Loading freeze-dried salmon into a cat puzzle feeder

Salmon treats for cat puzzle feeders go in as small snapped bits or crumbles, sized to fit the feeder and counted out from the amount your cat's vet gives you. Stay in the room with fresh water nearby while your cat works the feeder, and wash your hands once the pouch is closed.

Can you put salmon treats in a cat puzzle feeder?

Yes, in small pieces. Our listing covers cats as well, with two serving methods for them: break the salmon small, or crumble it over food. Our own advice for cats is the same, small pieces only, and the quantity is your cat's vet's call.

Those two serving methods are your two loading options. Snapped bits suit a feeder with openings the bits can drop through. Crumbles suit a feeder that holds loose food. Use the feeder you have, and check that the bits fit through its openings or sit in it before you load.

The dog version of this idea, snuffle mats and treat balls, has its own page in our puzzle toy guide.

How do you load salmon bits into a cat feeder?

Measure before you load. The amount comes from your vet, so the number is settled before the feeder is even in your hand. A sticky note on the shelf with the pouch keeps that figure the same from one load to the next.

1. Snap the bits small or crumble them to suit the feeder.
2. Measure out only the amount your vet gave.
3. Load the feeder.
4. Put it down with fresh water nearby, and stay in the room.
5. Pick up the feeder when your cat is done.
6. Finish with the bag's two lines: reseal, then wash your hands.

The salmon is raw before it is freeze-dried, and your hands touch it in step one. The bag says: "Wash your hands after handling it." The pieces include skin, and skin-on bits load the same way as the rest; if one will not pass through an opening, snap it again. Load the feeder away from the cat, so the bits are in before it comes over. The line on the bag about the pouch is short too: "Reseal the pouch once it is open and store it cool and dry."

Should you stay nearby while your cat works the feeder?

Yes. The bag says: "Provide fresh water and supervise while feeding." A puzzle feeder is still feeding, so that line applies in full: you are there, and water is within reach.

It also rules out one habit, which is loading the feeder and leaving. If you set it down, you stay with your cat while it eats, and you pick up the feeder when the session is over. That is the whole rule, and anyone else in the house who loads it follows it too. Staying nearby can be as simple as reading in the same room, with your cat and the water in view.

How much salmon goes in a cat puzzle feeder?

Whatever your cat's vet says. Leave the calculator on our product page out of this. It was written for dogs, and a cat's amount never comes from its 10 percent setting or its calorie figure.

Anything in the feeder comes out of the day's amount. A feeder with room for more than the vet's amount does not change the amount. Load only what the vet gave and leave the rest of the space empty. If the bits look lonely in a big feeder, that is fine; the amount is the amount. If your vet asks what is in it, the answer is short: wild-caught salmon and nothing else, freeze-dried in small batches.

If you want other pages that cover a pouch around the house, the guides hub lists them, and the cats page explains what the pouch is for a cat.