For the most part, the things that make animals happy fall into the natural category. Opportunities for your pet to play. be physically active and enjoy lots of social contact with the family and friendly members of their own kind are all vital to mental and physical well-being. Grooming and being groomed, chewing and eating top-quality food, drinking, sleeping and resting, being alert and mentally active are also essential parts of ‘being alive’ and fulfilling nature’s potential. Your pet also needs a daily range of small problems to overcome, and the opportunity to encounter a steady stream of novel events and objects to stimulate their incredible senses, and encourage them to make natural feline decisions and so learn how to enjoy the good and avoid the bad things that life throws at them.

Cats evolved from predators and so they still also need to perform versions of the behaviours associated with detecting and catching prey that their ancestors relied on for survival. Stalking, chasing and pouncing are crucial natural behaviours for a cat and they will happily chase toys that you dangle in front of them or drag along the ground.

Behaviourists at COAPE (the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology) assess how content a cat is likely to be based on how many of these natural behaviours they can carry out on an average day. A spoiled or problem pet is often one who is well cared-for physically, fed and loved, but is never challenged in the way that their species or breed was designed to be. Make life too easy and take away the opportunity to be natural and they could become lethargic, irritable, overweight and depressed. But do your best to fulfil all of their natural needs and you will have the best pet of all…one that is as naturally balanced as possible!