![]() NEWStat: What are some reasons cat owners don’t use food puzzles? it’s not quite the same as hunting a bird or a mouse! Finally, by definition, enrichment should promote natural, species-specific behaviors, as food puzzles can do, to an extent. MD: Food puzzles can slow down eating, meaning that more time in their daily budget is devoted to acquiring food instead of being bored, just sleeping, or getting themselves into trouble! For some cats, we think it stimulates problem solving, and since food is intrinsically motivating, the whole process of acquiring food through a puzzle will be rewarding. NEWStat: How do food puzzles provide enrichment for cats? Providing food puzzles is one potential way to give cats an outlet for that instinct. Cats are naturally hardwired to hunt, and this feature is likely something that has not changed much during domestication. Mikel Delgado: All animals have an instinct to search for food-that is one key to survival. NEWStat reached out to the new study’s lead author, Mikel Delgado, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher on cat behavior at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, to find out more. ![]() The results indicate that 30% of participants currently use a food puzzle, 18% had tried food puzzles but stopped using them, and 52% had never used a food puzzle. They came up with an online survey designed to assess how cat owners feed their cats and their attitudes regarding food puzzles. Given all the benefits of using puzzle feeders, what’s really puzzling is why more cat owners don’t use them.Ī new study by the same UC Davis research team aimed to answer that question. They also had fewer behavioral problems such as aggression and overgrooming. That study showed that cats who use food puzzles tend to be more physically fit and happier than cats who use a regular food bowl. Any object that holds food and requires a cat to figure out how to access it can be a puzzle feeder.Ī 2016 study by researchers at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), showed that puzzle feeders can enrich the lives of domestic cats by bringing out their natural foraging behavior. A puzzle feeder is essentially a food-dispensing toy. Maybe you should make them work a little harder for their supper. They’re perfectly capable of foraging for food on their own, but there they are at feeding time, tails twitching like clockwork, waiting impatiently for you to open the can.
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