Normally,pets are often home when owners go to work and or spend a great deal of time outside of the home. Many times, these pets suffer from insufficient physical and mental stimulation because of an absence of adequate outlets by which they can expend their energy, leaving our pets to engage in activities of their own liking. These activities can very much include appropriate behaviors, such as playing with toys, or chasing garden rodents or inappropriate behaviors, such as tearing clothes from a clothing line or digging up the backyard excessively. Additional inappropriate or undesirable behaviors include excessive attention seeking, unruliness, vocalizations, playing keep away with an owner’s items or self-directed behavior, such as a pet chasing his own tail. Dogs may engage in normal “dog” behavior, such as digging in dirt. For cats, normal “cat” behavior includes chasing moving object. Like us, dogs and cats need to have regular mental stimulation and physical activity.Here are a few tips on how to provide this to your pets. At each meal, instead of just feeding your pet food and allowing them to devour it in minutes, play a game with them so that they learn how to "work for their food". Another way to assist in your pet's mental boredom is to make sure your pets are getting enough physical exercise. Take your dog walking daily,it is a good way to provide exercise and enhance mental enrichment. Engaging your cat in a daily game of chase using an item dangling from a fishing pole or tossing an object she can retrieve can also fulfill her physical and mental stimulation needs. Offer various cat trees or ledges for your cat to climb up or jump onto. Social interaction is vital as well. Make sure you spend quality one-on-one time with your pet. It could be engaging in games, training desirable behaviors using positive reinforcement, or just petting or snuggle time.
When my dogs are bored, I always end up taking them outside and bringing a toy with me so they can go run around and play fetch with each other. That always seems to fix their boredom after awhile. I think it's good for them because they seem to be having a lot of fun and getting the exercise they need.
I think it's ok for cats to be bored since they are sedentary animals, but dogs not so much. I think if you have another dog then it can lessen the boredom because they will likely just want to play with each other, considering they get along. So multiple pets is advisable to avoid boredom.
This is a great thread. Thank you for posting this. I know that my cats are bored when they are inside the house and begging for my attention. Normally, they are playing outside - chasing each other.
We never ever left our dogs outside any time we left and went to work or to the store, they always stayed in the house. Many years ago we had a dog that we tried to keep outside in its own dog house, because it was a bit too wild inside our house, but it ended up becoming very aggressive and angry with everyone. That's really no way to treat a dog, tying it up and leaving it alone by itself for long periods of time like that. At least when they are in the house they can roam around freely and interact with each other or whomever happens to be home. We took all three of our dogs for at least one walk per day, weather permitting. And if we were doing any work outdoors such as washing the car or planting flowers, we would chain them up outside so they could sit beside us while we did it. When I moved out on my own I ended up having to leave my dogs with my parents, because I couldn't bear leaving them couped up in an apartment all day with limited food and water and forcing them to wait several hours before they could go outside to pee.
For me it is very easy to tell when my dog is bored. He was simply lays down, looks incredibly bored and looks at me as if I was guilty for all his problems! Which I probably am! He will also give heavy sights as if he can't stand life anymore. He's actually doing it right now, he's laying down on the floor, looking very sleepy and staring at me with doe eyes.
I don't think my cats get bored. They have each other to play with. I sometimes see them chasing around or chasing their little ball. If I want to play with them I use a laser pointer. I make sure to spend time with all of them, pet them and brush them. I have a senior cat and she doesn't play with the others and doesn't have the speed to keep up so I play with her individually with the laser pointer and ball. She has many places to climb, windows to look out, her own spots for napping and lots of love from us. I don't think that her being less active means she's bored is just that she's older. I think having more than 1 cat is great if they are about the same age because they help keep each other active and healthy. For dogs it seems more difficult. They need more attention from the owner in order to be happy and healthy.
Agree, it's very important to keep our pets entertained and mentally stimulated so we can be sure that they are living full lives. I myself usually play with my pets whenever I see them being restless and unruly. Sometimes I'd take them out for a walk but unfortunately, I could not make it as routine as I'd like to. It's partly why I don't have any pets anymore because I'd like to get my own life and place in order first before I take on new responsibilities.
Cats seem to be more satisfied with less stimulation since they sleep alot more. Give them a scratching post and a few toys to play with and they seem to be fine. Dogs are pack animals and like to be around you more, needing more physical activity and social interaction. I try to make a point to play games with my dogs, having them chasing the ball ect... to help them from getting bored. I think its also a good idea to have your dog at a daycare during the day when your at work so they're not home all day bored. Is that fair to the dog?
My pet cat gets bored quite often considering we don't really have a lot of room in my one bedroom apartment. When he get's bored, it's very obvious. He will jump around on the furniture and run aimlessly through the apartment with his tail fuzzed up. He also meows (really really loud) quite a lot when bored. I usually try to play with him a bit each day and let him get in the window panes to see outside. I figured that may help a little with him getting so stir-crazy. I wish I could let him go outside, but he was de-clawed by his previous owner and I wouldn't want anything to happen do him. It also seems to help when you talk to him. He's an extremely vocal and social cat, I don't think he's ever really been exposed to other animals; just humans.
Cats can take advantage of vertical space, so a cat tree or some shelves are a good idea if your floor space is very limited. They can exercise by jumping and climbing too.
