Finding Hidden Food in Nosework Increases Dogs' Optimism

Opportunities to use the nose and make choices in nosework are good for dogs’ welfare.

Photo: KM-Photography/Shutterstock

We all know that dogs like to sniff. Is it possible that providing opportunities to find food in nosework can improve dogs’ wellbeing?

New scientific research by Dr. Charlotte Duranton (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz (Barnard College) finds that dogs who participate in nose work have increased optimism compared to dogs that took part in heelwork instead.

Importantly, both activities involved perambulation, as well as food rewards as positive reinforcement. The difference is that in nosework the dog has the opportunity to use their nose and to exercise choice in what they are doing.

The study used a test of optimism – also known as cognitive bias – in which dogs were first trained that a bowl in one location would always contain food, whereas a bowl in another location never did. Then the test involved an empty bowl placed in an ambiguous location, equidistant from the other two places.

The idea is that the length of time taken to get to the bowl reflects the dog’s optimism that it would contain a piece of chicken.

20 adult dogs of various breeds took part in the study, including Australian Shepherds, Huskies, Cocker Spaniels, and other breeds/mixes.

Half of the dogs took part in a nosework activity with their owner, while the other half did heelwork.

The dogs took part in a group class with their owner (either nosework or heelwork), then the owner practised at home with them once a day for a week.  Then there was a second class, followed by a second week of practice at home.

Immediately before and after the two weeks of the activity, each dog took part in the cognitive bias training and test.

Each activity was structured so there was some development from the beginning to the end. For example, in the first heelwork class the dog was initially rewarded with a treat for taking two paces with the owner, building up to ten paces. In the second week, changes of direction were included.

Similarly, in the first nosework class, dogs began by finding a hide (i.e. treat) in a box, then in one of three boxes. When they found it, additional treats were added to the box. In the second week, boxes were put on chairs and/or further apart to make it more challenging.

Prior to the activities, there were no differences between the two groups of dogs in the cognitive bias test.

Photo: Sergey Fatin/Shutterstock

At the end of the two weeks, the latency for dogs in the nosework group to reach the bowl was significantly shorter. However, for dogs in the heelwork group, it was no different than in the previous test.

These results suggest that dogs in the nosework group were more optimistic.

Dogs in both groups had the chance to earn food rewards, so why the difference?

One reason could be that in nosework, dogs have a lot of choice in what they are doing, because they can move around the room and the boxes as they wish. In doing so, they are problem-solving, and successful problem-solving makes dogs happy too.

Another reason could be because of the opportunities to use their nose. Smell is the most important sense for dogs, and it is important to provide environmental enrichment that gives animals opportunities to use the most important sense and express normal behaviours.

The scientists explain there are some other possible explanations, although they do not think they are likely. For example, the dogs that did nosework were trained to search with their nose (but remember, the food bowl was empty in the cognitive bias task).

I think another difference between the conditions is the manner of reward delivery – one reward per set of steps in heelwork versus several rewards at once on finding the box containing food in nosework. This is consistent with how these are normally taught. It is possible dogs preferred receiving a 'jackpot' like in the nosework. However, other research shows dogs don't run faster for increased quantity of food, so this is not a likely explanation.

This is a fascinating study and it's great that scientists are looking at what kinds of activities are good for dogs' welfare.

This research shows it is important to give our pet dogs choices, opportunities to make their own decisions, and chances to use their nose. Doing so is good for their welfare, which is likely why the nosework training led to better results than heelwork.

If you are interested in trying nosework with your dog, you can find a list of Certified Nose Work Instructors here. See five fun things to do to make your dog happy today and six ways to entertain your dog indoors for more enrichment ideas.

What opportunities do you give your dog to use their nose and make choices?


Reference
Duranton, C., & Horowitz, A. (2018). Let me sniff! Nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.12.009

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Five Fun Things to Do to Make Your Dog Happy Today

Five enjoyable activities to provide enrichment for your dog (and fun for you).

Enrichment means giving your dog opportunities to engage in species-specific behaviours and to use their brain and all the senses. Environmental enrichment means making your dog’s living spaces fun and interesting so your dog does not get bored.

There are lots of ways to provide enrichment for your dog. It can involve play with toys, spending time in social activities with people or other dogs, making the environment more interesting, or training activities.

Here are five great ways to provide enrichment for your dog and make your dog happy today.

1. Go on a sniffari

We all know that dogs have amazing noses, but did you know scent is more important to dogs than sight?

In fact, as well as their nose, dogs have something called the vomeronasal organ, which detects pheromones (chemical signals). If you see your dog lick something smelly, it could be because this is one way they make molecules available to their vomeronasal organ (the other is the Flehmen response, when they chatter their teeth with what looks like a grimace on their face).

And some breeds of dog have up to a billion olfactory receptor cells at the back of their noses*.

It’s no wonder dogs want to spend so much time sniffing even a single blade of grass! They get a lot of information from sniffing the places where other dogs have peed (or even their own pee… they are dogs, after all!).

We can give dogs the chance to use their nose by taking them on a sniffari. Instead of hurrying your dog along on a walk, let them take as long as they like to sniff. And let them follow their nose, instead of taking a predetermined path (within reason, of course).

Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, scientist at Barnard College and author of Being a Dog, told me that dogs “sniff first, and ask their eyes to confirm or deny. Their world is made of scents more than sights.” (see: how to make the world better for dogs).

So make time to take your dog on a sniffari and turn the walk into enrichment for your dog.

A Dalmatian on sniffari. Photo: Sergey  Fatin/Shutterstock

2. Use food toys

Food toys are another great way to provide enrichment for your dog and make your dog happy.

And there are all kinds to choose from so there is bound to be something your dog will enjoy.

You can use food toys to feed your dog’s meals (or part of them) or to provide treats.

If it’s your dog’s first time with a particular food toy, remember to make it nice and easy so they don’t get frustrated. It’s also a good idea to use some really nice treats to get your dog interested in the toy.

Over time, you can make the food toys harder.

For example, if you’re using a Kong, to begin with don’t stuff it too tight; use treats or kibble that will fall out easily. You can add a bit of peanut butter or cream cheese to make sure your dog enjoys it. As your dog gets more experienced, you can mix ingredients to stuff it with (e.g. mix cream cheese with kibble) and even freeze it before giving it to your dog.

One of my favourite dog puzzle toys is the brick treat puzzle toy by Nina Ottosson from Outward Hound. The Nina Ottosson range includes both easier and harder puzzles so you can get the level just right for your dog, and they are easily washable.

Other choices are the Kong Wobbler, the Pickle Pocket, and all kinds of balls with holes for the food to fall out of like the IQ Treat Ball.

Snuffle mats are another great idea (like the Wooly Snuffle Mat). And if you don’t have any food toys, you can also DIY your own or simply scatter pieces of food in the grass for your dog to find.

3. Play a game

Dogs love hanging out with their humans, and they love playing games with their human even more.

Play with your dog is good for animal welfare and a good way to strengthen the bond between you and your dog.

So pick a game you know your dog loves – whether it’s tug or fetch or chase or whatever – and let them play as much as they wish.

Have a dog who never tires of playing fetch? No matter! Today is their day so keep on throwing the ball.

And if they love playing tug? Be sure to let them win lots of times. (For some reason some dog trainers used to say you should never let your dog win, but that’s not true – in fact, scientific research has shown dogs who are allowed to win are more involved in the game).

Some common signals that encourage dogs to play with you include the play bow, chasing, running away, a quick bow at the waist, tapping your chest to encourage the dog to jump up, and lunging at the dog (in a playful not scary way, of course!). Using your voice to encourage the dog to play helps too.

If you’re playing fetch, some dogs find it hard to give you the ball back so you can throw it again. In this case you need two balls so you always have one to throw. Maybe over time you can teach your dog to drop the ball in your hand, but in the meantime don’t get frustrated – just throw the other ball.

Whatever game you pick, just have fun with your dog.

Photo: Jess Wealleans/Shutterstock

4. Do some positive reinforcement training

A study a few years back found dogs prefer to solve a problem to earn a reward than just to be given the reward. The scientists called it that “Eureka” feeling.

Training with positive reinforcement is a great way to give dogs opportunities to problem solve. It may even have long-term benefits too as one study found a history of lifelong positive reinforcement training is linked to smaller declines in attention in older dogs.

Pick a level that is right for your dog. Every time they do the right thing, they get a food reward. To be like a pro dog trainer, you should aim for about 10 rewards a minute!

It doesn’t matter what you pick to train. If your dog needs to learn obedience commands, that’s fine. Pick sit or loose leash walking or whatever you want to work on.

But if your dog already knows what they need to in order to have good manners, you can work on some tricks. From spin to play dead to jumping through your arms, you’ll never run out of ideas for new things to teach.

Not sure what to use as reinforcement? See the best dog training treats.

Training with positive reinforcement is good enrichment for your dog. Photo: leungchopan/Shutterstock

5. Go somewhere with your dog

Pick a place your dog likes to go and take them on an outing to make them happy.

This counts as enrichment too because it lets the dog experience a different environment.

There are lots of ideas for things you could do.

A hike in the forest gives your dog a chance to explore and to enjoy the natural environment.

Maybe there is a lake or beach where your dog likes to swim.

Perhaps your dog loves the dog park, in which case you could take them there.

Maybe there is a dog-friendly pub, restaurant or café in your neighbourhood where you could go and hang out with your best canine friend for a while.

Some stores allow dogs on leash so your dog could just enjoy wandering round the store with you.

Or your dog could just come for a ride-along in the car, or to visit a friend or family member who your dog likes to see.

The aim is to find something you know your dog will enjoy, so take your dog’s preferences into account – if they don’t like the dog park, don’t make them go, for example.

Photo: Mary Rice/Shutterstock

Does my dog like it?

A great question to ask yourself for each of these five ideas is whether your dog is enjoying the enrichment.

For example, are they engaging with the food toy, and are they willing to come and train with you or did they wander off and snooze instead?

The point of each of these ideas is to give your dog happy, fun experiences. So if they aren’t engaging the way you would like, see if you can tweak something to make it more fun.

One common issue is to make food toys or training too hard. Even if you think your dog is a genius, you want to make it easy enough that your dog will enjoy it. If they have to try too hard, they might get bored or frustrated. You can gradually make the toys or training harder over time, but start out nice and simple.

Another common issue where food is involved is to use kibble as reinforcement in dog training. Maybe you are lucky and have one of those dogs who will work for kibble (they do exist), but for most people, some kind of food upgrade is required, such as little pieces of chicken or peanut butter treats. For more about why we use food in training, see the ultimate dog training tip.

It's only enrichment if the dog actually engages with the enrichment. Photo: carolyn brule/Shutterstock

One other thing to check is that your dog is actually happy and enjoying the experience. Sometimes we think our dogs ought to like things – like trips to the dog park or swimming – but actually they don’t.

Every dog is an individual and it’s up to us to learn what they like and don’t like. If you see signs of fear in your dog figure out what you can do to help, whether it’s comforting your dog or taking them away from the situation (for more ideas, see eight tips to help fearful dogs feel safe). So if your dog hates to go places, maybe you could cuddle on the couch instead.

Remember, the whole point of enrichment is that your dog engages with it and enjoys it.

So have fun with these five tips.

What is your dog's favourite activity?

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*If you want to learn more about the dog's nose, I recommend Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell by Alexandra Horowitz. On p48, Horowitz writes, "Dogs have from two hundred million to one billion receptor cells, depending on the breed, compared to the six million in our noses."

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Is Scent Enriching for Shelter Dogs?

Research investigates the effects of enrichment using the scent of coconut, vanilla, ginger and valerian.

Photo: chaoss/Shutterstock

Animal shelters are stressful environments for dogs, and so anything that helps them to be less stressed is beneficial. Scientists from Hartpury University Centre tested the effects of presenting scent-infused cloths to shelter dogs. The results are promising and suggest scent enrichment may work well for shelter dogs.

Study authors, John Binks and Dr Tamara Montrose, say

“In our study we found that shelter dogs showed reduced vocalisations and movement when exposed to cloths scented with ginger, coconut, vanilla and valerian. In addition, we found that dogs exposed to coconut and ginger slept more. Since excessive vocalisations and activity may indicate stress in kennelled dogs, as well as being behaviours that can be found undesirable by potential adopters, our study suggests that these odours may have application in rescue shelters to reduce stress and enhance adoption.”

Enrichment means adding things to the animal’s environment that are designed to improve welfare, for example by allowing the animal to engage in species-specific behaviour, encourage use of the environment, get more exercise, encourage learning, and decrease boredom and abnormal behaviour. Since shelter dogs spend a large part of their day in kennels, enrichment is important to improve their welfare.

Dogs have impressive noses (and vomeronasal organs) and, as we all know, they spend a lot of time smelling things. The scientists say enrichment works best if it targets an animal’s primary sense, so it is surprising there isn’t more research into scent enrichment for shelter dogs.

The experiment used the smells of coconut, vanilla, ginger and valerian because they are safe for dogs, easily available, and have been found to be beneficial for other animals, such as wombats, sea-lions, Javan gibbons, cats and rats (read about different scents that cats like).

15 dogs took part at a shelter in Gloucestershire, England. Most were medium-sized dogs and two were small.

The dogs were presented with scent on a cloth put in their kennel for a few hours per day. There were two control conditions: an unscented cloth (to provide a comparison for the different smells), and no cloth (to control for the effects of the presence of a new item). The unscented cloth control condition took place before the presentations of smells, and the no cloth condition took place after.

Each condition took place over three days, with a two day gap between them.

Cloths were prepared an hour in advance by adding a few drops of essential oils or fragrance oils, and then kept in a ziplock bag until they were used. The experimenter wore gloves to ensure they did not accidentally transfer any other scents to the cloths. Dogs were given half an hour to get used to the item, and then observed for a two-hour period, the latter half of which was during the shelter’s opening hours for visitors. This was in the middle of the day when feeding and exercise did not happen, so the dogs' behaviour would not be affected by waiting for the next meal.

When the scented cloths were present, dogs vocalized less. Since barking, whining etc. can be signs of stress, this suggests they were less stressed. Dogs also spent more time resting and less time moving when the scents were present. For the ginger and coconut scents, dogs spent more time sleeping.

These results suggest the scent enrichment helped the dogs be less stressed.

There was also an effect of time of day, in that when the shelter was open to visitors, dogs vocalized more, stood more, and spent less time resting. They were also at the front of their kennel more.

The scents were always presented in the same order. This was so that other dogs taking part would not have their scent contaminated by one of the other smells wafting in to the kennel. This means there is potential for an order effect. However, because the dogs were presented with the controls before and after the different scent conditions, it does seem that the results are due to the scents.

The scent enrichment used in this study would be easy to use at a shelter, although more research is needed with a larger number of dogs. The results are very promising, and suggest the use of these scents can help shelter dogs to be less stressed.

You can follow Dr. Tamara Montrose, one of the authors of the study, on twitter.

Join over 2,000 animal lovers and subscribe to Companion Animal Psychology.

Reference
Binks, J., Taylor, S., Wills, A., & Montrose, V. T. (2018). The behavioural effects of olfactory stimulation on dogs at a rescue shelter. Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

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Five Things To Do For Your Cat Today

Want to make your cat happier? Here are some things you can do right now to make your feline feel blissful.

Photo: Dmitry Nesterov / Shutterstock

Cats are wonderful creatures. When we understand them, we can use that information to make them happier. Here are five things to do for your cat today – and a bonus one to work on over time.

1. Make time to play with your cat

11% of cats have no toys, according to one study (Howell et al 2016).

But the average cat has 7 toys, and toy mice are the most popular. (Strickler and Shull 2014)

Even if your cat has lots of toys of their own, they still like it when their human plays with them. 64% of the owners in Strickler and Shull’s study played with their cat twice a day, but playtime typically lasted 5 or 10 minutes. Amongst people who played with their cat for at least 5 minutes instead of just 1 minute, there were fewer behaviour problems.

But your cat would probably like an even longer play time.

Have you ever felt that when you are moving a toy for your cat, they seem to be hunting it? This is because play satisfies the cat’s predatory instincts.

John Bradshaw PhD, author of Cat Sense and other best-selling books on pets, told NPR that “The research that we've done suggests that [play] it's almost indistinguishable, that everything that a cat does when it's playing seems to be a part of its normal hunting behavior.”

So when a cat plays, it’s not so much about the cat being sociable with you, it’s really about hunting.

This means they like toys that are like prey in some way – maybe they are furry or have feathers or are mouse-sized or squeak like a mouse or are long so the cat can kick their back legs against it. And cats would like you to move it as if it is real prey for them to chase.

Every cat is an individual, so experiment with different types of toys and different ways of moving them to see what makes your cat engage in play.

And remember that cats can get bored of toys, so you can put some of them away in a cat’s toy box and rotate the toys that are available. (If you have a cat like my tortoiseshell, she will learn to open the box and pick her own toys!).

You might find that multiple sessions of 5 - 10 minutes works best, but you can experiment and see what your cat likes.

Free-ranging cats spend a large part of each day hunting for food, which shows just how important hunting behaviour is to a cat. Strickler and Shull suggest that cats would probably like it if an individual play session lasts for longer than 10 minutes; 30 minutes is the typical length of a time a free-ranging cat spends on a single hunt (although only some of that time would be active chase as the mouse has first to be found). Play keeps your cat active and satisfies that predatory instinct.

So make time to play with your cat!

2. Give your cat a food toy

Another way to engage your cat’s hunting instinct is through the use of food toys. These provide valuable enrichment to our feline friends.

There are many food toys available, including balls with holes in that the cat has to roll to make treats fall out, the mouse-shaped no bowl, containers that have to be tipped like the Trixie Mad Scientist, and things the cat has to paw at to get the treats out like the Trixie 5-in-1 Activity Center.

There are food toys for every level of feline ability. If your cat is new to food toys, start with something easy so they don’t get frustrated trying to get at the food. You may also need to use particularly tasty treats to get their interest. Over time, you can make the toys more difficult, and use them to feed all meals instead of providing ‘free’ food in a bowl.

You can also hide the toys around the house so the cat has to hunt for them to get started.

The great thing about food toys is that although there are some fantastic ones on the market, you can also make them for free. For example, make a hole in a cardboard tube, stick paper over one end, put food inside, paper over the other end, and let your cat figure out how to get the food out of the hole.

Only 5% of cats have food puzzle toys according to a survey of the enrichment people provide for their cats (Alho et al 2016).

Food puzzle toys can help to resolve feline behaviour problems because they provide environmental enrichment that can reduce stress and make the cat more active. (Dantas et al 2016)

Food toys are great for cats because they make them work for their food – completing another part of the predatory sequence.

3. Make sure your cat has nice hiding places

As well as thinking about cats evolving as solitary hunters of prey, we have to remember that cats themselves are prey animals. Which means cats like places they can hide and feel safe.

This is especially important if you have a fearful cat – the kind that runs to hide when people come over to the house.

But all cats need places to hide. In fact, a recent study of shelter cats’ use of a hiding box and a separate perch found the hiding box was much preferred, so much so that it may be considered a basic need for cats (Ellis et al 2017b).

The kind of hiding place that cats prefer is cat-sized, secluded, and often high up from the ground. It’s a place in which they can feel safe.

Examples of safe hiding places include a cardboard box (e.g. a regular cardboard box laying on its side, or a box specially designed for cats), a perch with a lip or a box to go in on a cat tree, a cat cube or cocoon (many types are available commercially), the cat carrier (if the cat likes it), a space on a shelf, or in a cupboard or wardrobe where the cat has access.

So do a quick survey of the places that are available to your cat as hiding places. Are they in busy parts of the house or does the cat also have hiding places in quieter rooms? Are they cat sized, or are they a bit too big? If your cat has outside access, do they also have safe hiding places in your yard or garden?

You can make existing hiding places more comfortable by adding a fleecy blanket or towel for the cat to curl up on.

And if you think your cat might not have enough spaces, see about providing some extra ones. It may be as simple as giving them a cardboard box and putting it on its side, or putting it upside down with a hole cut out for them to go in and out.

4. Use scents as enrichment

Did you know that your cat has an amazing nose, and on top of that they also have a vomeronasal organ that detects pheromones – chemical signals that have meaning to cats? This means that scent is far more important in your cat’s life than you realize.

When your cat rubs its head on you or the furniture, it is leaving pheromones behind. You may even notice a little brown mark on the wall where your cat rubs often. Don’t clean it up! Or at least don’t clean all of them up at once. Those familiar chemical signals that the cat is depositing help them to feel safe and secure.

Everyone is familiar with catnip toys, but there are other scents that many cats like too, so you could try valerian, silver vine or honeysuckle and see if your cat responds to those. Almost all cats will visibly respond to at least one of these scents.

Photo: Dmitry Nesterov / Shutterstock

You can find valerian in some cat toys, silver vine is available as a stick or powder, and honeysuckle as blocks of wood of various sizes. They may not be in your local pet store, so you may have to look for them online.

You can buy catnip that is mixed with other scents such as lavender, so if your cat likes catnip this is another way to provide different scents as enrichment.

In fact a recent study found that although only some cats respond to catnip by rolling around, other cats do respond, just in a passive way such as being in a Sphinx position or being less active and miaowing less (Espin-Iturbe et al 2017).

Another way to provide scent as enrichment if you have an indoor cat is to open the window for them to let them smell the air from outside. Obviously, do this in a safe way so they can’t escape – and remember that screens are not necessarily cat-safe. But you only need to open the window a chink to let the outside smells in.

5. Clean the litter tray

Did you notice how I saved the most glamorous one til last?!!

I know what you're thinking. The other four are all fun, and this one... not so much.

But the litter tray is a serious matter for cats. Many house-soiling issues are due to problems with the litter tray (but if your cat suddenly starts making a mess in the house, it’s important to see a vet in case a medical issue is the cause). It’s an important issue because inappropriate toileting behaviour is a common reason for cats to be surrendered to animal shelters.

26% of pet cat owners clean their litter box once a day, but 11% only clean it once a week and 5% less frequently than that (Howell et al 2016). So there is plenty of scope for improvement amongst the average cat owner. And it really doesn't take long.

Cats prefer a clean litter box. It’s not so much the smell they object to, but the presence of urine or faeces that is visually unappealing and physically in the way (Ellis et al 2017).

Cats will typically still use a litter box they are not very happy with, but signs they are not so keen on it include being hesitant to go in it, going in and then out of it, keeping a paw out of it while they eliminate, and spending a long time over elimination (McGowan et al 2017). This study also found that cats may hold their urine if they are not happy with their litter box, making them vulnerable to urinary tract infections.

So you should scoop your litter tray every day, but preferably twice a day, and clean the litter tray thoroughly once a week.

6. Bonus: Teach your cat to like their carrier

This is a bonus item because it is not something you can achieve in a day, especially if your cat is already scared of their carrier. Which they might be if it only ever predicts visits to the vet.

But one thing you can do today is get the carrier out, have a look at it and see if it’s suitable, leave it out somewhere so it becomes a normal thing – and make a plan to teach your cat to like it. This is so important because training a cat to use their carrier makes vet visits less stressful.

The best kind of carrier is one that is secure but where the top half can be detached from the bottom half. This means that at the vet, you can simply remove the top and the vet can examine the cat in the bottom of the carrier. Some cats will feel safer like this than if they have to come completely out of the carrier. (See more tips in 8 ways to help your cat go to the vet).

If the carrier always means an unpleasant trip to the vet, you can’t really blame a cat for not liking it. So you need to break that association. If your cat is terrified of the carrier you already have, you might find it best to start afresh with a new carrier.

Put a nice fleecy blanket or towel in the bottom so it is nice and cosy. And then leave it somewhere in the house where it will become a familiar thing. You might need to prop the door open so it can’t accidentally close behind the cat when they go in.

You can leave treats inside it to encourage your cat to go in. But for many cats even this will be too scary, so you may have to start by leaving treats in the general vicinity of the carrier. Once the cat is relaxed and comfortable collecting those treats, you can put treats a bit closer, until eventually the cat will approach the carrier.

This is a slow process. For a full explanation of how to teach your cat to like their carrier, I recommend this post by Sarah Ellis PhD. (You might like to read my interview with Dr. Sarah Ellis for more tips on training your cat).

Summary of tips for your cat

So there you have it – five things to do for your cat today, and a sixth one to work on over time. Play with your cat, use food toys, provide safe hiding places, use scent as enrichment, and remember to scoop the litter tray! Then start thinking about how to teach your cat to like their carrier.

These tips will provide enrichment for your cat, help your cat be more active and help them to feel safe and secure.

Of course, every cat is an individual and has their own preferences as all cat lovers know well. In the comments, let me know which are your cat’s favourite toys, and where is your cat’s favourite hiding place?

To learn more about how science can help you have a happier cat or dog, subscribe to Companion Animal Psychology.

References

Alho, A. M., Pontes, J., & Pomba, C. (2016). Guardians' Knowledge and Husbandry Practices of Feline Environmental Enrichment. Journal of applied animal welfare science, 19(2), 115-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2015.1117976
Bol, S., Caspers, J., Buckingham, L., Anderson-Shelton, G. D., Ridgway, C., Buffington, C. T., ... & Bunnik, E. M. (2017). Responsiveness of cats (Felidae) to silver vine (Actinidia polygama), Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica), valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and catnip (Nepeta cataria). BMC veterinary research, 13(1), 70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-017-0987-6
Ellis, J. J., McGowan, R. T. S., & Martin, F. (2017). Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?. Behavioural Processes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.008
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Espín-Iturbe, L. T., Yañez, B. A. L., García, A. C., Canseco-Sedano, R., Vázquez-Hernández, M., & Coria-Avila, G. A. (2017). Active and passive responses to catnip (Nepeta cataria) are affected by age, sex and early gonadectomy in male and female cats. Behavioural Processes, 142, 110-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.06.008

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