Can feeding-time play or food puzzles help with cats’ excessive attention-seeking?

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Domestic cats (Felis catus) are increasingly popular companions in the Western world, but close interaction with people at home can also create problems. One important behavioral problem is excessive attention-seeking directed at owners. It can occur in cats with or without outdoor access, but may be more prevalent in indoor-only cats, possibly because they face a greater risk of unmet environmental needs than cats with outdoor access.

Seeking an owner’s attention is not inherently problematic: it is crucial to communication between cats and people. But the behavior can escalate when a cat receives insufficient mental and physical stimulation. Cat professionals have suggested enrichment, including food puzzles, to prevent or reduce excessive attention-seeking. The authors say no studies had yet investigated the effect of such enrichment on this behavior.

The study aimed to examine non-food-related object play and food puzzles as enrichment for companion cats with no or limited outdoor access. In a two-arm randomized controlled trial lasting four weeks, 92 privately owned cats were included because they were reported to show at least one predefined attention-seeking behavior daily. Cats were randomly assigned to food puzzles (44 cats) or non-food-related toys (48 cats). Owners in both groups were asked to use the items at feeding times and report the prevalence of attention-seeking behavior weekly.

Both enrichment interventions were associated with an observed decrease in most of the attention-seeking behaviors included in the study. There was no significant difference between the two interventions in how much the frequency of those behaviors decreased. The authors suggest that consistent enrichment around feeding may be a possible solution for attention-seeking behavior and that object play and food puzzles can be used interchangeably.