You might need seen lick mats in a pet retailer and questioned what they’re, find out how to use them, and if they’re good for cats.
I’ll get into all the small print under, however crucial factor to know is that lick mats is usually a nice enrichment device for cats. Not all cats will take pleasure in utilizing a lick mat, nevertheless it’s in all probability well worth the small funding to see in case your cat want to lick.
Though I’m a fan of lick mats, I don’t agree with all the claims that lick-mat producers make about their merchandise, nor all the “info” that may be discovered on-line about this subject. Lick mats is usually a good factor for bored cats or cats who eat too quick, however among the claims are exaggerated or simply plain false.
Additionally, lick mats have confirmed to be harmful within the paws of the fallacious cat. I’ll focus on all of it on this complete put up about lick mats.
(*This put up incorporates affiliate hyperlinks and I might be compensated if you happen to make a purchase order after clicking on my hyperlinks.)
A lick mat is a skinny pad product of rubber, silicone, plastic, and typically even chrome steel, that has a textured floor.
The floor patterns range from raised bumps, zig zags, swirls, and honeycomb, to extra intricate designs that depict whole scenes, together with one, by Soda Pup, that portrays a spouting whale, swimming amongst ocean waves. Nonetheless others have repeating patterns – like hearts, daisies, and puzzle-piece shapes, overlaying their surfaces.
Your job is to unfold meals on the mat, in order that it will get caught in all of the destructive area shaped by these raised designs. The cat’s job is to dislodge the trapped meals by steady licking.
Along with fancy designs on the entrance of the lick mat, some have suction cups on the again to assist them persist with a slippery flooring, counter, or wall.
There are two primary advantages of lick mats: sluggish feeding and enrichment.
Utilizing a lick mat for sluggish feeding
Some cats get very enthusiastic about getting meals and so they eat it too rapidly.
Cats who eat rapidly typically regurgitate no matter they’ve simply wolfed down. Regurgitating will not be the identical as vomiting, by the way in which, even when they appear comparable.
Vomiting versus regurgitating
Vomiting includes meals that has made its manner into the abdomen for digestion, and includes the forceful contraction of the belly muscle mass to deliver it again up. No matter comes up usually appears partially digested, or incorporates yellow bile.[1]
Regurgitated meals, however, solely makes it so far as the esophagus. Meals that’s taking place, simply reverses path and comes again up. Regurgitating is an involuntary conduct, and it’s straightforward for the cat in comparison with the hassle of vomiting.
You possibly can typically inform that meals is regurgitated slightly than vomited as a result of it’s lined in slimy saliva and tube-shaped, because it by no means made it to the abdomen.[2]
Notice that consuming too rapidly is just one potential explanation for continual regurgitation. In case your cat regurgitates steadily, and makes an attempt to sluggish him down don’t assist, attain out to your veterinarian for recommendation.
Right here’s extra details about vomiting in cats.
How lick mats assist speedy eaters
The sample in a lick mat traps meals and makes it arduous for a cat to eat her meal rapidly.
As a substitute of gulping an enormous chunk of moist meals plopped down in the course of her meals dish, a cat must actually work to get the meals out of all of the crevices.
Utilizing a lick mat as enrichment
Cats are principally wild animals. We domesticated canines about 30,000 years in the past, however we didn’t even let cats into the home till 1947, when cat litter was invented.
We modified canines once we domesticated them. We modified them bodily – Chihuahuas look little or no like their wolf ancestors – and we modified their brains and their behaviors.
After we “domesticated” cats, we simply inspired them to hold round our barns and granaries to maintain the mice away. However cats are principally what they’ve all the time been: wild animals, used to spending their days looking and prowling, not sitting on the sofa.
Don’t get me fallacious: I imagine that retaining cats indoors versus outside is the appropriate factor to do. Learn this put up on indoors versus outside for cats if you wish to know extra. However indoor cats require enrichment.
What’s enrichment?
I like this definition of environmental enrichment:
“Environmental enrichment is the supply of kit or enhancement to an animal’s dwelling space with the aim to enhance animal welfare.”[3]
In different phrases, enrichment is any factor, added to an animal’s world, that makes her life higher.
“Different meals presentation” is a method to offer enrichment: in different phrases, discovering another option to supply meals to a cat, apart from dumping it right into a bowl.
Puzzle feeders are one type of different meals presentation. Snuffle mats, like this enjoyable little quantity with flowers and ruffles, are one other selection. And lick mats are a 3rd manner to offer meals to a cat with out simply handing it to him on a silver (or chrome steel) platter.
How are puzzle feeders, snuffle mats, and lick mats enriching? They require a cat to focus and methodically drawback remedy to get their meals.
Get a lick mat to your cat to strive, however don’t imagine all of the hype. Lick mats do sufficient good issues for cats with out having to unravel world peace, too. Listed here are some claims about lick mats which are false:
Lick mats don’t enhance oral well being in cats
In response to the oldsters who make issues up about their merchandise, lick mats stimulate saliva manufacturing, which in turns retains a cat’s tongue, enamel, and gums clear.
Another declare is that the ridges on a lick mat scrape the plaque off of enamel.
Nonsense. There’s zero scientific proof that lick mats enhance oral well being. It has been argued that among the treats utilized in a lick mat may theoretically make periodontal illness worse.[4]
You need to brush your cat’s enamel to assist forestall periodontal illness. Interval. There’s no straightforward manner out of this chore. Learn this put up about unhealthy breath in cats for extra details about serving to your cat keep good oral well being.
Licking a mat doesn’t launch a chilled hormone
If licking a mat was the reply to emphasize and anxiousness, I’d get myself one.
There are unproven claims about how the prolonged licking motion promoted by lick mats causes a chilled hormone to be launched in a cat or canine’s mind. There is no such thing as a scientific proof that licking releases feel-good hormones, or hormones of any sort.
The place this loopy concept about licking might need come from
I think that this fallacious concept about licking could have really come from well-intentioned efforts to curb compulsive behaviors like overgrooming, which is usually a very major problem in cats. You possibly can examine extreme grooming on this put up.
Dr. Nicolas Dodman, arguably one of many world’s most well-known veterinary behaviorists, admitted in an article in Tufts Now, to getting it fallacious, too.
He’d been working with a cat who’d begun compulsive grooming after the household adopted a second cat. Dr. Dodman, who hypothesized that the cat was licking compulsively as a result of the conduct produced endorphins, gave the cat a drug to dam the hormone.
Extremely, it labored! Dr. Dodman believed the success of the remedy confirmed that licking does, certainly, produce “feel-good” hormones.
However he was fallacious.
He later discovered that he was really blocking the neurotransmitter glutamate,[5] a compound accountable for solidifying recollections. Licking, so far as anybody is aware of, doesn’t produce endorphins.
Possibly lick mats simply maintain cats from exhibiting anxious behaviors
A cat who’s licking a mat could seem like exhibiting fewer anxious behaviors as a result of she is busy doing one thing else.
However retaining a cat busy will not be the identical factor as really decreasing anxiousness.
You shouldn’t give a cat any meals in a lick mat that you just wouldn’t feed him underneath different circumstances.
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they’re obligated to eat meat. They eat meat out of necessity. Canines and people, in contrast, are omnivores, which means we will eat all meals. “Omni” means “all.”
Cats developed to have very specialised digestive programs and distinctive dietary wants. Many of the meals that shouldn’t be on a cat’s menu trigger digestive upset and take up energy that ought to have been spent on diet.
So, though many web sites advocate utilizing yogurt or cream cheese, for instance, in a lick mat for a cat, I don’t advocate doing so. Learn these posts to be taught why:
Good meals selections for a lick mat for a cat embody:
- Canned cat meals – that is the only option
- Cooked eggs – no seasonings; small quantities as a deal with solely
- Sardines – rinse if canned in oil, no multiple or two per week
- Lickable, squeezable treats – like Churu
- Fish – baked, boiled, grilled; small quantities as a deal with solely
- Bone broth – pet varieties solely, as bone broth for people could include onions and garlic that are poisonous for cats
- Pumpkin puree – don’t use pumpkin pie filling: solely pure pumpkin; begin with a ½ tsp to see in case your cat tolerates it. Don’t exceed 4 tsp of pumpkin puree
- Meat child meals – learn the substances: they need to include solely meat and water or broth
Lick mat energy rely, too
Any meals you place right into a lick mat must be factored into your cat’s complete calorie rely for the day.
I am going into element about how to determine how a lot to feed your cat every day on this put up. If you happen to’re utilizing a lick mat to interchange a conventional meals bowl, then you definately don’t have to fret about additional energy. Simply feed your cat’s common meal, or a portion of the meal, on the lick mat.
However if you happen to’re utilizing a lick mat to serve treats, be sure you don’t go over your cat’s calorie allowance for treats every day. The lick mat is so enjoyable, and it’s very straightforward to overdo it.
Meals grade and BPA free
Purchase lick mats product of food-grade supplies. In the event that they’re plastic, be certain that they’re BPA free.
Dishwasher protected
Purchase dishwasher-safe fashions, in case you have a dishwasher.
Suction cups or no suction cups?
Take into account whether or not you need suction cups or not: they will forestall the mat from scooting across the flooring, however in addition they persist with the counters once you’re getting ready the mat. I discover that when I attempt to pry the suctioned mat off of my counter, among the meals will get flicked again onto the counter.
Small lick mats solely
Cats solely want tiny lick mats. No must spend cash on the bigger ones. Listed here are some potentialities that meet the above standards:
Lick-mat pleasant meals:
Freezing a lick mat presents a few advantages:
Freezing permits you to prep prematurely
You possibly can put together a number of lick mats directly, and retailer them within the freezer. In case your cat is wanting bored, you may pull one proper out of the freezer and it’s able to serve.
Frozen lick mats take longer to take pleasure in
It takes longer to lick away frozen meals than softer, room-temperature meals. Freezing permits your cat to savor his meal or deal with even longer.
BUT – your cat won’t like chilly, frozen-solid meals. Let your cat resolve if she likes her lick mats frozen.
All the time supervise your cat together with his lick mat
Don’t go away your cat dwelling alone with a full lick mat, considering you’ll be retaining her busy when you’re away. Don’t stroll into the subsequent room for too lengthy if you happen to’ve simply given your cat a lick mat.
Why? Not each cat will use common sense when offered with a factor that smells like his favourite treats. I don’t know the way it’s doable, however some cats have chewed off and swallowed items of lick mat.[6]
There’s Tex, who one way or the other ate a chunk of his lick mat with out anybody noticing, till he began vomiting. You possibly can see the piece of lick mat blocking his intestines right here. It’s the white rectangle within the X-ray about midway down the web page.
Right here’s a complete Reddit thread about cats who’ve eaten their silicone lick mats. Don’t assume your cat is any smarter than these cats.
By no means go away meals out too lengthy
Moist cat meals spoils in about two hours. Don’t go away a lick mat out longer than two hours.
Notice that as a result of meals is unfold thinly within the lick mat, it’ll seemingly dry out before the two-hour restrict. Your cat won’t discover it palatable because it begins to dry out.
Scrub, scrub, scrub your lick mat or wash it within the dishwasher
Heat meals and crevices: you’ve nearly created the right setting for micro organism to flourish.
When your cat is finished together with his lick mat, put it within the dishwasher (in case you have one) if the product is labeled dishwasher protected. In any other case, use a dishwashing brush and actually, actually scrub the mat clear.
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Daybreak LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who all the time appears to have a little bit pet hair in her keyboard. Her weblog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians higher perceive and take care of the particular beings they share their lives and houses with. Her cat-products enterprise, Cat within the Field, sells lovely, well-made, and award-winning merchandise that she designed to fulfill the organic wants of cats.
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Hamer, Ashley. “Why Do Cats Throw up so A lot?” LiveScience, Purch, 7 Jan. 2024, www.livescience.com/animals/cats/why-do-cats-throw-up-so-much.
[2] “Cat Regurgitation.” PetMD, www.petmd.com/cat/signs/cat-regurgitation. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
[3] Desforges, E. Challenges and Options Surrounding Environmental Enrichment for Canines and Cats in a Scientific Atmosphere. Animals 2021, 11, 2980. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11102980
[4] Andrew. “Lick Mats For Canines & Cats: A Vet’s View.” Walkerville Vet, 3 Sept. 2023, www.walkervillevet.com.au/weblog/lick-mat-pros-cons/.
[5] “Cats underneath Stress: The Genetic Origins of Extreme Grooming.” Tufts Now, 24 Aug. 2012, now.tufts.edu/2012/08/24/cats-under-pressure.
[6] Andrew. “Lick Mats For Canines & Cats: A Vet’s View.”
