The welfare importance of appropriate play for cats and how to support healthy play behavior.
Play behavior welfare in cats is frequently underappreciated as cats are often seen as more self-sufficient than dogs and requiring less active engagement. However, play serves critical welfare functions including predatory drive expression, environmental enrichment, social bonding, and physical exercise that indoor environments fail to provide without owner facilitation. The consequences of play deprivation are behavioral - aggression, anxiety, and nocturnal hyperactivity - and physical - obesity and associated health problems. The investment of two brief daily play sessions with appropriate toys represents one of the most welfare-positive routine activities available to cat owners.