DIY enrichment on a budget

You do not need a basket of toys to give a dog or cat something to do. A clean tea towel, a muffin tin, a cardboard box and their normal food will cover a week of rainy evenings. The ideas below are the ones we actually recommend trying, because the materials are already in a lot of UK kitchens.

They are also easy to get wrong. Household enrichment is supervised enrichment. If you need to leave the house, use a toy you trust or leave them with their ordinary setup. A tea towel is not a dog-sitter.

Safety, before you get clever

• Stay in the room.
• Use food they already eat, in a normal portion. Do not stack extra meals on top of a full day’s food if weight is a concern. Ask your vet if you are unsure.
• Skip grapes, raisins, onions, chocolate, cooked bones, and anything sweetened with xylitol. “A bit of baking” is a common way those end up in a puzzle.
• No elastic bands, no string, no yarn, no staples, no plastic tape mashed into the cardboard.
• Balls and cups used as covers must be too big to swallow.
• Stop when they eat the equipment instead of the food. Some dogs will eat a towel. Believe them and end the game.
• Cats get the same rules, plus a check that they can actually reach the food. A game they cannot solve is just a missed meal.

The bought versions of these ideas live in DIY enrichment as cards, and the closest shop equivalents are lick mats and snuffle mats.

Towel roll

A towel roll is a snuffle mat you already own.

1. Use a clean tea towel with a tight hem. Shake it out so there are no threads hanging off.
2. Scatter a handful of their usual kibble along the towel.
3. Roll it up loosely. For a first go, do not tuck the ends in. You want them to succeed.
4. Put it on the floor and let them nudge, paw and unroll.

Dogs who know the game can have a slightly tighter roll next time, or a second towel laid on top. Cats often pat the roll until the food falls out. That is a finished game.

If teeth go into the fabric, stop. The shop version for a dog who only wants to sniff is a fleece mat such as the Paw5 Wooly. The version for a dog who wants to chew is not a towel at all.

Muffin tin

This is a puzzle feeder made from the baking cupboard.

1. Put a piece of kibble in each hole of a muffin tin. A silicone tin is quieter on a worktop, but a metal one you already own is fine on the floor if it will not skate.
2. Leave half the holes uncovered so they can see the point.
3. Cover the rest with tennis balls or sturdy cups that are far too large to swallow.
4. Let them nose and paw the covers off.

A tin that flies across the lino needs a non-slip mat underneath, or it needs to be done on the carpet. Pick the balls up afterwards. A tennis ball is not a chew for a dog who de-felts them.

Once this is easy, a bought board such as the Nina Ottosson Tornado is the same idea with parts designed to stay on the tray.

Cardboard box

Cats already know this one. Dogs can learn it, with rules.

1. Take a plain cardboard box. No staples, no plastic window, no parcel tape left inside.
2. Add a little scrunched packing paper or a sheet of newspaper, plus a scatter of kibble.
3. Fold the flaps in, not shut tight.
4. Let them rummage. When the box is soggy or torn into mouthfuls, it goes in the recycling.

This is a good one-off, and a bad permanent toy. Ink, glue and tape are reasons to be picky about which box you use. A delivery box covered in plastic tape is the wrong box.

For a cat who lives for this, hiding a few pieces of a meal in a box they already sit in is enough. You do not need a new gadget every time.

Frozen lick

A frozen lick is a lick mat without the mat.

1. Smear a thin layer of their usual wet food on a ceramic plate, or on a lick mat if you have one.
2. Freeze it until it is firm.
3. Serve it where the plate cannot shoot across the floor. A mat underneath helps.
4. Stay while they lick.

Thin is the point. A deep frozen puck is a long chore for a small dog or a cat, and it can be more food than you meant. If they walk away, you can put the plate back in the fridge and offer it later the same day. Do not leave dairy or wet food out overnight.

People often do this before a noisy evening. It only helps as a familiar job. It does not turn fireworks into a non-event. Read the Bonfire Night guide if that is the week you are planning for.

If you end up freezing a plate every day, a silicone lick mat is easier to wash and store than the good dinner plate. Check the current price when you are ready. There is no need to buy one to try the idea.

When a bought toy is worth it

Buy something when the household version is failing in a specific way:

• They eat towels, so foraging has to be a rubber toy or a maze bowl.
• You want a mat you can wash every day.
• You are out of the room sometimes and need a toy sold for chewing, in the right size, rather than a baking tin.
• Your cat will not engage with any of the above, but will use a feeder made for cats.

Start with one format. A drawer full of puzzles they have never been shown how to use is not enrichment. It is clutter. Show them where the food is, let them finish, and put the game away.