What does it take to develop an enrichment plan that works? This week, Naomi takes you through developing an enrichment plan. She spends some time taking you through a case study of Piglet the cat and Penny the dog and how enrichment helped them to learn to coexist.

In this episode we discuss:

Our cast of characters: Piglet and Penny

Penny is a 9-year-old, submissive dog with a lot of fears and quirks. She's successfully lived with other cats with no prior problems.

Piggy was a shelter cat, described as calm and a “lovebug” who was suffering from a previous injury. Once healed, his aggression towards Penny started.

They needed to be separated at all times.

Enrichment Plan Design: First Steps

Identifying the behaviors to focus on

• Piggy would stalk, sniff and then bite Penny’s legs and tail
• Penny responded very poorly to this

When did this happen?

• Evening time when humans were not paying direct attention to Piglet or Penny

Why was it happening?

• What physical needs were the behaviors related to?
• Play: Piggy is a very active cat with lots of energy
• Attention seeking: negative attention from humans after aggression towards Penny
• What physical needs were the behaviors not related to?
• Defensive behavior: Penny was actively avoidant of Piggy. There should be no need for Piggy to act defensively

Enrichment Plan Design: Goals

Goal 1: channel the undesired behavior in situations we have more control over 

• Get Piggy to practice stalking, crouching and biting
• Wand play with Da Bird at scheduled times
• “Kitty bowling” – tossing pieces of kibble down the hall for the cat to chase and eat.
• Cat’s Meow or other automated movement toys. 

Goal 2: get the physical need met as a result of other "acceptable" behaviors (or for free)

• give Piggy attention and movement around the space with a fuzzy thing to bite
• attention and food for calm behaviors on the couch during that time
• having multiple stuffed toys out for spontaneous exploration, parallel play

Goal 3: needs to be easy to fit into a busy day

What worked?

Da Bird: adjusted technique and timing. Already using Da bird but offered it preemptively rather than a response. He jumped, scratched, and climbed on furniture during play – but his humans were OK with those "extra" behaviors.

Stuffed toys always in the living room: both Piggy and Penny now play near each other with separate toys.

Reinforcing any non-biting/stalking Penny behaviors: this led to relaxation on either side of the rug or couch with no problems.

What didn’t work as well?

Kitty bowling: not an option because Piggy ate primarily wet food (and he has a weight problem)

Buying any more toys: they already had plenty

Who’s in this episode?

Naomi Rotenberg

https://www.instagram.com/praiseworthypets

https://www.praiseworthypets.com/                                    

Resource Links

Go Cat Feather Toys: Da Bird

Cat’sMeow Motorized Toy