Best Cat Puzzle Feeder to Entertain Your Pets While at Work

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It’s crucial to add enrichment to your home if you’re out at work most of the day and your pet is left home alone. Let’s look at the best cat puzzle feeders.

Did you know that 25.4% of households in the US own a cat? Which pet do you own? Whether you own a dog, cat, fish, or bird, you want to ensure that your pet is well-cared for and nurtured. This is especially true if you have a busy work schedule that may require you to leave your pet home for long hours.

Luckily, there are numerous ways to keep your cat entertained and well-fed even when you are away. One of the best ways to do this is by finding a fun and entertaining cat puzzle feeder.

This guide analyzes some of the best cat puzzle feeders and why engaging your cat in these puzzles is essential.

Why Get a Puzzle Feeder For Your Pet?

You probably have encountered trouble monitoring the eating pattern of your pet. To ensure any pet is not overfed, one should find ways to manage this. About 30% of pet owners regularly feed their cats using puzzles. Here are three primary reasons you should get a puzzle feeder for your pet:

Facilitates Psychological and Physical Engagement

A cat requires psychological and physical awareness to acquire meals naturally. When pets are in the wild, they are motivated to hunt for food. There are no bowls served with their favorite meals. The animals must stalk their prey, pounce, and capture it to get a meal.

You probably prefer your pet to be safe at home and serve its meal in its regular stainless bowl. This may cause laziness in the pet and reduce physical and psychological enhancement compared to cats that are using their natural hunting instincts.

Enhances Slow Habits of Eating

The feeder serves as a mimic of how the pet would hunt for meals naturally in the wild. The pets have to understand the manner of interacting with the toy feeders to facilitate a food reward. This can help reduce the eating speed of the cat, which comes in handy if your pet commonly vomits due to fast eating.

Environmental Enrichment

The hunting success of a cat is highly dependent on the microhabitat and environment they are in. Serving your cat from a bowl creates no challenge to pursue the food, which can cause boredom.

The puzzle feeders serve as a solution to providing a copied natural hunting environment for your pet. This can play an essential role in ensuring proper development.

Best Cat Puzzle Feeder: Buyers Guide

While it is essential to ensure your cat is getting the required physical and psychological benefits, you want to be sure that the feeder is safe. This section looks at some essential factors you want to consider before buying a puzzle feeder for your cat. For instance, you should consider the feeder’s features, problems, use cases, function, and capacity.

Features

The features of a puzzle feeder can help you understand how it works and the essential benefits it can bring to your cat. Here are some features you want to consider. Some of the features you should look out for include:

The material used in making the feeder. You want a feeder made of safe materials that will not hurt your cat when playing with it.
The size of the feeder. Depending on the size of your cat, you want to buy a feeder it can easily use.
The design of the feeder. Consider buying a feeder with an appealing design to make playing more comfortable for your cat.
Ease of use. You want a feeder that is easy to set up and does not require too much time.

Considering all these features and more can help you buy a safe and comfortable feeder for your cat.

Complexity

You want to consider the level of difficulty of the feeder. The more complex the problems, the greater the challenge for your cat, and the more it can learn. However, you want to ensure that the feeder is not too complex, so your cat gets frustrated and gives up.

The ideal feeder should have a range of difficulty levels so your cat can gradually learn and improve its skills.

Use Cases

You also want to consider the use cases of the feeder. For instance, you want to ensure that the feeder can be used for different purposes such as training, enrichment, and entertainment.

Function

The function of the feeder is also an essential factor to consider. Do you want to buy a feeder that can dispense wet or dry food?

You also want to ensure that the feeder is easy to clean. Some feeders have removable parts that can be easily cleaned.

Types of Puzzle Feeders

You can find three types of puzzle feeders: treat-dispensing balls, mazes, and slow feeders.

Treat-dispensing balls are great if you want your cat to do some exercise while chasing the ball. They’re probably not ideal to use during the main meals.
Mazes will stimulate your cat’s brain and will force them to be tactical in order to get to the food.
Slow feeders are useful if your cat eats very fast and are perfect to use during the main meals.

Cleaning Tips for Puzzle Feeders

Puzzle feeders can be a challenge to clean. However, there are some tips you can use to make cleaning easier.

Use a soft cloth to wipe the feeder.
Avoid using harsh chemicals or detergents as they can damage the feeder.
If the feeder is dishwasher safe, you can use the dishwasher to clean it.
You can also use a mild soap and water solution to clean the feeder.

Final Word

When selecting a feeder, ensure that it is safe for your pet and designed to last long. Also, check the reviews to get an insight into the quality of the product.

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