Top Enrichment Ideas for Your Dog and Cat

Our Pet Sitters Share Ideas for Pet Enrichment 

As a pet parent, you strive to give your pet the best life possible. You’re responsible for making sure they get proper nutrition and exercise daily, and when needed, call on our team of professional pet sitters to step in. However, pet care goes beyond feeding, grooming, exercising, and going for medical checkups. At Texas Ruff House, our pet sitters and dog walkers like to go the extra mile and make sure that your pet also gets enrichment during our visit!

 

What is enrichment?

Enrichment helps satisfy both the physical and psychological needs of animals by allowing them to engage in natural behaviors, like sniffing, foraging, playing, shredding, licking, chasing, and chewing. Providing your pet with a positive outlet for these behaviors alleviates boredom, promotes calmness, and provides mental stimulation. This is especially critical for pets that are left home alone that may otherwise engage in undesirable behaviors linked to boredom and frustration. It is also extremely helpful when your pet is on veterinarian-mandated rest or limited activity due to illness or injury and temporarily cannot do their routine exercise.

 

How do you provide enrichment?

The market is full of endless toys and games for pet enrichment! Our pet sitters and dog walkers at Texas Ruff House like to use a maze ball, snuffle mat, or treat ball during our visits to turn an everyday ritual like feeding into mentally stimulating enrichment. Interactive food toys, also known as work-to-eat toys, enrich pet’s lives and make mealtime extra fun and educational, as they must use their brains to get the food. Other great methods for enrichment feeding are stuffing Kong or Toppl toys with food and/or treats, and if you really want to make the meal last, you can add some liquid like broth or water and pop the food-stuffed toy into the freezer in advance. Another popular feeding toy is the LickiMat, onto which you can spread some peanut butter, pumpkin puree, wet dog food, mashed banana… the options are unlimited!

 

Many enrichment activities can be done using items found around the house. Our Texas Ruff House pet sitters can work with what’s available in your home, like a blanket or towel and use it to hide kibble or treats by rolling it up and letting your pet go for it. We’ll even put food under cups or in between couch cushions and let your pet figure out how to get to them. You can also stuff a few treats inside an empty paper towel roll and bend the edges to “seal” it up – just supervise your pet to make sure that they don’t eat the roll instead of the treats! Another fun idea is to take an empty muffin tin, throw around some kibble, cover the spaces with your pet’s toys, and let your pet discover the food underneath. Or take an egg carton, throw the treats in, and close it up so your pet must figure out how to open it.

 

Not all enrichment has to be food-related.  

Our pet sitters and dog walkers at Texas Ruff House will do basic training with your dog like sit and wait. We also practice your dog’s leash manners during our walks while working within their threshold. Just doing a sniff walk and letting your dog decompress by taking the time to sniff along the way is very beneficial. At home, you can have a lot of fun with a good, old cardboard box. Grab an appropriately sized box for your dog, place it on the floor with the bottom up, and ask them to put their front paws on top – then ask for back paws when they become pros at it. You can turn it into a sensory box by throwing in some empty toilet paper rolls, scrunched up newspaper or packing paper, pieces of fabric, and their favorite toys and let your dog go digging in the box.

 

Enrichment is not just for dogs! 

Cats also crave and require interaction and mental and physical stimulation, and a lot of these ideas can be applied to cats as well. There is a good variety of enrichment toys on the market for cats, like flirt poles, activity centers, catnip stuffed toys, and interactive puzzle feeders. There are also lots of items around the house that cats find entertaining, like ice cubes, boxes, and paper bags. Environmental enrichment, like putting a cat tree, cat bed, or drinking fountain in your home is beneficial to your cat. And activities like brushing, food puzzles, brain games, and training sessions are great ways to strengthen you and your cat’s bond.

 

No matter what tools and games you choose to provide your pet with enrichment, they will sure be grateful for it! Our pet sitters and dog walkers at Texas Ruff House in Pflugerville, TX love interacting with your pet and enriching their routine. Let us know if you try out any of these ideas or have your own you’d like to share!