How to make a cat food puzzle

Whether you'd like to slow feed your cat or keep them entertained during the day, a food puzzle for cats is cheap and easy to make. Using materials you can find in the recycling bin, you can customise it to keep your cat challenged.

A cat food puzzle is especially useful for hot summer days where playful cats may need to stay occupied indoors. Simply sprinkle a few of their favourite treats and watch them figure out the puzzle!

What you’ll need:

• Four toilet roll inner tubes
• A cardboard sheet of at least 40x40cm
• Empty plastic containers – yoghurt and sauce pots work well
• Empty egg boxes
• Scissors or a craft knife
• Super glue – be extra careful that your cat doesn’t come into contact with the glue while it’s setting

Putting together a cat food puzzle

1. Cut a piece of cardboard to about 40x40cm. This will form the base of your activity feeder. Place this to one side for later.
2. Get one of the toilet roll tubes and cut this in half horizontally so that it now looks like two mini tubes
3. With the other three tubes, pop them in a pyramid formation so that you have two at the bottom and one lying on them at the top. Glue these into place.
4. Remove the lid from your egg box and keep both pieces of it to one side
5. Glue the pyramid and egg boxes in separate corners of the base. In the gaps, glue the mini tubes and any additional containers upright so they can hold treats inside.
6. Once everything is stuck to the cardboard, leave it to dry for around one hour. Then you can start hiding treats in the various spaces and let your cat enjoy!

 For lots of other ways to use a cardboard box to keep your cat entertained, check out this video.