Indoor cats live significantly longer but face welfare challenges from confinement and boredom. Providing appropriate enrichment is essential for meeting the behavioral needs of indoor cats.
Indoor confinement dramatically extends cat lifespan while creating welfare challenges that require active management by owners. Cats are obligate hunters whose behavioral repertoire includes stalking, chasing, pouncing, and manipulating prey. Without outlets for these behaviors, indoor cats develop stress-related conditions, obesity from inactivity, and behavioral problems including aggression and inappropriate elimination. Environmental enrichment that engages hunting cognition, provides vertical territory, enables natural scratching behavior, and offers choice of resting locations addresses the behavioral gaps of indoor life. The commitment to providing adequate enrichment is inseparable from the decision to keep cats indoors for their welfare benefit and the protection of wildlife.