Indoor cats require deliberate environmental enrichment to meet their hunting, climbing, and social needs, with evidence-based strategies that significantly improve welfare without outdoor access risks.
Indoor cat enrichment is not a luxury — it is a welfare necessity for animals kept in an environment radically different from the one their behavior evolved for. A cat that sleeps all day and shows no interest in play is not contentedly lazy; it is demonstrating depression from environmental insufficiency. The predatory sequence is intrinsically motivating for cats regardless of hunger — denying it creates frustration. Puzzle feeders convert every meal into a foraging opportunity, occupying behavioral time budgets in a way that static bowls cannot. Vertical space converts a 50 square metre flat into a multi-level territory that feels substantially larger. These interventions are low-cost, high-impact welfare improvements.