Periods of hunger and feeding stress? Not a chance. What sounds like paradise is not necessarily ideal. And not really species-appropriate either. Apart from the fact that our pets regularly lack a real sense of achievement, the pleasure of eating is also quickly over: they usually suck up the food from the bowl like little vacuum cleaners. Snack toys help to make feeding more exciting.
Snack toys to buy
You can find lots of food toys for cats in the shops: Intelligence toys, snack balls, fumble boards, treat towers, rustling mats with holes, combining tubes, holes, seesaws, tiers and much more from which the cats have to "fumble" dry food. As is so often the case, our velvet paws have their preferences here too. While one cat is intensively occupied with the fumble tower, the other prefers to work her way through a course of labyrinths and tubes or enthusiastically chases her food ball across the apartment. Conclusion: A ready-made snack toy is easy to buy, but if your cat doesn't jump at it, it's money wasted.
Make your own snack toy
An inexpensive alternative is to make your own snack toys. You can find what you need in every household. A quick and easy solution is an empty kitchen or toilet roll. Simply place the treats inside and stuff the ends with paper. How long does it take your cat to get to the food? Toilet paper rolls can also be stacked vertically in a small box. Your cat can then fish the treats out of the rolls. An empty cardboard box also offers many possibilities. Simply fill it up with crumpled paper and hide the treats in between.
Training and search games with wet food
The toys mentioned above are often intended for dry food or treats. If you want to work with wet food, then other games are more suitable. Pieces of food can be attached to a lure stick. Possibly also in a small bag with a string attached. This construction is a great way to train your cats on courses. You can use the stick to show your cat the way and, for example, send them through tunnels, make them jump back and forth on platforms or encourage them to jump up. Or distribute the wet food ration into small bowls that you can hide around the house. This way, your cat will have to sniff out its meal bit by bit. If you have two or more cats, you should divide the foraging between different rooms. This will ensure that each cat gets its own portion. You can find the right wet food here.
Food games for Christmas
Christmas paper or gift boxes are great for hiding food in. For example, take a slightly opened tin of wet food and hide it in a small box wrapped in wrapping paper. The cat will already smell the "roast" and start unwrapping it. This way, your cat can take part in the gift-giving. Or you can make a kind of advent calendar with treats or small portions of wet food. Now the cat has to playfully tap on the right number and the little door or bag will open.