"Play Therapy"
PLAY WITH YOUR CAT!!
Jackson Galaxy, the amazing "Cat Daddy," has the BEST suggestions of ways to help owners help their cats with a plethora of natural behaviors. One thing that we strongly feel may help so many kitties with their behavior issues is to partake in what he calls interactive "Play Therapy" to get out energy, aggression, & their hunting instincts. Wear kitty out with “hunt” playtime with feather-on-a-stick type toys so that he/she doesn’t do it solely/inappropriately to you or to another animal in the home.
Cats need the 3 R’s: Routine, Ritual, and Rhythm. Playtime = hunt, catch, kill, eat. Please watch Jackson’s video here.
Here is a 7 minute video of Jackson Galaxy discussing how he helped a family with 2 girls and their cat’s “random attacks." He talks about:
1. The “3 R’s”: Routine, Ritual, and Rhythm
2. Play Therapy:
a. “Boil & simmer” method of Play Therapy
b. “Hunt, catch, kill” and then immediately feeding time afterwards.
3. Catification - What is Catification and why it’s crucial for your cat-loving home!
Here are a few more articles explaining how to handle/deal with aggression:
1. Aggression is a fairly common behavioral problem in cats.
2. Redirected Aggression is when a cat is excited by a stimulus but cannot respond directly, the cat may redirect his aggression toward a human or another cat.
How often should I schedule play therapy?
Ideally, two 10-15 minute sessions a day. One in the morning, and again before bed, but for those of you who don’t have time, one play session is better than none at all. Remember, the key is to make it a routine and immediately after the play session, feed the cat. Try to schedule the play session at the same time every day, preferably in the morning and the evening. Cats thrive on routine.