Fun for cats - or: why cats love autumn, too
Generally speaking, I would say that our cats don’t really care about autumn at all. They are not outdoor cats and therefore don’t get to see much of what’s going on outside. Of course, they love it when the leaves are whirled through the air in autumn and more birds visit our garden again because we feed them more regularly and hang corn balls in one of the bushes that the cats can watch from the window. Apart from that, they sleep through most of the day anyway and look at most disgusted when you come home wet and muddy.
It only gets interesting when you bring something in from outside. (Small) pine cones, chestnuts, hazelnuts and acorns are particularly popular because they are great for rolling around. The best time to do this – as cat owners will know – is of course at night when their humans are (or want to be) asleep. We have a decorative board on our dining table (see photo) which is filled with chestnuts, hazelnuts, leaves and other decorative elements and it regularly happens that I wake up in the middle of the night due to a loud ‘klonk’ because yet another chestnut has landed on the floor, which is then usually rolled across our living room for half an hour. Bad conditions for my sleep but the cats love it 😂. Another favourite is a small plastic pumpkin, which is particularly light and which I have already found under the sofa, the bathroom cupboard and a shelf in the living room.
Apart from anything that can be rolled around, our cats also love dry leaves. They rustle and smell exciting and are particularly easy to push around. We once collected a whole bag of them and poured the leaves into a large cardboard box. After we realised that the large box was somehow too scary for the cats, we used a flatter box. The cats were super curious while we were filling the box and watched very closely what we were doing. It didn’t take long for the both of them to disappear into the leaves with their furry noses and to take in all the smells very closely. When they both realised that it wasn’t dangerous, they immediately put their paws to work and quickly noticed how beautifully the leaves can rustle. From then on, they both had a lot of fun with it and we kept the box in our living room for a long time.
Of course, you can also hide other things between the leaves to make the whole thing even more interesting. Simply hide a hazelnut, a treat or a feather between the leaves and then watch your cats have fun.
I’m sure you can think of many other things you can do to make your cats happy in autumn and offer them a little diversion. Of course, anything that smells good is interesting. Try it out for yourself and bring various natural materials for your cats. You’ll be amazed at how long your furry friends can keep themselves occupied with the odours that branches, leaves, tree bark and the like have.