Environmental enrichment for indoor cats prevents boredom-related welfare problems and maintains physical and cognitive health throughout their lives.
Indoor cat enrichment welfare requires understanding that confinement to a house, while extending life expectancy, creates behavioral and psychological welfare challenges that enrichment must address. Indoor cats that lack adequate stimulation develop obesity from inactivity, stress-related illnesses including cystitis, and behavioral problems including overgrooming. The welfare solution is environmental design that creates opportunities for the natural behavioral repertoire - hunting, climbing, exploring, and resting in elevated positions - within the indoor context. The investment in enrichment infrastructure (cat trees, puzzle feeders, window perches) yields welfare returns across the cat's entire indoor life.