8 Tips to Make Your Cat Happy

Join Zazie Todd, Phd. and award winning author and bloggist as she discusses 8 Tips to Make your Cat Happy. This is a can’t miss webinar filled with actionable tips backed by tons of research by one of the world’s leading behavior experts. Check out her book: Purr The Science of Making your Cat Happy and her blog https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com

Happy Cat

By: Nikki Phillips

Zazie Todd Ph.D., an award-winning author of “Purr The Science of Making your Cat Happy” and bloggiest shared some helpful insights to keeping cats engaged and happy.

Enriching Your Cat

When your cat is exhibiting undesired behaviors, Todd reminds first ruling out the possibility of a medical issue. If the cat is healthy, try some of the following tips to help keep your cat enriched every day. She suggests the following tips for cats of any age:

1. Providing cats with several safe spaces

2. Setting your house upright for your cat

3. Using food to train your cat

4. Not using punishment to address behavior

5. Training your cat to like the carrier

6. Having positive interactions with you and other cats

7. Giving your cat choices

8. Using food puzzles

9. Using scent enrichment

If you have a strictly indoor cat, you are responsible for providing enrichment. If you have an outdoor cat, they may get some of these needs met in nature, but if they are unhappy at home, they may rehome themselves at a neighbor’s house.

Safe Spaces

Creating safe hiding spaces for your cat throughout your home will help them feel safe and comfortable. Observe where the cat goes naturally then try to mimic that option in other places around the house. If this ends up being a place that is not pleasing to you, like a laundry basket of clean, warm clothes, you could re-create that cozy feeling with a cat-friendly towel in a box.

Pro Tip: Hiding is an enrichment for cats and could be a stress response. If your cat is hiding it is best to let them, do it if they are in a safe spot.

Pet owners should provide multiple, separate key environmental resources. These should be away from each other throughout your home, for example, their food should be away from litter. If you have more than one cat, they should each have their own items- food bowls, and litter boxes. The rule of thumb is one litterbox per cat in the house and one spare.

Cats have a well-developed sense of smell and vomeronasal organs. Their heightened sense of smell means most cats do not like strongly scented litter or household cleaning products. Scientists believe when cats rub their heads on you, furniture, or other items they are transferring pheromones on these areas to mark them as safe. Cleaning these surfaces with strong-smelling products wipes away those signals. If your cat has more than one bed, wash them on a rotating basis, so there will always be a bed with the safe space pheromones. Cats like new toys, Todd recommends a similar rotating process to give the cat a selection of different toys while you put away, or clean, the rest.

Pro Tip: When you wash the toys you get rid of the pheromones, making it seem new.

Entertainment

Todd uses food puzzles and a scent game to help keep her cats enriched. Each of her cats enjoys the game but moves through the process in their own way. The key for the owner is to be patient and let the cat figure out the game. Here is the setup:

 Put your cat in a different room

 Spread three to five cardboard boxes throughout another room

 Hide a treat in each box

 Let your cat in the box room to find the boxes with the treat. Allow them to locate the boxes on their own.

 Repeat two to three times

Many owners use catnip to enrich their pets. There may be a few roadblocks with this plant-based tool because due to their genetic makeup, some cats do not respond to catnip. Also, kittens do not respond to catnip. However, you can introduce it to your young cat in a toy to see if interest develops. In place of, or in addition to, catnip Todd suggests valerian, tatarian honeysuckle, and silvervine, which can be found in most local pet stores and online.

Training

Some owners use positive reinforcement, such as food, to train their cat. Todd suggests breaking some larger treats into smaller pieces or use the liquid or paste based treats to allow one lick as a reward. Portion control is key to avoid overfeeding your cat. Treat training can be used to teach fun skills like sitting pretty, or functional behaviors such as getting into the carrier.

Pro Tip: To avoid getting accidentally bitten or scratched, you may want to offer the liquid/paste treat on a popsicle stick, small dish, or plastic spoon.

For some cats, carrier training may be needed. Research shows when cats are stressed in the carrier vet exams become difficult. When cats were studied, those who were not stressed out by the carrier were able to receive a thorough exam. Todd suggests getting a carrier with a removable top, so the cat can remain in the carrier throughout the exam. This training process needs to be slow and may take months before you see success, so start early.

The training process may be frustrating, some owners use a spray or squirt bottle to deter unwanted behavior. While the cat may stop the behavior, they may start to associate you with the negative interaction, thus damaging your connection. Instead, the goal is to figure out why the pet is doing something, then provide an appropriate alternative. For example, scratching is a natural behavior for the cat and may cause issues for the owners. The owner should provide a variety of scratch-friendly surfaces.

Pro Tip: Most cats prefer big surfaces for scratching, but some prefer horizontal surfaces, while others like vertical options, such as rope.

Signaling Safety

Research indicates cats become attached to humans and care about their caregivers, but they may express their feelings in different ways. When cats roll on their backs exposing their belly, they may want belly rubs, but more likely they signally feelings of safety and would prefer a head pat. Most cats are happiest with short, but frequent pet sessions.

Pro Tip: Adult cats do not make purring noises at each other; they only do those noises for you. Each of those noises is unique to the cat, so owners can decipher what their own cat’s noises mean.

This information is intended solely as a general educational aid and is not a substitute for medical or other professional advice.