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Beth Stultz-Hairston | December 7, 2018       

Merriam-Webster defines “enrich” as “to make rich or richer especially by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient.” Whether you are a cat sitter or cat parent, don’t you want to make the lives of the cats in your care richer? Of course you do!

So, what’s the “missing ingredient” from your cat-care routine that could help make the cats you care for happier and healthier? Feline enrichment. 

If you are a professional pet sitter, the interaction and activity you provide by visiting your feline clients certainly improves their quality of life, but is there more you can do to add enrichment during the 30-45 minutes you spend with a cat on each visit?

The Fear Free Happy Homes course “Activities and Enrichment 101” explains that physical, exploratory and social activities are all needed for enrichment—and without these forms of enrichment cats may become “apathetic and unhappy.”

So, let’s look at how you can incorporate these three elements into your cat-care routine.

1. Physical. Feeding, watering and providing litter box maintenance may be the primary items on your cat-care to-do list, but don’t forget that cats need exercise as well. In Cat Wisdom 101’s Vet 101 article on cats and exercise, award-winning feline-only practitioner Dr. Letrisa Miller recommends 30 minutes of moderate activity per day for most cats. 

Remember, as “Activities and Enrichment 101” explains, “enrichment is play.” And play can provide much needed exercise. Ensure cats have various toys to encourage play (and physical activity) and rotate toys frequently. Need some cat toy ideas? This post from World’s Best Cat Litter™ shares 10 easy DIY cat toys you can make with items around your house.

Certified Professional Pet Sitter® Beth Hobbs, owner of Stay and Play at Home in Bristol, Va., recommends brown paper bags and empty boxes as excellent—and inexpensive—exercise tools. She says that for cats that love catnip, she also sprinkles a little in the bag or box. Hobbs advises putting the items away when cats are unsupervised. 

Cat wands and laser toys can also be a fun way to encourage your cat to exercise. If you use a laser toy, be careful to not shine the light in the cat’s eyes and always give them some type of toy they can “catch” at the end to avoid frustration over not being able to catch the light beam.

2. Exploratory. Activities and games that allow cats to explore and also utilize their problem-solving abilities are also necessary for enrichment.  As Katenna Jones, ScM, ACAAB, CCBC, CDBC, CPDT-KA, advised in her article “Enrichment for Pet Sitters” in the March/April 2018 issue of Pet Sitter’s World magazine, pets need opportunities to interact with their environments and “stimulation of all senses, including taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight.”

Keep in mind that cats are hunters by nature, and they need opportunities to stalk, chase and pounce. Food-dispensing toys are one way to allow cats to explore and “hunt” for their snacks. Before purchasing a food-dispensing toy for your cat (or recommending one to your pet-sitting clients), do your research. PetMD.com advises that food-dispensing cat toys should be durable and easy to clean—and recommends that they only be filled with healthy treats and used for snacks, not regular feedings.

Even without a food-dispensing toy, it’s easy to encourage cats to “hunt” for their snacks. Certified Professional Pet Sitter® Nancy McGill, owner of Sit! Stay. Relax…, LLC Pet Concierge Services in Seekonk, Mass., says she likes to set up a treat “scavenger hunt” before she leaves her cat-sitting visits. She says this allows the cats to hunt and forage even after her visit is over—and keeps them busy for a while!

It’s also important to allow cats to explore by having safe climbing opportunities. Cat-behavior expert Pam Johnson-Bennett explains that because climbing is a normal behavior for a cat, you have to provide more acceptable options “if you don’t want her climbing the drapes.” In her article Why Your Cat Needs to Climb, Johnson-Bennett recommends providing cats with a “sturdy, tall, multi-perched cat tree” or, if vacant wall space is available, installing a few cat shelves.

3. Social. While cats are often thought to be more solitary than dogs, socialization with their humans is important for their overall enrichment—but don’t force a cat to snuggle with you. In 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your Cat, Mikkel Becker shares the story of “Scratch” who was sometimes a willing lap cat, but would use his claws as weapons to escape from his humans at other times. Becker explains that felines may experience stress when “people force them to interact in a way that feels good to the human but not the cat.” It’s important to know your cat—or a cat in your care—and realize that what’s a positive source of enrichment for one may not be enjoyed by another.

Teaching your cat—or a client’s cat— tricks is another way to provide meaningful engagement. As Best Friends Animal Sanctuary explains, “cats can be taught to respond to any number of cues, from ‘sit’ to ‘down’ to ‘wave.’” They also advise that using positive reinforcement, such as clicker training, will make the training more effective and efficient—and more fun for you and the cat.

Sharon Melnyk, owner of Cat Care Service in Berkeley, Calif., also recommends hand feeding to promote bonding. She explains that during cat-sitting visits she “hand feeds allowable treats one at a time.” Melnyk says she always gets permission from her clients first and asks about which treats are allowed.

A win-win for cats and your business

As a professional pet sitter, you already enhance the lives of your clients’ pets in so many ways—but incorporating new feline-enrichment activities into your visits can take your services to the next level.

Adding physical, exploratory and social activities that are catered to a cat’s physical abilities and disposition will make it a more enjoyable pet-sitting visit for both you and the cat. Remember, you should incorporate any new activities slowly (and only with the owner’s permission)—and be sure your pet-sitting notes describe the activities you’ve offered and the cat’s response. Clients will appreciate the individual attention you are providing and may even pick up some new ideas to try with their cats as well.

Making a cat happy is the easiest way to make a client happy, and a happy client is the best advertisement your business can have! By focusing on incorporating enrichment into your cat-care routine, you’ll soon find that you are enriching your pet business as well.