people
who used to make fun of me because they would tell me what their problems were with their cats i was
like play with your cat play with your cat every day they're bored they're frustrated they've got
all this built up raw cat energy they need to play they need to get it out of their system
now check out the video that should be floating up over my head right now about the way to play
with your cat i talk about it all the time if you don't have the book total cat mojo pick it up
because there's a whole chapter there about how to play with your cat but there's videos as well
that's why i'm saying it's such a big deal i've written volumes on it because it makes cats happy
and that's what this video is about making your indoor cats happy play with your cat
so another way of making our indoor cats happy is to remember you know one of the things they
would do outside it's not just hunt part of it is problem solving territorial problem
solving hunting problem solving staying out of trouble while still hunting problem solving
those are things that are hard to duplicate indoors but keeping the mind and the body sharp by
still talking to their raw cat is important so one of the easiest things is puzzle toys
they want food and in order to get that food they have to solve a problem there are plenty of puzzle
toys out there that really satisfy that sort of scavenging and hunting need at the same time and
also you're not just dishing out food which will also go a long ways to making your indoor cat an
indoor chunky cat so there's a website called food puzzles for cats check that one out because it's
made by a couple of friends of mine who are behaviorists in their own right
and uh have spent a lot of time studying these food puzzles and uh ranking them and you know
are they for beginners or experts and just go to that website it'll tell you all about puzzle toys
another way of occupying mind and body and also just sort of increasing the bond between you and
your cat is clicker training clicker training is great if you don't know about this jackson galaxy
project has a a program called cat positive where we go into cat rescues and shelters teach folks
the basics of clicker training just fun little things like high fives and
spin arounds and sits and things like that cat agility courses yeah that's a thing cat
agility is the thing or just obstacle courses just ways to keep your cat focused on you
they they have to give to get in terms of treats and praise and they are solving a puzzle in that
way and in the meantime they're doing something you might want them to do as well there's also
a video on this channel where my good friend samantha bell was teaching it at one of our recent
cat camps and we captured that on video so check that one out right there if you want to know more
about clicker training your cat clicker training is is a great thing but clicker training can also
lead to something else just something else but something else but something else but something
else but something else to something else to something else to something else to something
else to something else to something else to something else to something else to something else
harness training it is the way of the future you guys taking your cats for walks is just a great
way for them to get outside to get that exposure problem solve a little bit to say okay what's
this little log about how am i going to get up and over it you know how am i going to solve problems
but also just to get all of the information the natural world has to offer them but you're doing
it totally safely i can't recommend it enough two quick things well three quick things one is that
harness training is for the cat that wants to go outside don't try to turn your indoor cat in into
an outdoor cat just because you want them to be there are some cats who the harness
is not a great experience but getting outside is a terrifying experience and we have to know
is it something that is good for this cat or not you know if your cat gets just as much pleasure
from looking out the window it's all good you don't have to do it the second thing is that you
want to make sure that you're finding a harness that your cat can't get out of that once you get
them acclimated to the harness then you put a leash on it and you walk them around the house
and if there's anything they're getting scared of believe me they're going to get out of that thing
unless they just can't i really like working with harnesses that are more like vests they're they're
walking vests we do sell a couple of those on our websites just go to jacksongalaxy.com and you'll
see the ones i'm talking about but they have velcro attachments they have the clips around them
the ones i don't like are ones that we would call the figure eight where you have a loop
around the neck and a loop around the middle and just something attaching it i've just seen
too many cats wiggle out of those so just make sure it's wiggle proof and the third point about
harness training is watch this video this one up here all about harness training your cats and the
benefits and all the other stuff i just talked about it just goes into it in much more detail
you're going to hear competing points of view about this but hey you're watching my video so
whatever my point of view is that cat should be with other cats i really do like to see cats with
other cats i mean sure there are cats out there who just want to be alone but i would say that
that's not the majority and if the introduction is done well then you're going to be just fine
if you are and i've said this so many times my face is going to fall off from saying it
whoop there goes my face if you're adopting a kitten please adopt two it's just you think
it's going to be twice the work it's not twice the work it's twice the companionship
they learn from each other they grow together they may not go through their entire life sleeping in
the crook of each other's arms but they might they learn how to relationship uh with other cats and
other animals and other things that are not human things and that is just really beneficial and
i think a way to keep your indoor cat happy the next way to keep your cats happy is through
something i call the three r's what are the three r's you ask i'm glad you asked it's routine
ritual rhythm the idea here being that cats just really are happier when they have a routine
cats are crepuscular which means that they're dusk and dawn hunters and they know that when the
sun is setting to a certain place time for me to hunt so my sleeping and my eating all come around
that how do we do that in our homes and how do we satisfy that need to be uh to have a rhythm
right there it is that's one of the ours we start by having routines in the house that's why i tell
you guys not to free feed your cats but to feed meals because that is the backbone of
the three r's is having set eating times and getting them to eat meals having their
circadian rhythms their body clocks coming more into focus and and more into rhythm with us is a
way for us all to be happy in the long run so i'm using meals as an example but once you start doing
something every day at a given time that routine after it's been repeated over and over becomes a
ritual meaning that now it's got importance now it is really like part of the fabric of my very being
is this routine once we've turned a routine into a ritual that ritual becomes the rhythm of our lives
that is a circadian rhythm i know what happens when i wake up i get a sense of security knowing
that i have repetition in my life based on where the food supply is where the sun
is where my sleeping spots are where the humans are my body following that rhythm makes me happy
another way to make your indoor cats happy and there's a big one you guys uh this is not a small
point but that is spaying or neutering your cats have your pets paid or neutered goodbye everybody
all cats who are adopted from shelters or rescues come spayed or neutered at this
point the one thing that's going to make your male or female cat happy if they're indoors
is not if you're a female going through a heat cycle and if you're a male not smelling females
and males outside and having all of your hormones do the talking because all you're going to want
to do at that point and i mean all you're going to want to do at that point is go outside get outside
you know break through the window break through the screen run through the door get out there
and do what your hormones are telling you to do which is to propagate and defend your territory at
all costs those are the things that drive the machine when hormones are doing the driving that
need goes away with spaying or neutering your cats it just makes for a cat that's just not conflicted
and having just like a primary purpose that's not being met so by far if your cat is not spayed
or neutered and you want a quick and easy way to make your indoor cat happy that's the way so do it
now our final way to make our indoor cats happy and this should be easy for you guys man because
hopefully you're doing this already but it's making space in your day to spend with your cats
spending some time investing in your relationship is really what that comes down and however that
looks like to you again it could be as simple as you know any of the things we've talked about with
play or in other videos i've talked about clicker training and things like that that are just
you know bond building activities just hanging out just you know calling them over and having
them come over and maybe it's a scritch on the head or maybe it's just them sitting next to you
and you talking to them gently whatever it is and again you're like jackson what you really got to
tell us that i mean if we have cats in our lives it's because we want the companionship of cats
yeah but that is a key word companionship that that especially these days we might just sort of
gloss over so i'm just here to remind you you know it's not just play with your cat play with your
cat play with your cat it's about you know be with your cat be with your cat be with your cat and
that's it that's the easy one that i'll leave you with today all right you guys thank you
again for all of the suggestions for videos that you've given because that's how these videos get
made is that you clearly want to see them so don't forget to put your suggestions
in the comments don't forget also that we uh premiere new videos pretty much every saturday
morning along with the shorts that we're now putting out so that leads me into telling you to
meow