push it out of the way
there you go jericho. good job.
hey friends it's jess and jericho here to teach you how to challenge your cat.
and no i don't mean challenge your cat to a boxing fight.
by challenging your cat i mean mental stimulation and enrichment.
this is crucial for your cat to stay happy indoors.
so today this video is about food puzzle toys
and different ways that you can play with your cat using treats.
first i want to talk about some diy approaches just to make it easy for you
and then we'll talk about different products pros and cons for each.
the first diy approach that you can do is hiding treats around your apartment and home.
now of course i don't mean crunchy dental treats that are full of carbohydrates.
i mean healthy treats like dehydrated or freeze-dried meats and organs.
and i have products that i recommend and use in the description below.
i hide freeze-dried pieces of green tripe
and freeze-dried minnows on jars for jericho to hunt around the apartment.
hunting for treats great for stimulation
hmm
you can hide these treats on top of your cat's condo,
in between beds and furniture, on top of his window perch, and anywhere else they fit.
another diy approach is making a food puzzle toy,
treat diggers, and treat release toys using toilet paper rolls.
so here's an example of what you can do with toilet paper rolls.
i created little rings here to make it easy and then there's tunnels.
and this one i just cut a little hole in the top.
there's another tunnel, some little diggers that are different sizes.
put the treat inside inside the tunnels for the cat to figure out how to get it.
and i use this food mat obviously to keep everything contained and keep it sanitary.
obviously don't use glue or tape or anything that's going to be toxic to your cat.
these aren't going to stay in place but that's all right you know it's just
just for fun nice and easy to get your cat used to using these toys.
give us a polydactyl thumbs up if you're digging this.
so the pros of toilet paper roll toys and treat puzzles
is that it's free and cheap, easy to make, and all cats love toilet paper rolls.
it's made out of cardboard, and cats love cardboard because it's made out of trees.
and trees are the natural scratching posts that's why they love them!
the con here with toilet paper roll puzzle toys is that you can't wash them.
so you're going to have to use
a new set of toilet paper rolls each time you want to make these puzzles.
it's quite unsanitary to reuse the same ones over and over again because you're having food
and the cat's saliva getting onto the puzzle toy.
and that's just going to promote an environment for bacteria and mold.
a good diy food puzzle is just take glass jars and put the treat inside the jar.
you can use different size jars and then see your cat has to paw it out.
so that's good for mental stimulation your cat has to work for the treat
and then use his paw to get out the treat.
and then he gets rewarded for his hard work.
this is an old yogurt jar and this is i don't know probably salsa or something.
obviously make sure you clean out the jar well but yeah then you just put the treat inside.
and there you go jericho. good job!
of course i recommend using a food mat and only keeping the jars on the ground
and not on top of condos and on top of things because your cat might knock it over.
and then that's going to cause some serious problems.
Jericho. he's playing with his catnip toy.
now on to food puzzle toys that you can buy.
one of the most common types is something that has little discs
that the cat has to move and slide around and that's going to expose the treat.
so this is a little plastic sliding disc food puzzle mat
and you put the treats and then cover them with the discs.
then they have two empty spots just to show the cat how to how to work it.
good job jericho. so yeah this is out of this is made out of plastic.
it's good for
beginners and you can take everything apart so you can clean these discs individually.
i don't recommend it for long-term use because plastic traps bacteria even with regular washing.
but it's a good beginner toy if you want your cat to get used to using these types of things.
it's fairly easy to use and i put this food mat down just to keep the area sanitary.
i've had this one for a while but i don't really use it that much
just because it is made out of plastic.
but once i brought it out jericho
started going crazy because he knows that it means treats are coming.
this kind of toy is great for beginners if your cat has never done a food puzzle toy before
this is a great one to start with.
the con here is that it's made out of plastic so of course
wash it after every meal after each food puzzle toy extravaganza.
and i also recommend replacing it frequently.
so if you use it every single day you might want to replace it every couple of months.
if you use it every now and then you might get a little more use out of it.
the next type of food puzzle toy that i'd recommend is a food foraging mat.
so this is a little foraging mat that i got this will be jericho's first time using it.
and you hide treats
there some in the little carrots this is made for bunnies but it'll work for jericho too
and then there's treats there.
and then these little peppers come here Jericho.
come here
he can smell them
hey good boy
i helped you out look there you go
the pros here are that it's easy to clean and it's really fun for cats.
it's made out of safe materials and it's not plastic.
so it'll last much longer as long as you wash it regularly.
i can't really think of any cons for the food foraging mat.
it's reasonably priced. like i said it's easy to wash i just stick it in the machine wash
on cold delicate cycle and then hang dry it.
the next food puzzle toy which is more of an activity center
that i recommend is called the ripple rug.
so this is the ripple rug it is not sold as a food
puzzle toy specifically but it is a great activity mat.
i really like it. it's made out of recycled plastic bottles.
and there's little hook fastening loops there.
and all these different sized holes.
so i hide treats and toys under them and then jericho has to paw them out.
you can wash this in the machine
the washing machine as long as you use cold water and on the delicate cycle.
and then you just hang dry them. we've had this
since 2018 and it still holds its shape really well.
i just washed it yesterday.
i also hide toys and then treats also.
so this would be great for you if your cat's bored i mean jericho plays on this every single day.
i hide toys and treats. he loves to roll around on it.
he also runs into these things and there's little slits so that it expands when the cat goes in it.
so that the cat doesn't get stuck.
see there's a little kitten mitten catnip toy.
he absolutely loves it and i absolutely recommend it.
we've had it for a very long time and it's still very sturdy.
i wash it every other week or so depending on
how busy he is in it and how often i hide treats in it.
but we both really love it.
the pros here are that it's made out of recycled materials so that's good on the environment.
and it's safe for cats. it has multiple uses too.
so your cat can scratch on it, he can rest, hide, hunt, and play.
like i said i hide treats and toys in it and it's easy to clean.
so that makes caring for it easier too.
i think a con for some people might be the price.
but honestly just think about the long-term investment of buying something like this.
if you're going to buy plastic food puzzle toys
every couple of months or once a year that's not good for the environment.
it's not good for your wallet.
but if you invest in an activity mat that you can wash on a regular basis
then that's going to be much better for you and for your cat and your wallet and the environment.
the next food puzzle toy that we tested is the nina ottosson food puzzle toy.
it's an intermediate difficulty level it's meant for dogs but you can use it for cats too.
you give up any jericho yeah.
all right i'll expose one.
see what he does there you go jericho.
oh good boy jericho.
see that pawing action is good for mental stimulation because he's having to use his senses.
that's exactly why i put this mat down
just in case he knocks it out.
so anyway pawing at food and hunting is a great way to simulate the hunting experience indoors.
oops well now you get two in that one.
now another thing i want to mention here is obviously
cats don't like when their whiskers touch things.
so this is just an exercise that you do maybe once a day once every few days.
change it up with different types of foraging mats and feeders.
obviously this is too shallow for cats whiskers.
the pros here are that it's a combination of wood and plastic not 100% plastic.
so it's definitely a step up from the general food puzzle toys that you see on online.
it's relatively easy to clean. you can take all of the parts off of the actual
puzzle toy except for the red sliding things.
the tops come off but the sliding part does not come out of the toy.
but you're able to get in and out of the nooks and crannies.
and it's it's pretty easy to to clean.
but again it does have plastic so after however long you use it you're going to have to replace it
but it's still a step up from the ones that are 100% plastic.
another con here is that the difficulty level might be too difficult for cats.
so jericho actually got a little bored of it
and you know so i had to make it a little easier for him.
but at the same time once you use these more regularly your
cat's gonna learn and figure out the trick.
and once your cat figures out the trick the next time you use it it's going to go like that.
so it would be great to have multiple food puzzle toys that way you can keep it fresh and exciting.
and kind of vary which ones you use that way the difficulty level is kind of all over the place.
and your cat stays challenged daily.
these food puzzle toys and other forms of mental stimulation are really great
especially for bored cats.
you know if they're just sitting around and sleeping all day.
obviously cat naps are great here and there.
but cats still need a little mental stimulation.
i mean just think about how you feel
when you're just laying around in bed all day. you kind of feel bored and just kind of blah.
well cats typically do that every single day for weeks and months.
you know whether we're at work or just out.
and so when we have mental stimulation and food puzzle toys and enrichment and play time
you know these are really healthy exercise activities.
both physically and mentally. they'll keep your cat's brain sharp.
and it can prevent destructive behavior, stress,
boredom, and all of these health issues that arise from stress.
so first i recommend making your cat hunt for treats in the around the home.
because that's easy to do, you already have what you need.
then you can progress to the toilet paper roll toys because again those
are easy and you already have what you need to do.
and you know they're very easy for cats to figure out it's a
good transition into the actual food puzzle toys.
the food foraging mat is really great. i think it's super cute and jericho really liked using it.
and the ripple rug again i recommend for every single cat because it's just it has so many uses
both as a food puzzle toy and an activity mat.
the nina ottosson food puzzle toy, the blue red and white one,
is is great for cats that need a little extra challenging.
i wouldn't recommend starting there use the other uh you know food foraging
mat and making your cat hunt for treats and the ripple rug first.
then you can kind of gauge when it would be appropriate to buy a more intermediate
food puzzle toy.
but you could do like i did just make it a little easier to start
with and then you can use the food puzzle toy as it is.
and again in the description below you'll find all the healthy treats
that i recommend as well as these products mentioned in this video.
thanks for watching!
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