Feeding Puzzles for Dogs and Cats Help Boost Nutrition and Enrichment

Over the past few years, the indoor environment that we offer our pets has garnered increasing attention. While our current preventive health initiatives have greatly reduced the number of pets that die from preventable problems, we have not addressed our pets’ mental health to the same degree.

Battling Boredom

While we routinely leave our residences for work and socialization, we confine our pets (for their own safety) to our homes, often strictly to the indoor environment. This substantially limits the variety of stimuli, both mental and physical, available to them. When dogs and cats are confined indoors without adequate mental stimulation, trouble can ensue. Ensuring that they have housemates and toys can help, but many animals do not engage in play when humans are not around to share in it. Pets may express boredom in the form of aggression to housemates and owners, destruction of furniture and other household items, and anxiety-related issues.¹

A study done by Beth Strickler, DVM, DACVB, looked at owner engagement and 6 specific behavioral issues in cats.² Strickler was able to demonstrate that the more involved owners were in engaging their cats daily, the fewer behavior-related issues they reported. Owner engagement primarily consisted of playing with the cats. Owners who played with their cat for 5 minutes each day reported fewer behavior problems than those who did not. The two most frequently reported behavior problems were aggression directed at the owners (36%) and periuria (24%).²

Even if owners are lucky enough for their pets to choose a nondestructive activity to relieve boredom, trouble can still ensue. For example, boredom-related eating can result in obesity, especially when combined with decreased activity levels. All animals evolved to acquire their food through activity, whether hunting, scavenging, or grazing. Wild canids, such as wolves, foxes, and coyotes, can spend up to 60% of their day searching for food.^3,4 No animal evolved to acquire its food from walking up to a full bowl! We’ve all seen our pets and patients engage in hunting behavior, from a dog chasing a ball to a cat stalking a toy mouse. These activities provide exercise, mental stimulation and, if engaged in as part of playing with a person, social interaction.¹ What benefit does a bowl of food provide? Easy calories.

Why Use Feeding Puzzles?

Feeding puzzles offer a way for owners to provide enrichment for their pets, encourage mental stimulation, and decrease overeating. Feeding puzzles can also make eating an interactive activity rather than just a source of nutrition.⁵

A feeding puzzle can be any toy or object that can contain food and requires the pet to work to find a way to get to that food.³ A wide variety of commercial feeding puzzles from companies such as Kong, Premier, and Nina Ottosson is available at pet stores and online, ranging from relatively simple toys that scatter food as they are “hunted” to complex, expensive models that require problem solving (FIGURE 1). It is also fairly easy to make many of these toys at home, keeping both owner and pet engaged. BOX 1 provides a list of links to instructions for do-it-yourself feeding puzzles.

FIGURE 1. A variety of dog feeding puzzles used for an active dog. Image courtesy of Judy Conley, LVT

Feeding puzzles work well with the way cats prefer to eat, in multiple small meals daily. Even when a cat eats dry food from a bowl, it usually only takes a couple of kibbles at a time. This feeding pattern is ideal for a puzzle, which then makes the cat work for its food! For dogs, using a puzzle can slow down mealtime and provide mental stimulation. Who doesn’t like to solve a puzzle and get a reward at the end?

Getting Started

So you’ve made the commitment to start feeding a pet using a feeding puzzle—or convinced an owner to try it. How can you introduce this concept to the animal? It is easier to introduce a puzzle if the pet is hungry and to begin with the simpler toys. Most people are familiar with Kong toys, which are hollow rubber toys that can be stuffed with food or treats. The goal is for this type of feeder to release the food slowly, with some effort on the animal’s part. If the animal gets to the food too quickly, freezing the filled toy can slow the pet down and prolong the activity (FIGURE 2). When filling toys with canned food or soft treats, it is usually a good idea to offer them to the pet inside a crate or on a harder, easy-to-clean surface. A mess is guaranteed!

FIGURE 2. A Kong toy for dogs filled with frozen canned food, pursued by Cali the Labrador. Image courtesy of Judy Conley, LVT

Start by placing some fragrant treats inside the toy to attract initial attention. For some animals, using peanut butter or baby food can help with this step.³ The pet may need assistance in understanding that the food it smells is inside the toy. As the pet perfects the technique involved in getting the treats out, slowly switch over to placing food in the puzzle instead of the food bowl (BOX 2). Some animals may need increasingly difficult puzzles. Closing off or narrowing treat openings can help increase the difficulty in some cases. For overachieving pets, there are some puzzles that are quite difficult and can challenge even a herding dog’s brain.^3,5

To increase the pet’s mental stimulation, have a selection of puzzles and rotate them daily (FIGURES 3 AND 4). To further increase the stimulation, hide them around the house so even more hunting is involved. This is a wonderful way to increase environmental enrichment, control food portions, and provide mental stimulation for a pet. Tell your clients to go out and find the puzzle that makes their pet happy!

FIGURE 3. Cali with a Premier Barnacle feeding puzzle. Cali likes the harder rubber ones for the oral stimulation—a Labrador needs to stay out of trouble! Image courtesy of Judy Conley, LVT

FIGURE 3. Cali with a Premier Barnacle feeding puzzle. Cali likes the harder rubber ones for the oral stimulation—a Labrador needs to stay out of trouble! Image courtesy of Judy Conley, LVT