I am sure some of you guys watch Jackson Galaxy’s show – My Cat From Hell. He coined the term – Catification, which I find it a brilliant way to explain the concept of environment enrichment.

Environment enrichment is one of the concepts we use in animal behaviourial science for domestic animals and zoo animals to provide stimuli in their surroundings.

In the case of cats, it is of extreme importance, particularly for indoor cats.

Cats are natural predators and they need daily exercise and stimulation that mimic their natural habitat for their physical and mental health.

However, a lot of cat people I come across have never even thought about that! I have been to numerous houses where cats have no cat tree, no high places for them to go, no hiding places, no toys, nothing. In case like this, boredom can become a problem. Lack of exercise and overeating due to boredom will lead to obesity. It is estimated that 39 to 52 per cent of cats in the UK are overweight or obese. I would image the figure is similar for Ireland.

It is a big problem.

Cat obesity brings the same health implication as human obesity – liver condition, diabetes, muscle pain, lower urinary tract disease, skin problems, etc.

And that’s why environment enrichment is so important.

Some of my amazing customers have incredible creativity when it comes to catification. With their permission, I am going to start a new series here to feature their ideas.

Today we are going to look at a cat house under a bed!

Tinours and Fluffy are the lucky recipients of this creative cat house.

Sandrine’s father built this incredible bed when Sandrine and Lionel moved into their new home.

Here you can see Tinours moved in straight away and quite enjoying it!

I am very impressed with this project. Such a creative way to provide extra adventure for the cats.

If you want to see more example of DIY catification project, you can follow this blog! I will feature more DIY projects in the coming weeks. Many of them are just simple Ikea-hack project that anyone can do.

You might also want to check out this book. I have this book in my collection, it’s a really interesting book. I shall do a review here in due course.

Do you done any DIY catification project? If you do, we need to talk! Send me some photos so that I can feature your project and other cat people can learn from you!