As cat owners, it is a great idea to mimic how our feline friends would eat in the wild, and a cat food puzzle toy is the perfect way to do this! Cats enjoy working for their food – it is all part of their hunting instincts and abilities, so we should be encouraging them to exercise their brains, paws and jaws at mealtimes to satisfy this need. Of course, there are lots of other benefits to using interactive feeders too!.
Cat food puzzle toys can be expensive though, so here are some DIY cat puzzle feeders to make. What’s more, you’ve probably got most (if not all!) the stuff at home to make your own!
What is a cat food puzzle toy?
Just like their wild ancestors, cats are solitary hunters, and we should endeavour to allow them to perform this natural behaviour through how we provide their food. This provides mental stimulation, physical exercise and helps prevents boredom and frustration. These are just some of the benefits of using cat puzzle feeders and interactive cat feeders. In turn, these benefits can help prevent other issues such as obesity and reduce the risk of your cat performing destructive behaviours in the house.
Cat food puzzle toys promote the problem-solving element of hunting, by encouraging your feline companion to find their food, ‘capture’ it and eat it. In order for you cat to get their food, the puzzle feeder needs to be manipulated in different ways to release it. They come in all shapes and sizes and can be designed to hold wet and dry food to suit what you already feed your cat.
There are lots of interactive feeders available to buy, and we’d definitely recommend getting some of the best puzzle feeders for cats, but since variety is the name of the game, why not get creative and make your own at home? Below are four different types of cat food puzzle toys for you to make at home. Note: cat puzzle feeders are suitable for cats of all ages, but I’ve given you some top tips for adapting them to older cats below, too.
Let’s get down to the DIY…
Without further ado, let’s explain how to make our four chosen cat toy puzzle feeders at home:
The toilet roll pyramid cat food puzzle toy
This cat food puzzle toy is super easy to put together but is only suitable for dry food. Collect 12 toilet rolls tubes and tape them together into a pyramid shape (four at the bottom, then three, then two, then one at the top). Ordinary cellotape is fine. Put the dry biscuits in each of the tubes, and your cat will have to fish them out from inside using their paws. It is exciting for them to figure out how to do this, and the differing heights adds excitement to it! For older cats, you can put the pyramid on a box to raise it – it’s better for their arthritis!
Top Tip
If your cat is prone to knocking the whole thing over, you can tape the pyramid down to a board or tray.
The egg box cat food puzzle toy
The easiest cat puzzle feeder of them all, as it doesn’t require any crafting! Fill an empty egg box with dry kibble and let your cat fish it out with their paws – it’s as simple as that! This is well suited to a kitten, or you can use this when offering your cat a treat* as something different to their regular puzzle feeder.
*Treat responsibly!
The bottle feeder cat food puzzle toy
This is another easy to make and cheap cat food puzzle toy. We’re all for recycling and reusing and this is a perfect way to abide by this! Clean an empty, plastic bottle and dry thoroughly – leave the lid on afterwards, but ensure it is screwed on tightly and any loose plastic is removed. Next, cut some holes into the bottle – three or four is enough – and you can put some dry food in. Your cat will learn that rolling the bottle will mean food comes out of the holes. A 500ml bottle is a good size for cats of any age and size, but for healthy adult cats who are bigger in size (and for larger cat breeds such as a Maine Coon), then a 1L bottle can be used.
This is a great option for both regular feeding, and for treats. Cats have small stomachs and like their wild ancestors, prefer small meals little and often, so this is a great way of them regulating their food intake if you put their daily allowance in there at once.
The multi-hole puzzle feeder cat food puzzle toy
This cat puzzle feeder requires more crafting than the first three, but rest assured it is still super easy to make and uses common household items.
This cat puzzle toy uses a shoe box, a few empty yoghurt/jelly pots and an empty butter container, so there are different sizes and depths to challenge your cat. On the underside of the shoebox, cut some holes to fit the pots and simply slot them in. Their food can then be distributed amongst the pots, for your cat to scoop out using their mouth, tongue and paws.
There are a few benefits to this one:
- You can use it for wet and dry food.
- As it uses a shoebox, you can get decorative with it! Why not wrap the shoebox in wallpaper or wrapping paper, or simply draw on it?
- As the shoe boxes raise the pots you put the food in, this makes it perfectly suited to older cats, who may struggle to crouch down enough to a normal food bowl on the floor. You may also wish to use shallower pots in the shoe box, too.
We’ve hope you’ve found these DIY ideas useful and feel inspired to create your own cat food puzzle toy! If you have children, this is the perfect project for them, and they can also fill the puzzle feeders with the cat’s food. To maintain a healthy weight, weigh out your cat’s food, following the guidelines on the food package, and spread the food evenly in your cat’s food puzzle toy.
We’d recommend swapping the cardboard-based materials regularly and cleaning the plastic materials daily to keep the puzzle feeder hygienic, but with these all being common household items, that should be easy enough to do.
Happy feeding!
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