Our pampered, indoor cats two linked problems: obesity and boredom. The little tigers that are our housecats are biologically adapted to hunt for their small meals. Yet they’re living lives of luxury where they can nap on the sofa all day and then wander over to their bowl of all-you-can-eat kibble without making any more effort than walking across the room.
Is there any wonder over half of housecats today are overweight or obese?
A great way to stimulate your cat’s need to hunt and to also give your cat a little exercise while hunting their treats or kibble is using a puzzle feeder. It provides your cat both mental stimulation and exercise while doing something they have to do everyday: eat.
We don’t feed kibble at our house, but there are no kitties around here who will pass up treats. So when our I talked to our friends at Kruuse at Global Pet Expo about cat enrichment, I realized they got how enrichment and treat time could be put together. They offered to let us try some of their treat enrichment toys.
Catrine Catmosphere Ball
One things that really impressed me at Global Pet Expo was the Kruuse Catrine Catmosphere treat dispensing ball.
One thing you can’t tell from photos is how sturdy the ball is. My cats have actually split treat toys open in the past, so having one that is durable is a must. It’s also easy to adjust, with a little chrome collar that turns around the pink core insert that dispenses the treats. You can turn it so that it is wide open, allowing treats to fall out easily, or you can turn it to make the hole smaller so that your cat has to work harder to get the tasty stuff out. More work means more exercise, so it’s great that you can gradually build up to your cat playing for longer and longer lengths of time with it.
The unique design of the Catmosphere means that the pink core is actually open all the way down to the opening. Ashton could tell that the treats came out that way, and she tried digging them out with her paw at first. She’s the kind of cat who will try to get at the treats with the least effort necessary.
When the paw thing didn’t work out as well as she had hoped, she started to really bat it around. It’s hard to say whether being able to see the treats flying around inside the Catmosphere treat ball was an added attraction for her since she isn’t a very visual cat. She relies a lot on her other senses since her single eye tends to make her less interested in watching prey. But regular cats who are visual hunters can see the treats in there and that is an added incentive to bat it around.
One of the other great things about the Catmosphere is that Ashton will continue to play with it for a while after it is empty. This may be tied into her not actually looking through the clear side of the ball to see if it still has any goodies inside, but that’s five minutes of play and exercise she got that she wouldn’t have any other way. She seemed to really like the wobbling, uneven way it rolled around on the floor, so maybe that was what kept her attention so long once it wasn’t dispensing anything to eat. Either way, seeing a toy stimulate her to exercise when she is so difficult to get to play with so many other toys was great.
Buster Mini Dog Maze
When I was talking to the folks from Kruuse at Global Pet Expo, they showed me the Catmosphere treat ball, then they said, “That’s really all we have for cats.” But I spotted something else in their booth that I thought would make a good enrichment toy for cats: a dog food puzzle.
I know there aren’t as many products out there for cats as there are for dogs, especially not as many engaging enrichment toys for food. So thinking outside the box helps a little bit. The mini dog maze is meant for small dogs who are roughly the size of cats to have to work to get their dog food or treats out of the maze. It doesn’t have any moving parts, and it’s made of a sturdy plastic that’s even dishwasher safe.
What happens when you toss some cat treats into a maze intended for dogs to chase their treats? Pierre thought it was fascinating. He spent a long time pushing the treats around in the grooves of the maze.
The maze loops back on itself several times, making it fairly long, in cat maze length. Eventually, he got impatient and figured out he could fish the treats out mid-maze and flip them onto the floor for consumption. This process, of course, made his paws dirty.
Newton watched the whole process with interest.
When it was his turn, he dug around inside the maze with enthusiasm, dragging it around the floor while he fished out treats one by one. The maze has rubber feet, but they weren’t enough to keep it in place on the smooth tile of our floor when he started digging with both feet. It would probably stay in place better on carpet, but there wasn’t any harm in his moving it around as he played.
Both Newton and Pierre spent a long time with the maze, and I felt better about letting them have treats, knowing they were working some of the extra calories back off again and having fun at it.
When it comes down to it, exercise and activity are the best way to keep the extra weight off your cat, so having active cats who work for their treats (or kibble, if you feed it) is a great way to keep your cat healthy and happy.
FTC Disclosure: We received the Catrine Catmosphere and the Buster Mini Dog Maze from Kruuse in exchange for our honest review. The opinions in this review are my own and not influenced by any outsider. I receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.
Summer says
I think these treat puzzle things are the EASY way to get treats! Around here, I have to do tricks to get mine!
Beth says
I got Soth a similar treat ball a few weeks ago and his dog sister can’t understand why it’s not for her (even though she has a much larger one of her own)–so far Soth has had very little chance to try his out without having it stolen and covered in dog slobber. We might have to try to food maze since that could be put up above dog nose level! Great idea!
The Island Cats says
We are always looking for treat balls or other things to help slow down our eating and make us work a little bit for our food. This treat ball looks like a nice one…one that Wally can’t break open easily (he’s been known to do that).
Connie says
engaging their mind is almost as important. Seeing them try to figure out how to get the treats out is almost as much fun as seeing them actually figure it out. – well at least to me
Ellen Pilch says
Those both look like great ways to keep a cat active Joanie needs the dog dish, it would slow her down so she wouldn’t vomit so often.
Linda says
Where can I get the ball? I would like to try that.
Sometimes Cats Herd You says
It’s available through Amazon. We hope your cats enjoy it as much as ours do!
Madi says
MOLMOLMOL I will if I have too but I’d rather not!
Hugs madi and Happy Memorial Weekend
Three Chatty Cats says
Sophie would love these! She’s also the one who’s most motivated by food in our house.
Melissa & Truffles says
Mudpie has a different ball and doesn’t seem to care for it much, but I think she would have fun with a maze!
Laila and Minchie says
That mini dog maze would keep Minchie busy for hours!
William's Kith & Kin says
We have a ball similar to that. We are too lazy to play with it, though, so it sits empty on a pantry shelf!
The Swiss Cats says
The ball looks like fun ! We would love to try the maze too ! Purrs
mommakatandherbearcat says
I’m always looking for ways to keep Bear entertained. When he gets bored, things start breaking, disappearing, or ending up in the toilet. I’m also really stingy with the treats (he gets a wet food treat every day though) but I might try one of these. Because of Bear NEEDING to play and getting tired of toys after a day or two (or even flat out destroying them), I’ve tried several different homemade ideas – most of which are made in five minutes or less and with things you’d normally throw away. If you’re interested, this is the post:
http://mommakatandherbearcat.blogspot.com/2016/04/claws-and-fangs-at-play-homemade-edition.html
Some of the ideas can be altered to use treats instead of toy mice. I might try that first before I buy something. I can’t even tell you how many toys I’ve been excited to give him that he’s ignored completely. As motivated by food as he is, I’ve learned that he’ll often do the exact opposite of what I expect (probably on purpose :p ).
Sweet Purrfections says
We basically stayed around the house and took it easy today.
Mark's Mews says
OBESE? I am starving! TBT has got me down from 11.5 pounds to 10 pounds over only 6 months. I feel like I am starving all the time. And he says that is GOOD fer me. ACK! ~ IZA
Kitties Blue says
Both of these sound like a lot of fun and a good way to cut down on treats given. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo