The Scandinavian Snowshoe
How to activate your Snowshoe
By animal behaviourist Helle Lenschow, Cattery Yogini, Denmark
The Snowshoe cat is an active and funny cat who likes to use its clever head. Especially if your Snowshoe lives indoor you need to activate and stimulate your cat a few times a week to keep it in a healthy state of mind. It does not have to be everyday and not for hours. After all it is a cat not a dog but if you do things with your Snowshoe you can prevent many behavioural problems due to boredom and you and your cat will also have a much closer friendship than if the cat is just left alone. Snowshoes love to do things with their owners.
When if comes to activating your Snowshoe only your imagination put a limit to what to do with your cat. Variation is the keyword. If you do the same thing everyday the cat will soon be bored and start scratching the new couch in stead.
Hunting games
A Snowshoe is a great hunter and of course you need to play hunting games with your cat. Not only when it is a kitten, but also as it has become an adult cat. Most Snowshoes love to play all their life. Let the cat chase toys – maybe on a stick, but do not only do this type of exercise with your cat. A Snowshoe does also need the mental work out to be in balance.
When you play hunting games do not play more than 15 minutes with your cat. Studies shows that if you play this type of game longer it might stress the cat – over stimulate it – and this too will course problems just like boredom. If the cat stops before the 15 minutes has passed then it is of course okay.
End each play session with food. Put the food on the floor and let the cat cool down while it searches for the food. This activity helps the stress level to fall to a normal level after a hunting game.
Do not play hunting games every day. Of course the cat might do it when it is by it self, that is different and ok, but since the activity when provoked by you, can stress the cat, do only do this type of play sessions two to three times a week.
Brain power
On other days let your Snowshoe use its brilliant brain for activities. This also prevents behavioural problems and a mental stimulated cat is a happy cat. If a cat runs free it will combine hunting with mental skills. This is why you need to do the same to keep your little hunter happy.
The different types of mental stimulations are many. I will only mention a few:
Hide food and let your Snowshoe cat find it. Put food high and low in the house and differ between different kinds of food.
Put food in a bowl with a little water in it and let your Snowshoe fish it up (only do this when you are present) or put food in a plastic cup and let your Snowshoe find out how to get the food out from there. All of this might look very easy to you but to a cat it is not.
You can also buy different problem solving games (most of them for dogs but cats can easily learn to operate them too) in which the cat has to work to get to the food. It might have to tip over a wooden stick or fish with its paws for the food in small places. These games are really good for Snowshoes.
Buy some catnip and put on your cats toys and let it play with it by itself. Even old toys come to live this way if your cat reacts to catnip. If not it might react to baldrian drops.
You can also cut wholes in a box and let your Snowshoe search for it's food in this way and pet stores sell activity toys for cats too – for instance a ball with a whole in it to roll the food out of. If you want you can make your own activity toys from an old cola plastic bottle.
You might need to show your Snowshoe how this is done in the start but do not help the cat too much. The meaning is for the cat to think – not for you to solve it for the cat. Remember cats train their owners very well and then the whole idea of the mental activation falls to the ground.
Many Snowshoes also like to search for food in a towel or blanket where you hide the food in different places – in, on and under the blanket or towel, so that the cat has to solve the problem to get to the food.
Snowshoes have very good problem solving skills. As your cat get the idea of this mental games you will find that it gets better and quicker at it and for you as an owner it is always fun to find out new way to challenge your clever Snowshoe cat.
Do some problem solving activities with your Snowshoe two to three times a week – and not on the same days as the hunting games. Since most of the mental activities do not need you present while the cat work with it, it does not take more than a few minutes to prepare. On the other hand your Snowshoe will be happy for the rest of the day after this. Snowshoes love to go to work and learn new things – just like you do.
Search the internet for new things to do to stimulate your Snowshoe mentally, ask other owners what they do with their cats and look in dog books for inspiration.
One of the best ways to activate your Snowshoe mentally is clicker training – and yes Snowshoes can indeed be trained with a clicker to do the most amazing things!
You do not need to activate your Snowshoe every day. If you do the things mentioned here often you can easily take a break for some days, if you are out of town or do not have the time to do it. Since your Snowshoe is already well stimulated on a daily basis this will not affect the well being of you cat.
The Snowshoe cat is an active and funny cat who likes to use its clever head. Especially if your Snowshoe lives indoor you need to activate and stimulate your cat a few times a week to keep it in a healthy state of mind. It does not have to be everyday and not for hours. After all it is a cat not a dog but if you do things with your Snowshoe you can prevent many behavioural problems due to boredom and you and your cat will also have a much closer friendship than if the cat is just left alone. Snowshoes love to do things with their owners.
When if comes to activating your Snowshoe only your imagination put a limit to what to do with your cat. Variation is the keyword. If you do the same thing everyday the cat will soon be bored and start scratching the new couch in stead.
Hunting games
A Snowshoe is a great hunter and of course you need to play hunting games with your cat. Not only when it is a kitten, but also as it has become an adult cat. Most Snowshoes love to play all their life. Let the cat chase toys – maybe on a stick, but do not only do this type of exercise with your cat. A Snowshoe does also need the mental work out to be in balance.
When you play hunting games do not play more than 15 minutes with your cat. Studies shows that if you play this type of game longer it might stress the cat – over stimulate it – and this too will course problems just like boredom. If the cat stops before the 15 minutes has passed then it is of course okay.
End each play session with food. Put the food on the floor and let the cat cool down while it searches for the food. This activity helps the stress level to fall to a normal level after a hunting game.
Do not play hunting games every day. Of course the cat might do it when it is by it self, that is different and ok, but since the activity when provoked by you, can stress the cat, do only do this type of play sessions two to three times a week.
Brain power
On other days let your Snowshoe use its brilliant brain for activities. This also prevents behavioural problems and a mental stimulated cat is a happy cat. If a cat runs free it will combine hunting with mental skills. This is why you need to do the same to keep your little hunter happy.
The different types of mental stimulations are many. I will only mention a few:
Hide food and let your Snowshoe cat find it. Put food high and low in the house and differ between different kinds of food.
Put food in a bowl with a little water in it and let your Snowshoe fish it up (only do this when you are present) or put food in a plastic cup and let your Snowshoe find out how to get the food out from there. All of this might look very easy to you but to a cat it is not.
You can also buy different problem solving games (most of them for dogs but cats can easily learn to operate them too) in which the cat has to work to get to the food. It might have to tip over a wooden stick or fish with its paws for the food in small places. These games are really good for Snowshoes.
Buy some catnip and put on your cats toys and let it play with it by itself. Even old toys come to live this way if your cat reacts to catnip. If not it might react to baldrian drops.
You can also cut wholes in a box and let your Snowshoe search for it's food in this way and pet stores sell activity toys for cats too – for instance a ball with a whole in it to roll the food out of. If you want you can make your own activity toys from an old cola plastic bottle.
You might need to show your Snowshoe how this is done in the start but do not help the cat too much. The meaning is for the cat to think – not for you to solve it for the cat. Remember cats train their owners very well and then the whole idea of the mental activation falls to the ground.
Many Snowshoes also like to search for food in a towel or blanket where you hide the food in different places – in, on and under the blanket or towel, so that the cat has to solve the problem to get to the food.
Snowshoes have very good problem solving skills. As your cat get the idea of this mental games you will find that it gets better and quicker at it and for you as an owner it is always fun to find out new way to challenge your clever Snowshoe cat.
Do some problem solving activities with your Snowshoe two to three times a week – and not on the same days as the hunting games. Since most of the mental activities do not need you present while the cat work with it, it does not take more than a few minutes to prepare. On the other hand your Snowshoe will be happy for the rest of the day after this. Snowshoes love to go to work and learn new things – just like you do.
Search the internet for new things to do to stimulate your Snowshoe mentally, ask other owners what they do with their cats and look in dog books for inspiration.
One of the best ways to activate your Snowshoe mentally is clicker training – and yes Snowshoes can indeed be trained with a clicker to do the most amazing things!
You do not need to activate your Snowshoe every day. If you do the things mentioned here often you can easily take a break for some days, if you are out of town or do not have the time to do it. Since your Snowshoe is already well stimulated on a daily basis this will not affect the well being of you cat.
