Cats are sensory hunters whose physical and mental wellbeing depends on regular stimulation across multiple modalities — smell, sound, sight, and touch — not just physical play.
Indoor cats face a particular welfare challenge: a rich sensory inheritance deployed in an environment of sensory monotony. Without stimulation across smell, sound, sight, and touch, cats frequently develop frustration-based behaviours including over-grooming, urine marking, aggression, and lethargy. Multi-sensory enrichment programmes address this comprehensively rather than relying solely on toy rotation. Importantly, enrichment must be matched to individual preferences — not every cat responds to catnip, and some cats are stressed rather than excited by certain audio stimuli. A good enrichment programme involves observation, rotation, and ongoing adjustment based on the individual cat's responses.