Check out our wish list on Amazon.com

Be sure your pet’s needs are met.  Food. Water. Shelter.  Then go beyond the basics and bring out their “wild side”! 

All animals, wild and domesticated, have needs beyond the basics.  Social interaction, playtime and training can improve an animal’s quality of life.  Enrichment aims to provide a stimulating environment with plenty of options for behavior appropriate for your pet.  Cats like to stalk and pounce.  Dogs love social playtime with running, chasing and toys! 

Training can not only make your pet easier to live with, it can provide much needed mental stimulation for your pet.  You can use the same operant conditioning techniques used to train zoo animals.  Providing challenges will keep your pet’s mind and body healthy.

Things to remember:

• Consult your veterinarian
• Be sure to supervise pets when playing with new toys to ensure safety
• Maintain a balanced diet—not too many food treats
• Keep a balance between play and quiet time
• Consider both your pet’s breed and individual characteristics in choosing the best activities Remember, the best enrichment is simply to spend as much quality time with your pets as possible. This is enriching for both you and your pet!

Ideas for dogs

Toys and exercise are extremely easy ways to enrich a dog. There is an endless array of commercially available dog toys many aimed at challenging your pet mentally and physically.  Balls, Kongs and rope toys are lots of fun and promote healthy teeth and jaws.  A few ideas we use with our Zoo canids are scents, meatcicles, bones, antlers and fur from other Zoo animals.   

Ideas for cats

Cats are intelligent, specialized carnivores with highly developed senses. Toys that move provide visual interest and ones that stimulate the sense of smell work well too.  Attach feathers to a piece of string and then attach the string to a dowel or branch. Secure the dowel to your cats scratch pole or wave it by your cat. This will encourage your cat to stalk and pounce on its prey. A simple ribbon or piece of string can also be used.  Our Zoo felines like perfumes and spices, paper mache creatures, feathers and mousecicles!