How scent-based enrichment engages cats' extraordinary olfactory capabilities and improves indoor welfare.
Olfactory enrichment for cats is one of the most underutilised welfare tools available to cat owners, despite the extraordinary importance of smell in feline sensory experience. Cats explore their world primarily through scent — they mark territory, identify individuals, assess prey, and navigate social relationships through olfactory information. Providing novel, interesting scents engages this primary sensory system in ways that visual enrichment cannot. Valerian spray on a toy produces minutes of engaged sniffing, rolling, and rubbing behaviour; a small amount of natural feather triggers hunting investigation; a cardboard box from a different environment provides hours of olfactory exploration. These are simple, low-cost welfare interventions that exploit cats' most powerful sense.