Whether you just got your first cat or have years of experience looking after your feline friend, every cat guardian sometimes wonders how to make a cat happy. And even if your cat looks pretty content, there are always small things you can improve to make their life even better. Keep reading to discover our ten ideas for improving your cat’s well-being and making them happier.
Feed High-Quality Food
Feeding high-quality food to your cat is crucial. Cats are obligate carnivores. This means they require meat in their diet and cannot obtain certain nutrients from other food sources (e.g., plants or milk). This is a key consideration when choosing food for your cat. Failing to do so could inadvertently put them at risk of nutrient deficits, indigestion, and poor health and well-being.
When looking for cat food, always choose high-quality wet food. Generally, you should look for maximum meat content and minimum non-meat additives. Your best options are wet canned food, frozen meat meals, BARF prepared under the guidance of veterinary nutritionists, and occasional whole prayer.
Always check the ingredients list and choose brands that provide detailed information on the percentage of specific types of meat used in the food content. Reputable brands tend to provide such detailed ingredient info because they can boast about using high-quality, and sometimes even human-grade, meat. They rarely use vague phrases such as “fish and fish by-products.”
Invest in a Proper Litter Box
Cats are territorial animals, and leaving their scent behind is extremely important for them. Whether you like it or not, this applies also to peeing and pooping. For that reason, they must have a proper toileting space.
First, you should invest in a decent toilet box of appropriate size. It should be big enough for your cat to get in and move around comfortably. Many commercially available boxes are simply too small. This might make them a more acceptable option for our liking, but not optimal for cats’ use. For the same reason, open litter boxes are far better than closed ones.
Once you have the correct litter box for your cats, you also need litter. Different types are available on the market, and as long as you avoid scented ones, any type should be good. However, you need to remember that cats are individualists, and sometimes, they might have strong preferences for one type over the others (e.g., some cats prefer fine and sand-like litter over bigger pellets). For this reason, finding suitable litter can sometimes take a little time.
Provide Environmental Enrichment
Cats evolved as intelligent, agile, and perceptive animals. To ensure our indoor cats are happy, we need to provide them with plenty of environmental enrichment to allow them to exercise their natural behaviours. Otherwise, they can quickly become bored, apathetic, and stressed.
Food puzzles and sniffing mats are some of the greatest options to give your cat something to do while you are not home or busy. They stimulate your cat’s motor skills, sense of smell and intelligence while keeping boredom at bay. With a wide range of commercially available toys and almost limitless DIY possibilities, you can easily find options appropriate for your cat’s skills with the right difficulty and complexity level. And even if you have no toys at all, you can still get creative and entertain your kitty without any actual toys, so no more excuses for not enriching your cat’s life!
It’s also a good idea to give your cat controlled access to the outside world, such as a window perch for bird-watching or a securely enclosed patio. If your cat enjoys exploring, you might consider taking them on an outdoor adventure. Our guide on taking your cat to the park provides helpful tips to ensure this experience is both enjoyable and safe.
Remember About Vet Checks
Cats are expert at hiding their pain and discomfort. For their wild counterparts, showing signs of illness and injuries was dangerous, as vulnerability could easily attract larger predators. Unfortunately, indoor cats still follow the same behavioural pattern. For this reason, it is crucially important that we stay watchful and check on our cats’ health.
Firstly, we need to pay special attention to even small changes in our cat’s behaviour. Any sudden change in their appetite, toileting habits, or activity level might indicate underlying health issues and require vet attention. The same goes for any significant changes in their behaviour and attitude towards us and other animals. If a cat starts acting weird, especially when displaying aggression or, on the opposite, withdrawing and hiding, this needs to be investigated.
Unfortunately, no matter how observant we stay, some things can go unnoticed. For that reason, you must never skip your cat’s regular vet checks. In younger cats, these should be done at least once a year, becoming more frequent as your cat enters their senior years. During those visits, discuss all your concerns and inform your vet about even the smallest changes to your cat’s behaviour and routine.
Lastly, insist on doing regular preventive screenings for your cat. Not everything can be spotted during physical examination. I have noticed that some vets are weirdly reluctant to proceed with even simple and non-invasive tests, such as taking blood or urine samples. Personally, it took me about a year and three different vets until someone took seriously my complaints that Oscar did pee a lot. After I eventually managed to get him adequately tested, it was found that he had an early stage of kidney disease. Pushing for preventive care allows you to catch things like this early when the condition can still be managed. It’s not worth waiting until it’s too late!
Catify Your Flat
Cats need spaces to exercise and display their natural behaviours, such as scratching, hiding, and climbing. Keep those in mind when designing spaces inside your flat. Remember to provide your cats with some comfy places to nap and plenty of hiding spots. Make sure you have at least one decent scratching post. Remember that these need to be sturdy and high enough for your cat to be able to stretch out fully on them. Lastly, ensure your cat has some high-up spaces where they can chill.
While this might sound like a lot, remember that if you play smart, you can adapt and utilise many of the places and equipment you already have in your house. This way, you can catify your flat even with a small budget and limited space. For example, move your furniture around so your cat can jump between them and access the tops of high wardrobes or shelves. If you place some blankets over there, they will also gain some peaceful and hidden napping spots over there. Sometimes, simple and instant changes are the best!
If you’re looking for more catification ideas, be sure to check out our blog post on creating a cat-friendly home. It contains plenty of clever and actionable tips for making your space perfect for your feline friend.
Let Your Cat Act Like a Predator
Cats are skilled hunters, and their wild-living counterparts prey several times a day. All cats are wired to follow a so-called hunting cycle (catch, play, kill, eat, sleep). While we provide our indoor cats with food, it’s still essential they follow their natural instincts and reenact the process of hunting and killing.
There are a number of ways in which your cat can exercise their hunting behaviour while staying indoors. Engage your cat in a vigorous play session using wands and teasers. Try to make it exciting for them by hiding the toys and letting your cats stalk their prey. After a successful hunt, remember to feed your cat or treat them with a small snack. This way, you let them know that the hunting was successful!
Alternatively, you can also use various small feeding toys. Your cat needs to locate them, and then, while “killing” the toy, it gets to some small treats hidden inside. Using such toys keeps your cat occupied while also fulfilling their hunting instincts. For more ideas, check our guide on stimulating your cat’s hunting instincts and this review of the best hunting toys for cats. And if your cat seems uninterested in playtime, discover effective strategies to troubleshoot and solve the issue with our comprehensive guide on encouraging your cat to play.
Spend Quality Time with Your Cat
Cats might be solitary hunters, but they still need interactions with their humans. Make sure you spend quality time with your cat every day. Play with your cat regularly using various toys. Make it a fun time for both of you. You can also try engaging your cat in multiple forms of training. It can be a clicker training session, leash walking, or car training. As long as you spend time with your cat using some form of positive reinforcement, you are doing good work here. And obviously, don’t forget about cuddling and treats!
Think about interactions between you and your cat as a way of building any other relationship. It takes time, commitment, and work to gain your cat’s trust and friendship. Positive engagement builds a flourishing relationship, making you and your cat happier and more fulfilled.
Make Interactions with You Predictable and Positive
As we already mentioned, you need to work on creating a positive relationship with your cat. Building trust and friendship takes consistent time and effort. Like with any relationship, though, it can sometimes be very easy to destroy it and accidentally lose your cat’s trust. For this reason, you should make sure your interactions with your cat are always positive and predictable.
One of the big mistakes some people make when interacting with their cats is using various forms of punishment. While such behaviour is rarely dictated by malicious intentions and often results from ignorance and lack of adequate knowledge about how cats learn, it can seriously endanger your relationship with your cat. If you ever use even “mild” forms of punishment, such as screaming or using a squirting bottle, you are only teaching your cat that you are scary and cannot be trusted. Instead of correcting unwanted behaviour, you make your cat more stressed and fearful, which in turn can lead to them displaying even more unwanted behaviours.
For that reason, it is crucial that you only ever use positive reinforcement and negative punishment, which means that you temporarily withdraw from your cat something pleasant whenever they display unwanted behaviour. Not only is such an approach more effective in teaching your cat what behaviours are acceptable, but it also does not strain your cat’s trust. If you are interested in the subject, I highly recommend reading Unlocking the Feline Mind: What Learning Really Is and How Cats Learn chapter in Decoding Your Cat!
Respect Your Cat’s Space
Cats are not aloof and can certainly form close bonds with their human guardians. However, many are not overly clingy (or at least not all the time) and generally like respecting their personal space. For that reason, it is good to form a habit of “asking your cat for consent” every time you want to approach them. When interacting with your kitty, be observant and watch their body language. If they are agitated, simply back off and give them some space.
Instead of being too pushy, let your cat initiate contact themselves. Sometimes, the best thing you can do to invite an interaction from your cat is to sit quietly while reading or scrolling social media and wait for them to come to you. Before approaching and petting a new cat, let them come to you and smell your hand first. When petting your cat, stick to its head and neck while watching their tail. If it starts waggling, your cat probably has had enough. Lastly, try to avoid carrying your cat around. Many cats dislike it, and in most circumstances, you can easily lure your cat in or out using treats instead.
Educate yourself
Cats are incredible and fascinating creatures, but they can be a bit enigmatic, too. If we lack knowledge and experience, we may perceive some of their behaviour as confusing and complicated to decode. At this stage, it is easy to end up with a conclusion that they are aloof, vengeful or mean. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about cats, and many of them are rooted in us being unable to decode some of our cats’ behaviours.
For that reason, it is very important you keep learning and educating yourself about cats. The more you know, the better you understand your cat’s needs and behaviours. Try to invest some time into educating yourself, especially if you only recently adopted your first cat. Read books, find some enjoyable YouTube channels, and check out blogs run by more experienced cat guardians. Lastly, consider investing in a consultation with a professional cat behaviourist. Do not wait until you have behavioural problems with your cat; schedule a meeting to discuss your current cat care routine and how to improve it. That is one of the best gifts you can give to your cat!