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Cat Enrichment Case Study: Piglet and Penny
Manage episode 302409340 series 2975870
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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/
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