🐾 Bored Pets = Mischief! 🐶😺
Why Enrichment Matters - and How to Keep Your Furry Friends Happy When You’re Busy
Whether you're popping out for a few hours or working full-time, leaving your pet home alone can be a worry. Are they bored? Anxious? Plotting to dismantle the sofa? Good news: a bit of daily enrichment can help your dog or cat feel calm, content, and entertained while you're away.
What Is Pet Enrichment?
Enrichment is just a fancy word for keeping your pet’s brain busy. It mimics the challenges and stimulation they’d naturally find in the wild - like sniffing, climbing, hunting, chewing, or problem-solving. And just like us, pets who are mentally stimulated are often happier, healthier, and less likely to cause chaos when bored.
🐾 Ideas for Dogs & Cats When You’re Out
Here are some easy, pet-approved ways to keep things interesting while you’re not at home:
🦴 For Dogs
1. Puzzle Feeders & Treat Toys
Fill a Kong, LickiMat, or slow feeder with part of their daily food or a treat, like pet safe peanut butter. This gives them something fun (and tasty) to focus on.
2. Frozen Treats
Try freezing dog-safe ingredients like banana, plain yoghurt, or wet food into ice cube trays. Perfect for warm days or long work shifts.
3. Sniffing Games
Scatter kibble in a snuffle mat or hide it around the house for a “nose work” challenge. Dogs LOVE to sniff—it’s calming and rewarding.
4. Background Noise
Soft music or even a dog-friendly TV channel can help ease separation anxiety and mask outside sounds.
🐱 For Cats
1. Window Views & Perches
Cats love watching the world go by. Set up a comfy perch near a window—they’ll happily spend hours bird-watching.
2. DIY Puzzle Feeders
Use a muffin tray, egg carton, or paper towel roll to create a fun food puzzle. Hide dry kibble or treats to encourage natural hunting behaviour.
3. Interactive Toys
Motion-activated toys or battery-powered wobblers can spring into life while you’re away. Or when you are home, why not try a laser pointer, they always get a good reaction! Rotate toys to keep them feeling new.
4. Hidey Holes & Vertical Space
Cats feel safest with choice. Offer boxes, tunnels, cat trees, or wall-mounted shelves to explore and nap in.
5. Scent Enrichment
Try cat-safe herbs like valerian or silvervine and of course you can never go wring with some cat nip! You and also rotate blankets or toys with different scents to keep things fresh.
🐱 For Both Cats and Dogs 🐶
Toy Rotation
Keep a few toys out and store the rest. Rotate weekly so there’s always something “fresh” to discover.
DIY Fun
Don’t underestimate a good cardboard box! For cats, it’s a throne. For dogs, it can become a shredding or sniffing challenge with some hidden treats inside.
Leave Your Scent
Pop an old T-shirt or blanket that smells like you in their bed -- it’s comforting, especially for pets who struggle with separation.
A little creativity goes a long way in keeping your pets happy while you’re out. Whether it's a frozen Kong, a puzzle feeder, a sunlit perch, or a box to hide in - enrichment isn’t about perfection, it’s about fun.
Visit us in-store in Clarkston, Shawlands, or Milngavie, or browse right here on our website for more ideas, toys, and treats to keep tails wagging and whiskers twitching.
