40 Soul-Healing Rescue Pet Pics To Make You Smile (March Edition)

For cats:

• Offer their meals or treats out of food puzzle toys.
• Provide objects for them to explore, such as cardboard boxes, paper shopping bags (with the handles cut off), bottle caps, packing paper, and toys that encourage them to investigate various openings with their paws. 

• Train your cat to learn useful behaviors and fun tricks, like “sit”, “come”, hand target, “shake” and fetch.
• Position bird and squirrel feeders outside windows where your cat can observe animals coming and going during the day or even try playing videos of birds and squirrels on your tv, computer, or phone!

It's important to consider what your pet can do while they're spending time alone. As regular work and school routines are returning, your pet may be left confused (and lonely!) once everyone is rushing out the door instead of spending time inside.

Even while you and your family are home, prepare your pet by allowing them to spend comfortable time alone throughout the day. 

Create a cozy, inviting place for your dog or cat to nap away from all the activity. You can also put on some soothing music or radio.

You can also offer your dog tasty chews to keep them busy—you can purchase all sorts of interesting and easily digestible chews online, such as bully sticks, tendons, tracheas, scapulas, and cheek rolls.

There are many free game apps for cats to play with on their own but you can also find plenty of battery-operated toys to keep them busy.

Again, remember that both dogs and cats will be entertained for some time with an interactive food-puzzle toy!

For more how-tos, guidelines, case studies, and other information, visit the ASPCA resource library.