How cognitive enrichment activities stimulate indoor cat minds, reduce boredom and contribute to positive welfare states.
Cognitive enrichment for cats addresses the welfare gap between what indoor cats are neurologically equipped to do and what their environment typically provides. A cat's brain is adapted for territory assessment, predator-prey dynamics, problem-solving and social navigation - cognitive processes that have no meaningful outlet in a typical indoor apartment. Cognitive enrichment that provides genuine challenges - puzzle feeders that require multiple steps, clicker training that builds novel behaviours, novel objects that require investigation and assessment - engages these cognitive systems in ways that contribute to positive welfare states and reduce the boredom-related problems that manifest in stress behaviours.