Adoption Hints

• Adjust the feeding hole of the Bat-A-Rat™ to its widest setting. Place the foraging toy on the floor and sprinkle a few pieces of the food or treats around the toy, so that your cat will eat those and then smell that there are more in the toy. Rock it gently to show them that food falls out of the holes. Typically, your cat will get the idea and bat the feeder around with their paws or nudge it with their nose.
• Put something different in the foraging toy other than what is in your cats’ food bowl. There is no motivation to forage if they have a bowl of the same thing sitting a few feet away on the kitchen floor.
• Make it easy for first time foragers by opening the two halves completely and filling each half with a few morsels. This way the cat will see and smell the food and associate the toy with food. Keep this up for a couple of days. Then, when kitty gets used to eating out of the feeder, and comes to it often, (even when there is no food in it), fill it half full and close it, setting it at its widest setting. Spill some treats around and rock the toy.
• Try putting catnip in the Bat-A-Rat™ to make it more attractive
• Keep at it! Try all kinds of different treats and foods; sometimes it is all about finding the right motivator.
• Be patient. Remember, they have not had this type of challenge before and there is a chance it could take them a while to catch on.