Bored, or under-stimulated? What enrichment does for a pet left alone

Bored, or under-stimulated? What enrichment does for a pet left alone

A dog that chews the skirting board, a cat that yowls at the cupboard, a dog that greets you at the door with a shredded cushion. Owners tend to call this naughtiness or separation anxiety. Sometimes it is. Often the simpler explanation is that the animal had nothing to do for eight hours, and eating from a bowl took forty seconds of it.

What "enrichment" means, without the jargon

Enrichment is anything that gives an animal a problem worth solving. For dogs and cats the easiest problem is food they have to find or work for, because searching and working for food is what they are built to do. A bowl removes the whole activity. A snuffle ball, a puzzle feeder or a licking mat puts some of it back.

What the research actually shows

The evidence here is real but modest, and we would rather tell you that than dress it up.

A pilot study of laboratory dogs gave them a treat-stuffed toy and measured what changed. The dogs were more active and spent more time in the searching, working-for-food behaviours the toy was meant to prompt, and they barked less. Eight dogs, so treat it as a first look rather than a verdict.

A 2023 study is more useful for the home. Twenty dogs were left alone for twenty minutes with one of three things: a long-lasting chew, a treat-dispensing toy, or a smart dispenser. The dogs engaged longest with the long-lasting chew and showed the calmest, most positive emotional state with it. The lesson is not "buy this chew". It is that an activity that lasts is what keeps a dog settled when you leave, and a two-second treat does not.

For cats, veterinary behaviourists have been recommending food puzzles for years, and a 2016 review in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery lays out the reasoning and the case reports. The American Association of Feline Practitioners' feeding guidance says the same: several small meals, some of them from a puzzle, to cut begging and frustration. A 2020 survey found only about three in ten cat owners had tried one.

What we cannot tell you

Nobody has run a trial showing that puzzle feeders reduce destructive behaviour in pet dogs. Plenty of trainers will tell you it does, and it fits what the smaller studies found, but it has not been measured. Likewise, you will see claims that licking "releases endorphins" or "calms the nervous system". We could not find a study in dogs that shows it. What we can say is that a lick mat makes a meal or a spread last twenty minutes instead of twenty seconds, and the 2023 study found long-lasting food activities kept dogs calmer. That is the honest version.

How to use them so they work

  • Feed a meal from the puzzle rather than adding it on top. The point is the work, not extra food.
  • Start easy. A dog that fails at a hard puzzle gives up on the whole idea.
  • Rotate. The same puzzle every day stops being a puzzle within a week.
  • Give it before you leave, not as you leave. The activity should already be underway when the door closes.

What we stock for this

References

  1. Schipper LL, Vinke CM, Schilder MBH, Spruijt BM (2008). The effect of feeding enrichment toys on the behaviour of kennelled dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 114:182–195. sciencedirect.com
  2. Flint HE et al. (2023). Long-lasting chews elicit positive emotional states in dogs during short periods of social isolation. Animals 13(4):552. doi.org/10.3390/ani13040552
  3. Dantas LM, Delgado MM, Johnson I, Buffington CAT (2016). Food puzzles for cats: feeding for physical and emotional wellbeing. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 18(9):723–732. journals.sagepub.com
  4. Delgado M, Bain MJ, Buffington CAT (2020). A survey of feeding practices and use of food puzzles in owners of domestic cats. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 22(2):193–198.
  5. American Association of Feline Practitioners (2018). Consensus statement: how to feed a cat. Summary at avma.org
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