An under-stimulated indoor cat doesn’t just get grumpy — it gets creative, usually at your sofa’s expense. Enrichment isn’t about buying more stuff; it’s about giving a cat the same handful of jobs it would do outdoors: hunt, scratch, climb, drink, nap, repeat. Ruby and Rosie have opinions on all ten of the below, tested over several very thorough afternoons.
1. Give them something to hunt
Chasing a laser dot never lets a cat “catch” anything, which can leave the stalk-and-pounce instinct unfinished and frustrated. A toy that flaps, darts and can actually be caught scratches the itch properly — our FlapFrenzy gets ambushed on sight in this house.
2. Give them something to shred (that isn’t the sofa)
Scratching is marking territory and stretching, not misbehaviour — it needs a legal outlet, not a spray bottle. A folding scratcher like SqueezeBox works well by a favourite doorway; a cardboard scratcher tunnel suits a cat who likes to scratch and curl up in the same spot; a wobble-ball scratcher adds a bit of batting fun on top.
3. Give them height
Vertical territory lets a cat survey the room and feel safe doing it — see our high-places post for the full science. A wall-mounted bed gives most of the benefit of a huge cat tree in a fraction of the floor space.
4. Make mealtime a job, not a handout
Food that appears instantly in a bowl skips an entire behaviour a cat is wired to perform. A slow or split feeder like our MealMate stretches mealtime out and suits multi-cat households where one eats faster than the other.
5. Rotate the herb cabinet
Catnip, silvervine and matatabi all work slightly differently, and about 30% of cats don’t respond to catnip at all — if yours shrugs at the classic stuff, try silvervine before writing them off. Catnip rope toys are also a genuinely good outlet for cats who like to gnaw as well as sniff.
6. Give them water that moves
Cats are hardwired to distrust still water (stagnant = risky, in the wild), which is part of why so many prefer a dripping tap to their own bowl. A fountain encourages fussy drinkers and gives a cat something to inspect and paw at; a gravity water bowl is the low-tech version.
7. Give them a lookout post
A window with a view of the street, garden or next door’s bird feeder is free, high-value entertainment — the only thing missing is somewhere comfortable to hold the position. A window hammock that sticks to the glass gives them a box seat without taking any floor space.
8. Give them a proper napping spot
Rest is part of enrichment too — a cat that naps well plays harder when awake. A warm, enclosed spot beats a cold floor every time (Rosie’s permanent address from October to April is a radiator hammock); our enclosed winter bed does the same job at floor level.
9. Bring the outside in
No product needed for this one: a bird feeder outside a favourite window, rotating which room gets the most daylight, or simply cracking a safe window for fresh air and new smells all count as enrichment. Cats notice more change than they let on.
10. Play on a schedule, not just when it’s convenient
Two short sessions a day (morning and early evening, before dinner) matches a cat’s natural hunt-then-eat-then-sleep rhythm far better than one long session whenever you remember. Little and often beats occasional and exhausting — for both of you.
FAQ: how much playtime does an indoor cat actually need?
Most behaviourists suggest two 10–15 minute sessions a day as a baseline, more for kittens and young adults. The signal that you’ve got it right isn’t a tired cat mid-session — it’s a cat who flops down afterwards and actually stays flopped.
Ruby rates the FlapFrenzy an easy 10/10 and the laser pointer a 2/10 (“where did it GO”, apparently). Rosie’s top pick is unambiguously the radiator hammock, closely followed by whichever box something arrived in. Browse the full enrichment line-up in Toys & Play and The Pudding Lounge.