By Dr. Becker and Diane Weinmann

According to cat expert Jackson Galaxy, when we learn to walk through the world as our cats do, we understand their needs on a very basic level, and we naturally insure they have outlets for their curiosity, energy, and other innate gifts.

Today’s cats are still very much in touch with what Galaxy calls their raw cat. They’ve retained their drive to awake from a nap to go hunt, catch, kill and eat prey, groom, go back to sleep, and do it all over again in a few hours. That’s the life of a cat living in the wild, and when your indoor kitty isn’t given those outlets, she can wind up “hunting” your ankles, your children, or your dog!

Diane has found that as an animal communicator, many kitties enjoy stalking and killing bugs and flying insects in your home. Most of the time, cats assume this job as their daily work for their family’s household. If your cat does not take on this job and seems bored and destructive please tell them this is their job. Job assignment is a great way to motivate and challenge your pets to provide environmental enrichment in their life.

In addition, interactive play is also crucial in drawing out the raw cat. Interactive play means we become our cat’s prey — the mouse or the bird — moving the way it would, unpredictably, and really drawing out the cat’s hunter energy.

Galaxy has seen miraculous results when shy cats find their inner hunter. Their new confidence comes from the thought that “I just killed something,” which is 100 percent raw cat at its core. The toy moves across the floor, the cat pounces on it and “kills” it. He realizes, “This is what I was meant to do, isn’t it!”

This is what interactive play is all about. Finding ways to move the toys that energize your cat and bring out the swatting, batting, chasing, pouncing hunter in her. As Galaxy points out, cats are family members with very strong needs. Interactive prey play gives you a meaningful minute-by-minute bond with your cat and encourages her to be the feline hunter she was born to be.

So whether you give your beloved furry friend a job in the house or engage them in interactive play, you will be enriching their life and providing them with the means to get in touch with their inner hunter and to do what comes natural! Roar!!!!!!