How does this transfer to our feline companions? A good starting point is to take stock of their specific food searching skills. Cats are good jumpers (for catching birds), good climbers (in trees, sometimes to the great displeasure of their owners), they are also very skillful with their paws and have well-developed senses for finding their prey. Of course, not all our pets have the same skills and strengths. As our pets age, they may suffer from osteoarthritis and find certain activities painful. Keeping in mind your pet’s limitations, you can tailor its food quests and give it stimulating tasks that are within its abilities. This will allow it to display a broader range of behaviours (in technical parlance, its ethogram).

There are various options to help your pet express itself. You can choose among a range of interactive food-dispensing tools and toys. You can choose among a range of interactive food-dispensing tools and toys. Some of these require your pet to work to get at the contents, some provide mental stimulation by forcing your pet to figure out how they work, and others simply require physical effort. Your Passionimo team can guide you towards the most suitable option for your dog.

You can also create your own activities and toys! Put her kibbles in a roll of toilet cardboard with the ends folded over and pierced in a few places. Your cat will need to use her sense of smell and paws to discover how to release the precious kibble from her meal. You can also plan a treasure hunt by spreading the serving throughout the house and then guide the animal during the quest to find each bite. You can also easily throw the kibbles to him one by one to stimulate his desire to hunt and chase something. To stimulate the use of his paws and his ability to use them meticulously, why not put his ration in a container with several small balls on top? He will have to maneuver to get all the delicious pieces out of there.

Another way of building on mealtimes is to use them as training sessions. You can do a small training session of 3 minutes morning and evening using your companion’s appetite, and thus his motivation towards his food, to teach him some useful behaviors and fun tips. Yes it is possible to train a cat, you can even train a fish! Use your child’s motivation to eat; using toy dispensers will surely help increase the value of your child’s kibble compared to serving it for free in a large bowl. In addition, training must be perceived as a game for the animal; a game where it wins kibbles! As in any good game, each session should finish on a high note. At the end of the session, why not distribute the rest of the ration in a toy dispenser or simply scatter it on the ground.

Here are some tips and hints to make your feeding sessions successful:

• In the morning, divide your pet’s daily serving into containers. This will ensure that you don’t overfeed and that the pet does not mistakenly get extra meals from other members of the household.
• The first time you give your pet the food-dispensing toy, you will need to supervise it to make sure it uses the toy appropriately.
• If possible, start by using the easiest setting on the toy. In the case of a dispenser ball, for example, make sure that the openings are at their largest setting and place the ball on top of a few pieces of kibbles. This will reward your pet the first time it uses the ball, since some kibbles will be “released”.
• Before each use, make sure that the dispenser device is undamaged. You don’t want your pet to injure itself on sharp edges.
• If you have several dogs, it is best to give each one its own dispenser and, if possible, to feed them in separate rooms to avoid resource guarding incidents.
• It isn’t enrichment if it isn’t challenging! Keep adjusting the difficulty of the settings and rotate among various toys and tools. If you keep using the same dispenser and training for the same behaviours, what started as a game will soon become boring…

Once your veterinary team has recommended a device and techniques that are tailored to your pet’s skills and needs, you will have all you need to meet its nutritional requirements and to provide it with physical and mental stimulation at mealtimes.

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