Has your cat grown bored of its puzzle feeder because it finds it too easy? Read on for details on how you can make their ‘hunting’ harder.
We gave you tips on how to make a puzzle feeder (which you can find here) and now we are offering tips on how to make the puzzle feeder harder for the cat that has mastered it!
Tip 1. Instead of placing the puzzle feeder in the same location every day, hide it in new places to get your cat really seeking out its food.
Tip 2. If your cat eats wet and dry food, try putting the opposite food in the feeder. For example, if you usually fill the puzzle feeder with dry food, try wet food instead. Wet food will not dispense well from puzzle feeding balls but does works well in egg boxes, cardboard tubes and activity board feeders like the one in the picture. It can even be washed in the dishwasher (insert photo of Cat Activity Fun Board by Trixie)
Tip 3. Many puzzle feeders that are balls have the ability to change the size and number of holes that the food falls out of when rolled. It may be time to increase the difficulty setting by making the holes smaller or having less of them open (insert photo of Slim Cat ball)
Tip 4. Time to change the puzzle feeder to encourage new behaviours. If your cat has become a maestro at scooping biscuits out of a cardboard tube, then perhaps it is time to encourage your cat to roll a ball or lick wet food out of an ice cube tray. Think about different puzzle feeders for different behaviours your cat can use to gain food.
Tip 5. Make a puzzle feeder within a puzzle feeder. Can you place your puzzle feeder inside a paper bag with a few pieces of kibble in the bag and the rest in the puzzle feeder? Now your cat has two activities to work its way through to gain all its food.
For lots more ideas on how to make puzzle feeders of all different difficulty levels, visit foodpuzzlesforcats.com
