These cute little mice from Petstages are such great foraging toys! They are small, easily manipulated, offer appealing textures, and can be picked up and carried around the house just like real prey! They do not hold a lot of food so they are great for portion control as well. They really require some batting around to get the food to dispense and are not quite as easy as one might expect.
This food puzzle has been upgraded by adding an adjustable opening which allows for a variety of different dry foods of various sizes to be used as well as increasing the challenge. This foraging toy is unique as it is the only one to feature a “skin” allowing the cat to pick it up, toss it around and manipulate it just like real prey!
These foraging balls are a great beginner toy. They also are great for down the road when your cat becomes a "master forager" and it is time to increase the challenge. As shown in the photos below, these balls can be placed inside larger containers much like the foraging ping-pong balls from Fundamentally Feline are utilized to increase the challenge. One never needs to get rid of easy toys, just save them for later when you need to make the game harder.
These adorable food puzzles from Goli Designs are handmade from colorful nylon strapping and feature a small bell inside to create interest. They have two holes so these are definitely a beginner toy. These would also work nicely being filled with food and placed inside a larger food puzzle or of course used solo as just a fun ball to bat around. So many cute, fun color combinations!
This is a very complicated food puzzle. It is two sided, features a maze within the toy on both sides and requires the cats to wobble or flip the toy entirely to dispense food. As this video demonstrates, not all hunting expeditions are successful. She walks away without success but that is ok, intermittent reinforcement keeps the animal doing the behavior! Practice makes perfect. Remember that novel food is helpful to stimulate interest and drive motivation. If your goal is weight loss or busting boredom the toys should be challenging and make them work hard!
Watch video clip above to see it in action!
Yet another toy designed and marketed for dogs that is great for cats as well. This toy can work for dry or wet food and can be manipulated to achieve different challenge levels, though as a whole it is a beginner toy. The idea is for cats to use their paw to extract the wet food, but as you can see in the video, some kitties are rebels!
This is a weighted and challenging food puzzle designed originally for small to medium sized dogs, but is no match for an experienced foraging cat! Featuring an adjustable opening and a difficult to grip exterior, this toy is sure to slow down a cat that eats too quickly.
Watch video above to see if your cats are up to this challenge. Remember the goal is to find your individual cats greatest challenge level. Do not be disappointed if they are not able to master a specific toy. Everyone is a unique individual!
This is a challenging, weighted and rather large foraging toy for cats. This puzzle is geared towards the experienced forager and cats that are very driven. The challenge can be increased if need be by placing various cat toys inside to occasionally obstruct the opening or by placing smaller food puzzles inside such as foraging ping pong balls by Fundamentally Feline!
This small dog toy is great for cats too! Do not let the puppy logo fool you, cats are quite capable of working a wide array of dog puzzles and this one is no exception. This toy is easy to fill and works with many different sizes of dry food. This toy is a bulky & heavy which can present a bit of a challenge for felines!
This weighted, opaque egg by SmartyKat can be quite a challenge for some kitties. Opaque toys are more difficult because the cat must go on learned previous experiences no longer having the visual cue that there is food inside. The weighted base of course provides more difficulty and to increase the challenge even further this toy can easily be placed inside larger foraging objects like the yogurt cup shown here. Now the cat must get the food out of two puzzles at once!
