Taking care of indoor cats
An adventurous home
Indoor and outdoor cats live very different lives. A housecat’s whole world is inside your home. An outdoor cat can also enjoy the adventurous outdoors and explore the world outside. A housecat needs extra variation and adventure inside to compensate for this. There are several ways to accommodate this need. Your main goal is to change little things in the cat’s known environment. Offer something new that it can explore: Add a new toy, put a big box on the floor to explore or place a newspaper flat on the floor. This activates your feline’s natural curiosity and sense for adventure, which will prevent boredom. Such little pleasures will guarantee a happy housecat. Furthermore, large cat trees will create an adventurous habitat within the four walls of your home. Cat trees are available at your pet store.
The drive to hunt and playIndoor cats tend to sleep considerably longer hours than cats that spend their days exploring outside. This often leads to a lack of exercise, which increases the likelihood of obesity. Indoor cats need less food, because they use less energy. It is important to stimulate an indoor cat to exercise more. Even if a cat lives inside, its drive to hunt is very much alive. You should play regularly with your cat (e.g. by chasing balls and pieces of string), so it is able to hunt and use superfluous energy. This will reduce the amount your cat engages in unwanted behaviour, such as climbing the curtains.
Coat care and fur balls
Indoor cats also spend a large portion of the day grooming. While grooming, they swallow a lot of hair, which can form nasty fur balls in their stomach. Wild cats solve this problem by eating grass. To prevent your indoor cats from grazing your (possibly poisonous?) plants, you may offer it cat grass. Your cat will rid itself from fur balls by eating the cat grass and its digestion will benefit from it.
Love and care
Every cat needs love and care. You are the only one who can offer this to your indoor cat, so you should make time every day to cuddle and pet your cat. Most indoor cats do not like to be alone for extended periods of time. Your presence and attention is very important. Behavioural problems can be the result of too much time alone. If you need to be away often, it can be helpful to get a second cat. Another cat to play with prevents the cat from boredom and they can keep each other company as well. Keep in mind that too many cats in a small house or apartment may cause stress and territorial behaviour, so do not overdo it.
SafetyMake sure your home is safe for your cat. An open window or balcony will tempt any indoor cat to explore outside, risking your cat to fall down. Furthermore, the outside world poses many dangers to a cat that is used to living indoors, such as cars and contagious diseases.
Medical care
It is a good idea to vaccinate indoor cats as well as outdoor cats. They may not meet other cats, but you can still bring viruses into the house. It is better to be safe than sorry in this respect, so do vaccinate your cat. A housecat’s nails suffer less from wear and tear than an outdoor cat’s. You should trim your cat’s nails regularly. A nail that grows until it is too long will grow into your cat’s paw and cause an infection. With some practice you will be able cut the cat’s nails yourself. Trimming nails means you cut the nail tip. Make sure not to cut into the “living” part of the nail, since this will hurt your cat and cause severe bleeding. If you feel insecure about trimming the nails, ask your vet to do so or to demonstrate how it is done.