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Physical exercise isn’t the only form of stimulation cats need—mental stimulation is just as important for these smart animals. As such, many cat parents turn to interactive toys that require a little persistence and brainwork on your cat’s part to complete. Puzzle feeders for cats are among the most popular toys because they provide both physical exercise and mental enrichment at the same time.
In this guide, we’ll share all you need to know about puzzle feeders—how they work, types, benefits, and disadvantages. We’ll also explain how to introduce cat puzzle toys.
How Does It Work?
Puzzle feeders for cats come in various types, shapes, and sizes, but they’re all designed for one purpose—to get your cat to work on extracting the tasty treats you’ve hidden inside.
If the cat makes a right move, the treats are revealed or spill out onto the ground (depending on the type of puzzle feeder) for them to devour, and it can take quite a while for all the treats to come out, so these toys are ideal for keeping cats busy.
Many puzzle feeders come with a variety of difficulty settings so you can take things down a notch for slower cats or provide more of a challenge for especially determined cats. In addition, some designs are simpler than others, so it’s a good idea to start out with one of these if your cat is a complete beginner.
What Are the Different Types of Puzzle Feeders?
1. Puzzle Feeder Balls
These kinds of puzzle feeders are egg or ball-shaped devices (though we’ve also seen one shaped like a mouse) that you place treats inside. The treats are then dispensed from a hole as your cat pushes the toy around with their paws. The difficulty level can typically be increased or decreased by closing the hole to varying degrees. These are probably the simplest kinds of puzzle feeders, so are ideal for beginners.
2. Puzzle Feeder Games
These types of puzzle feeders look similar to board games. They require cats to strategize in order to find treats hidden inside different compartments. For example, the cat may need to move different kinds of objects around, open doors, or slide pieces to reveal the rewards. These kinds of feeders may be best for cats that like a challenge.
3. Slow Feeder Bowls & Mats
If you’ve got a greedy cat that wolfs everything in their food bowl down without coming up for air, you might want to try a slow feeder bowl or mat. Common types of slow feeder bowls are maze-like in structure with raised edges so your cat can’t gobble all the kibble up too quickly. You can also find special feeder mats which are designed to make cats eat wet food more slowly.
4. Homemade Puzzle Feeders
You can easily DIY your own puzzle feeder with whatever you’ve got at home, like toilet rolls, empty egg containers, cardboard boxes, and plastic containers. An example of a very simple DIY puzzle feeder is to cut some holes in an empty water bottle, but a quick Google search will give you plenty of other ideas.
How to Introduce a Puzzle Feeder
As we touched on earlier, it’s a good idea to start with a simple design first like the puzzle feeder egg/ball, ideally a clear one so your cat can see what’s inside.
To introduce the feeder, offer a few treats to your cat to generate interest, then put some treats or kibble inside the device in front of your cat and set the difficulty level to easy. Roll the feeder around a bit to show the cat how treats are dispensed. If the puzzle feeder is a board game type, show your cat how to open the compartments to find the treats.
Some cats get the idea quickly but if they don’t, a simple trick is to sprinkle some treats closely around the bottom of the egg/ball as this will make your cat nudge the device as they eat what’s around it. More treats will fall out, and your cat should start to catch on.
What Are the Pros of Puzzle Feeders
Not only are puzzle feeders fun and mentally stimulating for cats, but they may offer some health benefits, too. Puzzle feeders are great for getting your cat moving. In addition, puzzle feeders and other interactive toys may be beneficial to cats with separation anxiety since they give them something to focus on while you’re out of the house.
What Are the Cons of Puzzle Feeders
Puzzle feeders are not without their drawbacks. For one thing, if used too regularly, too many treats could lead to weight gain, but as long as you monitor how many your cat gets, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Another problem is that some cats may figure things out too quickly and get bored, so you may need a few kinds of puzzle feeders to change things up for especially wily cats.
Furthermore, these puzzle feeders are often only compatible with dry food (kibble), which might not be something all cats or their owners agree to. Cats used to fresh, canned, or semi-moist food might not accept kibble. Likewise, some owners are not comfortable offering their cats kibble, as many kibble formulations incorporate ingredients that they might not be comfortable offering to their pets.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do Food Puzzles Help Cats Lose Weight?
If it gets your cat moving around, then yes, a food puzzle could hypothetically help a cat lose weight. For this purpose, a puzzle feeder that requires them to move around a lot—like a rolling feeder—is the best choice. Board game-style puzzles are great for mental stimulation, but your cat tends to stay in one place, so they may not offer as much of a workout.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that the reward for solving puzzles is a treat, which essentially translates to calories. Therefore, though hypothetical exercise can help a cat lose weight, they’d only really lose weight if their total calorie influx (including that from the puzzle feeder) is lower than the number of calories they burn throughout the day.
Finally, the food placed inside a puzzle feeder can sometimes invite unwanted guests into your house, such as ants or other creepy crawlers intrigued by the smell of the treat inside your cat’s feeder.
If you’re concerned about your cat’s weight, we recommend you speak to your vet to work out a nutritional plan that helps get them back to a healthy weight.
If you need to speak with a vet but can’t get to one, head over to PangoVet. It’s an online service where you can talk to a vet online and get the personalized advice you need for your pet — all at an affordable price!
Do Food Puzzles Work with Wet Food?
It depends on the kind of puzzle feeder you get. A ball-type feeder, for example, wouldn’t be suitable for wet food, but there are some feeding mats and puzzle-type feeders on the market that can be used with wet food. Wet food puzzles are generally not as popular because wet food spoils much faster than kibble or dry food once placed in a feeder. It can also be more difficult to thoroughly clean a puzzle once wet food is used in it.
Conclusion
Whether your cat needs an interactive toy or you simply want to give them something fun to do, puzzle feeders are a good option worth considering. You don’t even have to head out and buy a puzzle feeder, either—you can craft one out of simple items you have at home in as little as a few seconds.
Featured Image Credit: Veera, Shutterstock
