A more intricate food puzzle with multiple components. Wet cat food can also be used in the wells making it a versatile and challenging game for your cats. This toy is for the experienced forager!
The Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble dog toy by Petsafe
Keep an open mind because dog toys can be great for cats too! They are often heavier which provides a greater challenge and they usually hold more food for multiple cat households.
This Busy Buddy toy can be made increasingly more difficult by filling smaller objects and placing them inside this puzzle so the cats have to get food out of two objects at once. A weighted object could also be adding for increased challenge.
Hitchinson shows you how here!
Foraging Jars by Fundamentally Feline
These jars make a great puzzle! They are easy to fill for the humans and opaque with only one hole so they are more challenging for your cats. You can fill a smaller object such as an egg and place inside to really increase the difficulty level or simply "dummy-fill" with other small cat toys so that the hole is sometimes obstructed as the cat manipulates the jar!
All of the foraging toys made by Fundamentally Feline are hand-made.
The Poker Box by Trixie Pet
This is an intricate and challenging stationary food puzzle. This video shows cats figuring out and solving the five different sections. This puzzle can accommodate canned food in some compartments as well as dry food. This is a toy is for the experienced forager!
Foraging Cubes by Fundamentally Feline
Foraging cubes are one of the most difficult food puzzles you can offer your cat. Most cats are initially pretty stumped by cubes but once they do get the hang of it they are unstoppable! Foraging ping-pong balls can also be combined with these cubes to further increase the challenge. Simply fill ping-pong with dry food, place inside the cube and offer that to your cat. This way they have to accomplish acquiring food from two objects at once! A puzzle for the Kitty Einstein/Master Forager for sure!
Milly, the star of the video below, is one of the kitties featured in the table of our Food Puzzle paper in the JFMS. She is the very last kitty in the table if you follow the link provided.
Foraging Mini Egg by Fundamentally Feline
Foraging eggs are an awesome and versatile toy. They are opaque and provide erratic movement, keeping kitty entertained and on the move. The eggs can be filled and placed inside other foraging toys such as the cup or any of the “gear” toys to increase the difficulty level for your master forager!
Foraging Wiffle Ball
The Foraging Wiffle Ball from Fundamentally Feline is a good beginner object. The many perforated holes increase scent attraction, it is round so it is easily rolled, and the cat can also see that there is food in the ball since it is not complete opaque. It is only available with onelarge hole for large kibble for obvious reasons, as it already has many small holes. Some cats hook their nails into the holes and learn to shake out the kibble!
Watch video below to see it in action!
Implementing Foraging As A Feeding Protocol
This video offers instruction on how to feed a multi-cat household with foraging toys. It explains the importance of feeding cats this way and how to make this style of feeding easier for the humans. Staging the difficulty level of the toys and making your own food puzzles is covered as well.