HOW TO ENTERTAIN YOUR CAT WHILE WORKING FROM HOME

These days, a lot of people are working from home. While some independent cats will be unfazed, others will be thrilled to spend full days with their favourite humans. We know you’d love to pet your cat all day long, but you need to concentrate on your work. So we’ve come up with a few tips to help you work and prevent your furball from yowling at the office door while you’re on a conference call!

DISTRACT THEM WITH FOOD

A clever idea is to stop giving your cat their meal in a bowl while you’re having lunch and dinner. Instead, feed them during your working hours to keep them busy while you work. Put their daily portion of dry food in an interactive feeder or toy so they can graze whenever they like throughout the day. Did you know that you should always feed your cat with an interactive feeder or toy? It lets them express their normal hunting behaviours on an appropriate object, instead of going after your toes!

Here are some examples of commercial interactive feeders you can buy, and some you can make using items in your home:

• Kong Wobbler®
• Pipolino®
• Kibble tube
• A muffin pan with treats in it: You can put playing cards over the top for an extra challenge. Your cat will have to move the cards to get at the food.
• An egg carton: Put some dry food in each compartment, close the carton, and offer it to your cat.
• A ball with a hole filled with kibble. The hole must be big enough for kibble to pass through.

GIVE YOUR CAT THINGS TO DO

You can easily make some great toys that your cat will love playing with on their own! Even if your cat already has a lot of toys, they tend to lose interest in them after a while. So you might as well use what you have lying around the home to make new toys!

• An empty toilet paper roll can become your kitty’s new favourite toy
• Transform a lonely sock into an attractive new toy by putting some catnip in it

To keep your cat interested in their toys during lockdown, rotate them every few days. That way they have a new toy to play with every day and you can store the others and bring them out again later. The novelty will keep your cat interested—it’s like magic!

Cats love scratching posts, whether they have claws or not. Scratching is a normal behaviour and it’s something all cats do.

If you don’t have a scratching post, now’s a good time to get one. It’s easy enough to make one—click here to find out how.

ADAPT YOUR WORKSPACE

Does your cat like to walk across your keyboard while you’re trying to type? Try to redirect their attention to a hanging toy nearby, like to this one. You can hang it on the wall near you or off the side of your desk. You can easily make a hanging toy using things you have around the house. All you need is some string, tape, and a ball of tinfoil. Your homemade toy may not have as much bounce as the Cat Dancer®, but it’ll do in a pinch.

Install a shelf at the same height as the window in your office or put a piece of furniture just below it. Make it an inviting spot by putting a blanket your kitty loves on top of it. That way, your cat can be close to you, but their attention will be focused on what’s going on outside. All the birds twittering outside your window in the spring should keep your kitty distracted for quite a while!

TAKING BREAKS IS IMPORTANT—FOR YOU AND YOUR CAT

Take little breaks during the day to play with your cat—it will do you a world of good as well! Roll a ball for them to chase, swish a feather toy near them, or get them to follow a laser pointer towards a surprise treat!

If you don’t have any of those things, you can make a ball out of paper or tinfoil, use a flashlight instead of a laser pointer, or tie some fabric to the end of a piece of string, a hairband, an old towel, or whatever else you can find around. It doesn’t take a lot to amuse your kitty, just a bit of imagination!

Take a few breaks to cuddle with your cat, it’s good for morale!