Indoor cats need active enrichment to maintain psychological health. Understanding feline natural behaviors guides effective enrichment strategies that improve welfare.
Indoor life protects cats from many serious dangers but creates welfare challenges through restriction of natural behavioral expression. Hunting, climbing, scratching, scent marking, and territory patrolling are fundamental feline behaviors whose frustration causes chronic stress in impoverished environments. Cats in under-enriched indoor environments often develop obesity from inactivity, behavioral problems from boredom, and stress-related diseases including feline idiopathic cystitis. Properly enriched indoor environments meet behavioral needs while maintaining the safety advantages of indoor living, demonstrating that welfare and longevity need not be in conflict.