Sniffing for fun: Evaluating the effect of olfactory enrichment on cats’ toy preference and interaction (2025)

Webberson, E., Stellato, A. C., O’Hanley, K. A. et al.

Abstract

Play is a critical natural behavior in domestic cats. Toys and olfactory enrichment are common methods used to encourage play; however, no research has previously evaluated how olfactory enrichment affects toy interaction in cats. We hypothesized that the addition of cats’ preferred odor to a toy would increase toy interaction. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate if adding cats’ preferred odor to moving or stationary toys increased toy interaction. Pet cats (N = 31) participated in three, 5-minute free operant preference assessments where we first evaluated their preferred odor from a set of three different odors (i.e., catnip, silver vine, and Feliway®) and a control (i.e., unscented) and subsequently evaluated their interaction time with a moving or stationary toy with and without their preferred odor, independently. Cats’ behavior during the different preference tests was video recorded and the amount of time they interacted with the testing stimulus was measured. Preference for an odor or a toy was defined as the stimulus that received the most interaction time. Cats interacted with catnip (85.24 s; 95 % CI [59.64, 110.85]) and silver vine (57.99 s; 95 % CI [35.32, 80.66]) more than with the control (3.36 s; 95 % CI [0.98, 5.75]) and Feliway® (8.11 s; 95 % CI [4.24, 11.97]). Although there was no statistical difference, more cats showed a preference for catnip (n = 19) than silver vine (n = 12). Subsequently, each cat’s preferred odor (catnip or silver vine) was added to moving and stationary toys to evaluate the effect of olfactory enrichment on toy interaction. A linear mixed model was used to assess the effect of odor (scented vs unscented), toy type (stationary vs moving) and their interaction on the amount of time cats interacted with the toys. Cats interacted significantly more with moving toys, whether scented (59.04 s; 95 % CI [28.27, 122.14]) or unscented (58.24 s; 95 % CI [27.88, 120.50]), compared to unscented stationary toys (12.27 s; 95 % CI [5.47, 26.21]). Cats interacted statistically longer with scented stationary toys (38.01 s; 95 % CI [18.02, 79.02]) than with unscented stationary toys, but their interaction with scented stationary toys did not statistically differ from their interaction with scented or unscented moving toys. These results indicate that cats prefer moving and scented stationary toys compared to unscented stationary toys. Our results highlight that using olfactory enrichment is a simple method to encourage interaction with stationary toys and play behavior to support cat welfare.